Gaming, Innovation, and Collaboration: Insights from Lightneer's Tech Team

Mobile gaming has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment worldwide, and
behind every successful mobile game, in addition to Game Designers and Devs there is a dedicated
team of tech experts working tirelessly to create an immersive and engaging experience for
players. At Lightneer, our Tech Team is at the heart of the company’s success. Their expertise and
creativity have helped Lightneer develop hit games which have garnered millions of downloads.

To gain insights into the workings of Lightneer’s Tech Team and its impact on the company’s
success, we sat down for an interview with them and in this blog post, we’ll share some of the key
takeaways from our interview, hopefully providing a glimpse into the world of mobile gaming and
the pivotal role that tech plays in creating and delivering memorable gaming experiences.
Whether you’re a gaming enthusiast, a tech professional, or simply curious about the intersection
of technology and entertainment, we hope you’ll find this post informative and engaging.

Lightneer’s Tech Team consists of two skilled professionals, an IT specialist and a Tech Lead who
organize the team’s tasks and keep the cloud machines and pipelines up and running. Together
they have 5 years of work experience.

When asked to describe a normal working day, the answer was clear – it starts with making the
coffee. After caffeine loading, the day typically begins with checking emails, ensuring that the
machines and pipelines are functioning correctly, and unloading the Slack message stack. “It’s
important to have an overview of where we are with each project, what we have achieved and
what we have finished”, they explain. They have daily meetings to plan their tasks, but there’s also
a lot of spontaneous work involved, and plans often change at short notice due to urgent support
jobs or ST code updates not working.

From a Tech Lead POV, this is the most challenging part of the job, as they have to balance their long-term plans with the day-to-day changes that require
more attention. From planning everything by dates, to letting things now happen more on their
own, after the team realized that there’s quite a lot of flow and change that breaks that focus.
Team highlights that one of the challenges in the industry is related to its rapid evolution. “It feels
like every week is full of new challenges because the industry is constantly evolving. It can be
overwhelming, but the challenges are good, and we have to keep pushing forward.” At the time of
the interview, there was also an intern present who gave their perspective on the job. “I do pretty
much the same things as the Tech Lead, but maybe the easier ones”, the intern says.

What makes a lead a Good Lead? According to the Tech Lead at Lightneer, the starting point is
always good communication. “We would start from a certain kind of openness, so that the team
spirit can be maintained and we can talk about everything. Of course, there will always be more
difficult topics, but we believe that openness creates a basis for working through them together.”
It’s also important to keep the doors open in the other direction. “As a lead, you have to be open
to feedback about yourself.”

Another thing that is emphasized is a learned skill, in this case, organization. “It doesn’t necessarily
come naturally, but it’s completely learnable. We go back to that road map again and the daily
planning and scheduling. How to keep the palette together when changes come and keep the
focus on priorities.” Of course, it’s also good to have a basic understanding of tech skills.

The golden question that has been discussed with the CEO, Game Designers, and Head of Growth
alike is: What impact has the new strategy of moving from Hyper Casual games to Hybrid Casuals
and self-publishing had on the Tech Team and its operations? Team states that the change hasn’t
directly affected their work, as the shift to Hybrid Casuals only extends the production times of the
games.

However, the self-publishing aspect is the biggest reform. During times of change, it’s important to
be able to raise your hand when your own skills are not enough and ask for advice from those
around you who are more experienced. With the change, the Tech Team has started to build its
own analytics pipeline, and there are many new aspects to it, such as how to leverage the back
end more.

Additionally, the requirements for games are growing and changing, so the back end requirements
will also be different in the future, and more will be built. This is something that publishers have
done before, and now in the self-publishing phase, the team is doing it themselves. They are also
facing a certain increase in the level of risk in this change of strategy, as the focus is more on
service and the back end, which can create a certain amount of pressure. “These are things that
publishers have done for us before, and of course now in the self-publishing phase we’re doing it
ourselves. We’re getting a combination to go deeper into the cloud and the back end.”

The Tech Team likes a challenge, which is a great strength in such a big change. But it’s also good
to take good care of yourself outside of work. “In general, we’ve been trying to rest more and get
the rhythm of our days more efficient, to serve that wellbeing, so that we can get more done in
less time. In general, finding recovery mechanisms that suit myself has been important.”

The team is striving to incorporate more physical activity into their routine and also recognizes the
importance of not neglecting meditation. It appears that they are motivated to continue their
efforts and make progress.

Read more about the Lightneer teams on social media
Instagram Facebook Linkedin