Today we’d like to introduce you to John Wang.
Hi John, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My business partner and I met on the swim team during high school and decided to make games. Throughout the past 11 years, we’ve made and launched four games in total and are currently working on our largest game, which has received several publisher offers. We have decided to partner with Gamera Games from Japan to help launch Brave Eduardo.
I gave up on law school to work on game and VR development, which was particularly difficult for my conservative Asian parents. They followed the stereotypical understanding of how creatives will have a hard time in life. To a certain degree, I think they are right. It has been very difficult, especially since we failed for the majority of the years. On top of that, choosing this path has, at one point, really strained my family relationship to the point where I was exiled to Texas and ended up working as a hotel manager that belonged to my business partner’s family.
However, ever since we were hired by the University of Virginia’s civil engineering department to help with several Ph.D. students’ research, things have improved. My family began to understand my dedication, and I have also learned to be grateful for everything they have done. The attitude shift really brought our family back together, and they have been supportive ever since.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’m privileged to say my family has guaranteed my shelter, but they have also been the biggest obstacle thus far. I understand their frustration as well. Which conservative Asian family can accept their child ditching law school to make games?
I learned that, while it is hard for the older generation to “get me”, if I take my time to explain what I do in a hopeful but cautious way, they are willing to listen. I can’t simply expect people to understand what we do; it is up to us to win over people’s hearts.
These are the common struggles most first-generation minorities will face. Industry-wise, working on an indie game is also particularly difficult without a clear understanding of marketing or live-ops training. One of our mobile games, Mirablade, was at one point ranked 23 in Canada, 17 in the UK, and top 50 in around 20 countries. However, while we knew how to make a good game, we didn’t know how difficult it was to maintain a live service game and keep players happy at the same time with just three people.
So even when marketing was done correctly by chance, we still had a hard time capitalizing on it. I believe that, like many things, we are required to fail to gain the experience for success in the future.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We at Dot Dream make mobile/pc/console games and VR projects for Universities! We pride ourselves in our ability to create and complete large-scale games with such a small team.
We are currently working on a game where you play as a Teddy Bear in a victorian inspired world, a place plagued by political unrest and tribal conflict.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Good question, I believe the “completion of a project” matters to me the most. Throughout the past decade, we have met multiple incredibly talented studios and game developers who sat on innovative ideas. Since then, little to none of them have actually finished and released the game to the public.
If an idea is not executed fully to completion, it is just an idea, nothing more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dotdreamgames.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dotdreamdev/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DotDreamLLC/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DotDreamGames
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DotDreamStudio?app=desktop
- Other: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1962850/Brave_Eduardo/
Image Credits
John Wang
