EVE Online -
CCP Games
I joined CCP to help rework the new player experience, which was still struggling to retain players getting started in the game even after nearly two decades of iteration. EVE Online is an extremely complex game unlike anything else, placing a heavy burden on new players who have a lot to learn before the game gets fun. My approach to this challenging problem was to defer as much mechanical complexity as possible and focus on a few core mechanics while immersing the player in a grander and more narratively impactful setting. The scope of this plan was well beyond what CCP had originally intended, however after making the case to the Creative Director and Executive Producer, resources were reallocated to ensure the project had what it needed to succeed.
Here you can compare the old tutorial to the new tutorial.
One of the biggest challenges for me in my time at CCP was securing the resources necessary to complete the work required. Icelandic culture is very nonhierarchical, which means building consensus is an absolute requirement. To achieve this I composed presentations illustrating the key changes that needed to be addressed, and contrasting these with the resource allocation that had previously been in place. Appealing to the company’s stated goal of ‘Embrace New Players’ as one of the wildly important goals I managed to get approval for restructuring teams and ensuring the new player experience was able to reach and in some ways exceed the standards of quality expected of the latest content EVE.
While every studio I have worked with has been diverse, with team members from all around the world, CCP was the first time I found myself as a foreigner having to adapt to a culture that was not my own. Working internationally has given me a deeper understanding of the challenges of working with diverse teams, and what works effectively to bring people together on a high profile project.