Sony Research and Development: Yunpeng Zhu
He’s behind the scenes helping create tools that will drive the PlayStation 3’s next generation of powerful software.
Full Sail grad Yunpeng Zhu creates gaming tools for Sony's Research and Development department.
Full Sail Game Development students have a wide range of careers to choose from after graduation—2006 Game Development grad Yunpeng Zhu decided to take his training to one of the most technically savvy areas of the industry. The hardcore coder at heart secured himself a job at Sony’s prestigious Research and Development department where he’s currently helping build the latest development tools for the next wave of PlayStation 3 games.
Yunpeng’s job at Sony entails a lot of developer support, which means that about 90 percent of his work involves the development of tools used to make the latest PS3 games. “I create code libraries for software developers to use, so I get to see a lot of cool stuff that other people don’t even know about yet,” he explains. “I really love coming up with new things to make the system more fun and accessible for everybody because it has so much power to deliver amazing content!”
And while landing a tech-heavy job with one of the biggest names in home entertainment might seem intimidating for a new grad, Yunpeng stepped right up as a software developer on one of their most unique projects, Folding@Home. The project, part of Sony’s groundbreaking partnership with Stanford University, involved researching diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
“It’s a little technical, but basically Folding@Home is Sony’s cooperation with Stanford to simulate protein folding (the physical process by which a protein folds into its characteristic three-dimensional structure),” he explains. Folding@Home allowed Yunpeng to contribute to this important cause, while also getting familiar with the powerful Cell Processor that drives the PlayStation 3’s hardware. “And normally you would do that kind of work with regular PCs and graphics cards, but it takes a long time to do!” Using the Cell Processor dramatically reduced the time it took to make calculations, plus, “the experience was really fulfilling, and also a great starting point for me at the time,” he shares. “It got me to learn how everything works on the PS3, and was great research on different ways to use the Cell Processor.”
These days, Yunpeng puts his experience toward helping create the software that millions of gamers around the world will soon find in their gaming consoles. A 180 degree shift from his initial work at the company, Yunpeng is currently assigned to a top-secret project for Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming division, and while he couldn’t reveal too much about the software code, his excitement speaks volumes about what gaming fans can expect from the next-generation of the PlayStation brand.
“The internal power of the PlayStation 3 is just incredible, and can run a lot of different modules on it simultaneously without any slow downs, which is so important for gaming,” he explains. “What I’m working on now is very new, and something that hasn’t been seen on any other console before—and I love that I get to focus all my creativity into a project like this! It actually reminds me of being in a Full Sail class, because I’m involved in the whole nine yards of development. We’re making a prototype, then testing the hardware, and then porting it onto the PS3 console—just like we did in the Final Project class!”
After almost half a year at Sony, Yunpeng still gets a thrill from the power of the PlayStation 3’s hardware and the opportunity to explore the possibilities it holds for the future of the industry. But, the best part is that this lifelong gamer finally gets to make a difference on the other side of the screen.
“I love video games even more now after being in this industry because I can actually take what I learned at Full Sail and use my ideas and make them into reality for everyone else,” he says smiling. “That’s really the most rewarding thing for me about working at a game company—because I’ve been playing video games ever since I was five years old, and I would think ‘Wow, I’d love to see my name on the credits!’ And now here I am right now doing it!”
Yunpeng’s job at Sony entails a lot of developer support, which means that about 90 percent of his work involves the development of tools used to make the latest PS3 games. “I create code libraries for software developers to use, so I get to see a lot of cool stuff that other people don’t even know about yet,” he explains. “I really love coming up with new things to make the system more fun and accessible for everybody because it has so much power to deliver amazing content!”
And while landing a tech-heavy job with one of the biggest names in home entertainment might seem intimidating for a new grad, Yunpeng stepped right up as a software developer on one of their most unique projects, Folding@Home. The project, part of Sony’s groundbreaking partnership with Stanford University, involved researching diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
“It’s a little technical, but basically Folding@Home is Sony’s cooperation with Stanford to simulate protein folding (the physical process by which a protein folds into its characteristic three-dimensional structure),” he explains. Folding@Home allowed Yunpeng to contribute to this important cause, while also getting familiar with the powerful Cell Processor that drives the PlayStation 3’s hardware. “And normally you would do that kind of work with regular PCs and graphics cards, but it takes a long time to do!” Using the Cell Processor dramatically reduced the time it took to make calculations, plus, “the experience was really fulfilling, and also a great starting point for me at the time,” he shares. “It got me to learn how everything works on the PS3, and was great research on different ways to use the Cell Processor.”
I love video games even more now after being in this industry because I can actually take what I learned at Full Sail and use my ideas and make them into reality for everyone else.
Yunpeng Zhu
“The internal power of the PlayStation 3 is just incredible, and can run a lot of different modules on it simultaneously without any slow downs, which is so important for gaming,” he explains. “What I’m working on now is very new, and something that hasn’t been seen on any other console before—and I love that I get to focus all my creativity into a project like this! It actually reminds me of being in a Full Sail class, because I’m involved in the whole nine yards of development. We’re making a prototype, then testing the hardware, and then porting it onto the PS3 console—just like we did in the Final Project class!”
After almost half a year at Sony, Yunpeng still gets a thrill from the power of the PlayStation 3’s hardware and the opportunity to explore the possibilities it holds for the future of the industry. But, the best part is that this lifelong gamer finally gets to make a difference on the other side of the screen.
“I love video games even more now after being in this industry because I can actually take what I learned at Full Sail and use my ideas and make them into reality for everyone else,” he says smiling. “That’s really the most rewarding thing for me about working at a game company—because I’ve been playing video games ever since I was five years old, and I would think ‘Wow, I’d love to see my name on the credits!’ And now here I am right now doing it!”
