Renegade X: A Malaysian developer on working with a team across the world

Have you heard of Renegade X? The tactical shooter is a fan-made remake of Command & Conquer: Renegade, a spinoff from the real-time strategy Command & Conquer series from EA Games.

EA Games gave permission to Renegade X’s development team to set the game in the Command & Conquer universe. But that’s not what’s interesting about it. The Renegade X development team, Totem Arts, was established in 2006, but is not actually a company. Instead, Totem Arts is a group of freelancers, volunteers, and gamers.

Shahman Teh.

Malaysia’s Shahman Teh, based on Penang Island, is a part of this group, and has shared a little bit about how the collaboration worked out.

25-year-old Teh is a video game developer by training. Describing himself as “just a dude who can do programming and [is] able to think and analyze game design mechanics,” he submitted his application to Totem Arts back in October 2012. However, it wasn’t until nearly six months later that Totem Arts responded. At that time, the team was looking for a UI/UX designer who could also work on Autodesk Scaleform. This person had to love the original Renegade game. Teh was a fit, and was inducted into the team.

Teh’s role in Totem Arts was to get the user interface fully functional within the Unreal Development Kit through Scaleform integration. He also oversaw the game’s UI implementation and resolved feedback regarding UI with the rest of the team.

How things worked

However, fitting into the multinational Totem Arts was not easy for Teh, who claims he was inexperienced when he first joined. Since the majority of Totem Arts was based on the other side of the globe, Teh had to work within their timezone, even more so when milestones and the final launch drew nearer.

“Tying this with a day job is the hardest thing to do,” says Teh. He also acknowledges that everyone knew how important their role was, and when it came to crunch time, things simply had to get done no matter what.

Still, Teh reflects positively on his continuous experience working at Totem Arts. “It is definitely an eye-opening experience to be in a team that’s so active in development,” he says. Teh adds that the diversity of each team member’s role makes personal interaction interesting.

“At times, it was casual and fun with them, but there are tough times too, which you have to steel your heart indefinitely, and all that has paid off when we first released our public beta. No words can describe that feeling when you’re work has been mentioned in any game site, any developer, and Youtubers, it was amazing.”

Communication is paramount