Hello detectives!
It's about time for an introduction to another one of our incredible dev team, don't you think? Today, we meet with Jen Hide, Chinatown Detective Agency's resident programmer and code magician!
[h3]
Hi Jen! Can you tell us a little about yourself?[/h3]
Hello! I’ve been a programmer and game developer for about four and a half years, and before that, I was a physicist. At university I studied astrophysics and then did a PhD in quantum information theory.
When I’m not programming, I love exploring Dartmoor, reading (particularly sci-fi), watching films/tv (Devs and Westworld are my favourites at the moment!) and I always love learning new things - I’m learning how to do 2D animation at the moment, and also how to draw - both are a lot of fun.
[h3]
You have a degree in quantum physics, is that correct? How did you go from that to game development?[/h3]
Yes - in quantum information theory. My PhD was about a property some particles have called entanglement and how we might be able to detect it. I have always wanted to understand how and why the universe works!
I didn’t do any programming until I was at university, and didn’t like it at all then. It wasn’t until after I left physics that I realised I actually enjoyed it. Programming when you don’t know the answer (which you never do when you’re doing research) is very different to programming when you know the outcome you want to achieve!
My first programming job was at a company who made software for the UK’s NHS - the National Health Service, but I found that while I enjoyed the logic and the maths that goes into it, I wanted to do something more creative. While I worked there, I started learning about game development, and later made the leap to be a freelance game developer. I’m really glad I decided to make that leap as I love making games!
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You also programmed General Interactive’s first game, Terroir. How did you first get involved with the team?[/h3]
Mark approached me not that long after I started freelancing - I’d done a couple of small game development / design jobs for other people, and had released a few of my own games so that I had a portfolio of my work, but making Terroir was the first time I’d made a full game for someone else.
We started off with a small demo version of the game - one with a single square shaped tile for your vineyard (rather than lots of hexagonal tiles like we have in the released game), which Mark was happy with, so we continued working together!
Terroir[h3]
Like Amira, you’ve travelled a lot! Was there a particular place that you loved more than others?[/h3]
Hmm... I don’t think I can pick just one!
My favourites are probably Singapore, New Zealand and Japan. I’ve only ever been on holiday to New Zealand, but I worked in Singapore and in Japan (in my previous career as I was a physicist), so I’ve spent a while in both places.
My main memories of Singapore are the amazing food and drink (I’m vegetarian, and there were always so many options!), walking through various nature reserves, and the many lovely people I met there.
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What has been your favourite part of working on Chinatown Detective Agency so far?[/h3]
I enjoyed programming how cases work in the game - I use a program called Ink (made by Inkle who created Heaven’s Vault, among other games!) for the text and stage instructions, e.g. to play a specific animation during a specific line, and I use Scriptable Objects in Unity which are data containers to work out what should happen when! It was fun designing how this all fitted together.
My non-programming answer is that I love seeing the new artwork Ricardo comes up with!
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Are you working on any other games, outside of Chinatown Detective Agency, at the moment?[/h3]
Yes, I’m making a game with my co-director and fiancee (writer Gwen Davies) called
Cultivate: Before Time. We set up our company
Fox Tor Games last year and were awarded a grant from the UK Games Fund to make a prototype.
It’s a relaxing game that we like to describe as Stardew Valley meets Oxenfree. It’s a branching, farming-meets-mystery game about a village that gets propelled back to prehistoric times. You get to explore, tame friendly dinosaurs, build friendships with the villagers, all while farming the land and solving mysteries.
Cultivate: Before Time[h3]
What is the first thing you look for when deciding whether to work on a game project?[/h3]
I try to work out if it’s a game I’d like to play once it’s made, and whether I believe in the project.
These are important because while making it, I have to play all the different parts of the game a lot of times - it has to be good enough that this doesn’t get boring! Also, when I’m stuck on how to fix a particularly annoying bug, it’s good to remember that it’s a awesome project that I do want to be a part of.
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What are your favourite games?[/h3]
PC games: Oxenfree, Heaven’s Vault, and The Long Dark are my recent favourites! I love Stardew Valley too - it’s one I go back to every now and then. And of course, Monkey Island - I played it when I was a kid, and played it again a few years ago - it’s still awesome.
Board Games: I love Pandemic because it’s a co-operative game, which is still quite rare.
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If you have more questions for Jen and the rest of the team, join us on Discord! https://discord.gg/RK55huC
In case you missed the news, you can play Chinatown Detective Agency right now with our FREE Day One prologue on Steam, just click the link below:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401920/Chinatown_Detective_Agency_Day_One/
Whilst you're here, wishlisting Chinatown Detective Agency on Steam goes a long way to getting the game seen, and we'd be super grateful if you could add it to yours today:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172190/Chinatown_Detective_Agency/
To stay up-to-date on everything Chinatown Detective Agency, please do follow General Interactive on:
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The Kubrick is strong in this one. A hallway environment that's part of a larger in-game location.
Ciudad de México in all it's eclectic glory.
A futuristic rendering of the always bustling Bugis markets of Singapore.
Singapore's Toa Payoh neighbourhood.
One of the team's favourites - a duplex condominium owned by... well, we can't tell you. You'll just have to play the mission when the game comes out!