Getting to know Robert Junges

Last week, I posted an article written by Robert Junges. Now it is time to get to know Robert Junges.

Robert, what gets you excited to wake up and get your day started with DICE?

Games have always been a part of my life. It is a privilege to work with that and have the creative freedom to explore my ideas and feel that I can contribute to a product that I also consume. With all the tools we have available to us, there is always a short distance between having an idea, implementing it, and testing it with the team. This quick turnaround allows for exploration and iteration in search of the best gameplay, which motivates me a lot.

Also, in a game development studio, you have the chance to work with people from many different areas: different engineering specialties, art, design, audio, etc. Everyone has their part in the game and their view of how things should be developed, which is always interesting to discuss. It's different from other industries where, as an engineer, I'd be working mostly, or exclusively, with other like-minded engineers.

I see you left DICE but returned after a while. What brought you back to DICE?

DICE has always felt like a second home to me. Since I started, I've made many friends and learned to appreciate very much the open and friendly work environment that we have. I also feel that I've always made myself useful in our projects, and had the opportunity to make clear, important contributions to the games we released. This experience was important to me when considering different options, and I'm glad I made this choice.

Why do you love AI?

I think it's primarily the curiosity of how we make our decisions, what strategies we use, and how that can be engineered.

That's what led me in the past to get an education in AI, and now to prefer working with AI in our games.

Games are an excellent platform for applying AI techniques, be they traditional or machine learning techniques.

There is a huge variety of domains to explore in games and established tools you can build upon to quickly prototype your solutions.

Where do you see AI heading in the gaming industry?

AI will become more personal. It will adapt to the player beyond what we can do today with traditional AI techniques and the current computing resources.

There are examples of that already being demonstrated in our industry, such as AI that can, using machine learning techniques, generate dialog and voice-over audio that matches what the player is asking. It makes interactions more personal and allows custom gameplay per player and per play session to be created.

Machine learning contributing to content generation will eventually become a part of all games, allowing for more variety, replayability, and time savings during development.

What is your advice to young professionals who want to get into gaming?

Explore the free resources available online for learning, get your hands on, and familiarize yourself with one of the many open and free game engines out there: use it to test your ideas and build experience.?

Get in touch with other game development professionals if possible.?

This is a profession driven by passion. People will be happy to interact if you show interest and passion as well.