After a full business week in Việt Nam, I’m going through video games withdrawal. Okay, well, not really. But if I did, I would have gotten my fix by learning about the work Glass Egg does at our site visit today.
Glass Egg is an art studio that helps develops models for various video games. I’ve probably spent an embarrassingly long time playing with the models they’ve created. They’ve produced for many AAA titles, such as Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and the Forza series (vehicles are their speciality). They are ubiquitous in the gaming industry as they have enjoyed immense success in recent years. After touring their studio, it is easy to see why. One of the key reasons, I believe, is their emphasis on employee happiness. At the front desk, they have a sign that reads “Be Happy — Be Happier”, and this could not symbolize the company’s attitudes towards employees more. Each employee had luxurious desk space, as many monitors as they needed, and were free to decorate to their heart’s content. There was foosball and pool in a corner of the workspace. There was a dedicated meditation/nap/exercise room with a beautiful view of the city as we were on the 18th floor. Little things like these have been proven to make a difference and they certainly have in Glass Egg. When your employees want to work and are happy doing so, you are able to gain a noteworthy presence in a competitive market like video game art.
However, by now, you may have noticed the elephant in the room, and no, it’s not the kind rendered by Glass Egg. It’s AI. Graphic design, especially, is one of the fields in the robotic sights of ChatGPT. While current models fail to render models that are not trivially distinguishable from human-made models, the time is ticking until AI is good enough to nearly indistinguishably recreate the work a company like Glass Egg does. However, I believe Glass Egg is in a good spot in this regard.
With AI, previously easy tasks will be automated, hard tasks are going to become easy, and impossible tasks are going to become the new hard. Therefore, I believe mastery in this profession will be needed to stay on top of the market. While the uber-talented fresh graduates will be in short supply, it will be possible to develop potential employees into masters. Since Glass Egg values employee happiness, many of their employees stay for a long time: the figure quoted during our site visit was over 170 employees out of 400 having stayed 10+ years. With an experienced team, entry-level workers will be able to learn better and become masters and stay on top. I am very excited to keep up with the work Glass Egg will do as their field is impacted by AI.
On other fronts, today marked day 5 — one week from now, I’ll almost be back in Pittsburgh. Time is flying, so I’d like to appreciate some highlights of my trip so far. One highlight has been the coffee. Vietnamese coffee is much more rich than American Coffee with a more tropical taste.
Another highlight has been the food. Vietnamese cuisine is one of the healthiest and most delicious. My favorite food has been Pho. It has a very comforting aura and is overall very enjoyable to eat.
