Today we had our site visit to GlassEgg, a digital design company known for their video game designs of vehicles, characters, and environments. The design spaces that we got to see on the tour were very interesting because of their fun and collaborative nature. The spacious desk spaces were designed with functionality and teamwork in mind while all around the office there were figurines and posters relating to all the work GlassEgg has done. There was also a break room and a gym area for the designers where we learned that the company hosts weekly yoga sessions, available for free to all the employees. The tour guide also mentioned how remote workers can still come in and use the gym space at night. I learned that this use is rare though because GlassEgg has very few remote workers since the necessary state of the art technology available to employees at the office is not readily available for home use. This fact made Covid a challenging time for design studios across the world but GlassEgg adapted fast during the pandemic and had all of their office computers and equipment installed in employee’s homes. Because of this, GlassEgg was able to remain largely operational throughout the lockdown period which gave them a large advantage over their less resilient competitors. It is because of this adaptability and strong company culture that GlassEgg has been able to maintain their dominance at the top of the crowded game design industry. The effects of this culture are also further represented by the nearly 200 employees who have stayed at the company for 5 years or more, a staggering number considering that is nearly half of their total workforce. Despite GlassEgg’s resilience and strong company culture, they still face an array of challenges in the ever-changing world of game design. One challenge that the company said they were still adapting to was changing consumer preferences. The GlassEgg employee told us how in the past they would only be hired to design specific elements of an overall gamescape. For example they would be tasked with designing 20 individual trees as part of a much larger design project. However, now companies want the design studios to create more of the overall project at once which gives their games a more complete and less patchwork design feel. Therefore, where GlassEgg would have had to design 20 trees in the past, they now have to design 40 trees and also the surrounding landscape. This not only gives designers heavier workloads but also necessitates a need for more cross-discipline design, something that only a few employees have the individual capability for due to the high degree of specialization within the industry.

After the site visit we went to Trigger Boxing for our sports day with the UEF students. This was a completely new experience for me and represented another great opportunity to try something new. After the short boxing lesson we got to do some team-building games with the UEF students which was the highlight of the trip to the gym because we got to try some traditional Vietnamese primary school games such as juggling a shuttlecock. This was difficult but really fun once I got the hang of it and playing the games helped me learn more about how Vietnamese people grow up and spend their free time. While I am not personally a huge fan of boxing I was really intrigued with the boxing gym because they were marketed as the first major boxing gym in Vietnam. I also learned that their founder was a pioneer in bringing professional boxing to Vietnam which I could appreciate even as someone who isn’t a big fan. Overall Day 5 was very exhausting and I am looking forward to getting a little extra rest on the long trip to the Mekong Delta tomorrow.