When you hear of “game developers”, you probably imagine a group of guys focused on creating a complicated fantasy game, like Warhammer 40k or Call of Duty. But Yangying Ren breaks all those stereotypes in one swoop. A young girl hailing from a conservative background, Ren is making waves by creating simple games inspired by everyday life. And she is winning hearts.
From Finance To Gaming
The trajectory to become a game developer was very different for Yangying Ren compared to that of your average game dev. For starters, she never played a video game until she was 24 years old! In 2017, she was a fresh graduate who had just received a degree in Financial Engineering and looked forward to a promising career in finance. Some free time and a chance encounter led her to play her first game – and a whole new world of possibilities opened up to her.
According to Yangying, “finance teaches you to understand through control, but it doesn’t teach you to feel”. Gaming does. But this was not an overnight, rash decision. Over the years, while playing games like Celeste and Gris, Yangying realised that her true passion lay not in crunching hard numbers but designing creative scenarios. This was a critical point in her life, where she decided to pivot her career from finance to game development. She enrolled in the MFA in Game Design program at New York University’s Tish School of the Arts. She graduated in 2022, ready to kickstart her career in game development.
Breaking stereotypes, one after another
Even today, game development as a career is not the easiest path. For Yangying Ren, it was much more difficult. Coming from a conservative background, video games were always seen as something reserved for boys. It was one of the reasons why she never played a game until well into adulthood. The same gender norms also made society dissuade her from adopting game development as a career, frightening her with failure. But Yangying went ahead undeterred.
Unfortunately, the actual game development industry continues to remain a Boy’s Club. Estimates suggest more than 80% of the people working in the industry are men. Yangying confesses that during all her job interviews, she barely came across a female hiring manager. Gender was also not the only barrier in her path. Yangying, who never played a game until 24, was going against people who had been playing video games since they could walk. Her lack of professional gaming background served as a major deterrent against opportunities. But despite all the hurdles, she moved forward with determination. Without the support of any major game studio, she decided to develop her own small, indie games. And this is how she painted the first brushstrokes of her success story.
From Everyday Life, For Everyone
Yangying Ren was not like other game developers, and she now decided that she wasn’t going to be. Most game devs focus on imagining the most fantastical setup for their games. Many others focus on inventing complex game dynamics or hard-to-beat levels to elicit challenge from gamers. Ren decided to break both of these stereotypes. According to her, games don’t need to be hard or challenging. For her, gaming is a joy, so it is obvious that this joy should be as accessible to everyone as possible. Indeed, one of her motivations was to create a game so simple that even her best friend, who was always intimidated by video games, could play. Another of her core ideas was ditching fantasy premises for something very simple and realistic. For Ren, nothing is as interesting as the world around her. A regular worker, a normal teenager, the average neighbour – these concepts interest her more than anything else. She is always trying to take inspiration from everyday life events – both her own and of others – and incorporate them into games.
This is evident nowhere as much as in her game series, The Happy Life of a Salary Man. Since its release, the game has undergone continuous updates. But it has no levels, achievements, or scores. The game follows the everyday life of a regular white collar worker who is pretty content with his life. There are simple mechanics and actions to walk through minor challenges and inconveniences that might pop up randomly, but nothing too challenging. Because, as Yangying aptly puts it, this is precisely how real life is: a series of days sprinkled with minor variances, without any grand goal in the future or a score of previous achievements. Naturally, the concept resonated with players and critics alike. Apart from being a popular pick, the game has also won multiple accolades across mediums. These include the Muse Creative Award (Gold for website-games/games-related), the dotCOMM Award (Gold for Website Creativity – Interactive Capabilities), the W3 Award (Gold), the NYX Game Award (Silver for Game Design – Storyline), the Vega Digital Award (Silver for Games(campaign) – Social Impact as well as Silver for Games (campaign) – Indie), and the New York Digital Award (Silver for Website & Mobile Sites – Games & Gaming related).
Today, Yangying Ren works at Jam City in Los Angeles. Currently, she is working as a game designer on Disney Emoji Blitz, a popular game celebrating its 10th anniversary, where she strives to introduce new storylines and pacing structure to the beloved game.
Advice for aspiring developers
Yangying Ren has already made a name for herself, even though there are many more heights to conquer. But she hopes she can serve as an inspiration for aspiring game developers, especially girls. Her golden advice to them is “love, trust, breathe”. She believes developers must be in love with the world around them, because there is no better source of inspiration than the real world. She would advise young game developers to trust their instincts. Games are subjective; one game cannot be the benchmark for all games. Game Devs need to trust their own process and ideas rather than running after whatever is successful or trendy. Lastly, she advises aspiring game developers to never forget to take a breather. Inspiration and ideas could be infinite, but one cannot work indefinitely. It is crucial to pause and relax so you don’t burn out from the process.