Glass Egg, too cool

Today was a little bit of a different day. Well, actually we started with the usual breakfast... but after that is when things got a little mixed up. We took a bus to the Jade Emperor Pagoda, which was really interesting. It has been around since about the 11th Century, but the expansion of Saigon had it tucked between houses and shops. Once entering the gates, the land has remained untouched... and people still come to visit regularly. It was very interesting to watch the people come in and out.

We then went to UEF to hear a lecture on the history and culture of Vietnam. This is one of the topics that I find very interesting, so I was enjoying the lecture very much. The professor also focused alot on beyond the city, because most of the citizens do live in the countryside. One of the most interesting points for me is the separation that still exists between north and south Vietnam. I don't want to speak to this point too much, other than that it exists... because I'm posting this on the internet.

We then went on a company visit to Glass Egg, a company that outsources video game art to major companies. Microsoft and Sony are their main customers. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures inside the company, because every project that they work on is completely confidential and copyright infringement is incredibly sensitive in their line of work. We did get to see everything and look over the workers shoulder's as they worked though, which was really cool.

The company began designing cars for games such as Forza (Microsoft). They began with just cars - and not fantasy games - because there was little room for interpretation on their designs. The client sends in a picture of a car, Glass Egg makes the car, and there is no subjectivity involved. As the company has grown, they have dabbled a little bit in fantasy games - but they prefer to remain in the areas where subjectivity and potential disagreement with a client is inexistent. They have made cars and tracks for all of the Forza games, and own exclusive rights to the recent Need for Speed games, meaning that they make all of the cars and tracks in those games.

The company style reminded me of what I've seen Google is set up like. The office is color coordinated, and the employees are all doing their work, but allowed flexibility of workspace... like personalizations, as well as listing to their own music and really being comfortable while they work. All of the work is done on computer animations and with computer designing... something that looked pretty complicated. In talking to the CEO Phil Tran and CFO Steve Green, they told us that when they go to hire employees, they do not care about coding and computer experience. They 100% care about the potential hire's artistic ability... "The computer design part of this can be taught. Anybody can learn that stuff, but the art is something that cannot be taught."

These two guys are very relaxed men, but also incredibly professional at the same time. Very down to earth guys running an incredibly successful company. Phil had an interesting experience when he was younger. His family were Southern Vietnamese and his father saw the risk as the war began to come to a close... which was happening very rapidly. Because of an emotionally charged letter that his father had written to a political friend in San Diego, his family was ensured safety in fleeing from the country. Phil and his family escaped Vietnam just 7 days before the Fall of Saigon. He said that if it weren't for that letter, he thinks he would currently be a waiter at a restaurant in Saigon (HCMC)... and not the incredibly successful and humble CEO that he is. While he was telling his story, our Vietnamese Professor began to tear up a little bit. Her family was also Southern Vietnamese but, unlike Phil, her family did not escape Saigon before the fall. Her father was a soldier for the south, and thus sent to a "re-education camp" after the fall. I found it incredibly interesting to see the two side by side and know that they were both in the same situation before the Fall, but came out with two drastically different results.

Tonight we are going to go to one of the Korean Barbecue places, and then to one of Phil's other investments... a club called "Lush," where he is the owner. It should be a fun night, word on the street is that we may receive some special VIP treatment.

This was a turtle outside the pagoda. It was about 2 feet long and was very stagnant.

Dessert today at lunch were huge plates of mangos. Yesterday it was mangos and pears, but they realized that we only ate the mangos... so they switched it up for us today.

This is in the entrance of Glass Egg... all of the video games that they've worked on. The ones in the frames are all of the Forza games. Other popular titles were Need for Speed and Battlefield 2.

View of Downtown HCMC from the Glass Egg office. If it weren't for all of the economic development, it would still be a full skyline picture, include the larger skyscrapers of District 1.