Developer Spotlight: Eddie Lee, Funktronic Labs
The three main components of Funktronic Labs are technology, love, and magic which exactly what we like to hear from a developer “all about making games and creating magical experiences.”
Eddie Lee co-founded Funktronic Labs in 2013 and soon partnered with Leap Motion to bring Lotus to life, a mind-altering, interactive, audiovisual experience. Along with Lotus, Funktronic also developed Collider and Kyoto for the Leap Motion controller. Their latest project is Nova-111, a quirky sci-fi turn-based adventure game with real-time action.
In the past, Eddie Lee was a programmer for Japanese studio Q-Games where he worked on the Pixeljunk series, amongst others. We caught up with Eddie to ask a couple of questions about his work:
What does your work with Funktronic Labs entail?
I've founded Funktronic Labs with my longtime friend kalin. Our mission is to bring creative experiences through games and other interactive media. Currently we are focusing on wrapping up our current game Nova-111, which will launch in August 25th! After that, we have our sights on virtual reality.
What was it that drove you to game development?
I fell in love with games at a very young age and dreamt of one day making games. Unfortunately at a young age, I've never really considered it as a life path, mostly because I thought that all games were made in Japan. So I kind of drifting onto another direction. However, during time at University, I decided to make simple games in my free time. I got instantly hooked, and kept going down that road until it led me to where I am today.
What hardware/software do you usually use?
We use our own proprietary in-house engine called "FunkEngine". It is what we've used to build Nova-111 and we've been using it quite awhile on our previous projects as well. The engine is build in C++/OpenGL and has been ported to console platforms as well. After Nova-111, we plan to experiment with Unity, as that is what all the cool kids are doing nowadays, haha!
What misconceptions to people have about your job?
The misconception that most people have about game development is that making games is as fun as developing games. While it is true that game development is deeply rewarding and satisfying, it also require a lot of hard work and discipline; and at times, it can be extremely stressful. But in the end, it is definitely worth the effort.
What do you love most about your work?
What I love about game development is that it is an intersection of so many disciplines - game design, engineering, art, sound and of course business. Also, we can create worlds that players can experience in, which is definitely my favourite part of making games.
Do you have any advice for budding game developers?
My advice for budding game developers is just to simply make games. Make many small games, and try to reflect and refine your game development process during each project.