Roles on the Team:
Production:
Production Roles run the gamut from production coordinator to executive producer. People involved in game production are focused on managing and tracking the game's development and are the main intermediary between the development team and anyone external to the team, even studio management. Those in production roles should keep the team happy, motivated, and productive on the project. Production people are not normally responsible for actually creating game assets, as their main responsibility is to effectively manage the people creating the content. This management keeps the team's time focused on actually completing game tasks instead of tracking schedules, dealing with personnel issues, managing external vendors, negotiating contracts, proof-reading marketing copy, and anything else external to creating game content.
Three basic roles exist, although the names may vary from company to company:
- Executive producer
- Producer
- Associate producer
Art:
Artists are responsible for creating all of the graphic assets for the game – characters, cinematics, vehicles, buildings, and levels. As technology improves, the quality of the assets must match the advancement, especially for next-generation hardware. These machines have more memory, processing power, and storage space, which gives the artists the opportunity to create highly detailed objects, realistic-looking terrain and water, and special effects for explosions and weather that are comparable to those found in the real world.
Artists work closely with the designers on the objects, worlds, and cinematics that are needed and also work with engineering to determine how to utilise the technology most effectively in the art production pipeline. If a large number of art assets needs to be created, artists are likely to outnumber other team members by two to one. Each team might have different titles for the art positions on a development team. The basic art positions are as follows:
- Art director – The art director's main function is communicating the artistic vision to the team. This person is skilled in all aspects of creating digital art and is responsible for ensuring that all of the artistic assets relate to each other within the game. An art director is a very skilled and respected artist who has 5 to 10 years of work experience. Not all projects will have an art director on the team.
- Lead artist – The lead artist works closely with the art director to ensure that the artistic vision is maintained throughout the development process. The lead manages the quality of the art assets and the day-to-day tasks of the team and is a go-between for the art director and the art team. This facilitation allows the art director to focus on the creative aspects of the game instead of managing personnel. If the team has no art director, the lead artist assumes the responsibility for defining the artistic vision. The lead artist is an experienced and respected artist with at least 3 to 5 years of game development experience.
- Concept artist – Concept artists are visionaries. They are responsible for creating concepts of all of the art assets before they are produced. They are skilled in 2D art, traditional drawing and painting methods, and sometimes 3D art. They work directly with the art director in creating and documenting the artistic vision of the game.
- World builder or level designer – The world builders or level designers are responsible for building the geometry and creating the textures for the game world. They are skilled in 2D and 3D art, and have an understanding of level design. In some companies, this position is considered to be a design position, as the gameplay is heavily impacted by the way the game world is mapped out.
- Asset artist – The asset artist has 2D and 3D art skills and is responsible for creating the assets that appear in the game world. These include such things as characters, weapons, vehicles, props, user interface screens, and any other necessary game assets. Some asset artists will specialise in a particular type of asset, such as vehicles.
- Animator – Animators are responsible for creating all the in-game and cinematic animations. They need to be skilled in traditional 2D and 3D animation. However, 3D animation is more desirable for game development, especially to take advantage of the latest technology.
- Technical artist – Technical artists manage the technical side of asset creation, such as creating collision volumes, making sure that objects are exported correctly, and applying physical attributes to an object. They will work closely with engineering on the art tools and art pipeline and, therefore, need to have enough technical knowledge to communicate with engineers.
- Marketing artist – Marketing artists create all the marketing assets for the game. These activities include taking game screenshots, assembling gameplay videos, and creating high-resolution art, packaging, and anything else that marketing needs to promote the game. These artists are usually skilled in 2D art, with some knowledge of 3D art.
Engineering:
Engineers are involved in every aspect of the game – graphics, animation, scripting tools, physics, user interface, sound, and more – and are responsible for creating all the code that makes the game work. They must start with design documents, define the necessary functionality, write code that creates the functionality, and then revise the functionality based on feedback. They also work closely with the art team to determine the technical art needs for the game.
Game engineering is much different from engineering business software, especially with regard to the high priority placed on creating an entertaining software package. Game engineers usually have a passion for games and understand the unique skills required for this position. Game engineers must be able to work well with creative types, managers, and other engineers on a project so the team can realise the vision of the game. The basic engineering roles on each game project are as follows:
- Technical director – The technical director is a counterpart to the art director. The technical director must be knowledgeable of the latest technology and determine how it can best be used in the game code. Technical directors focus some of their time on research and development and are ultimately responsible for setting the coding standards, determining which technologies are used in the game, coding and maintaining libraries, and so on. Not all projects have a technical director. A technical director must be a skilled engineer with at least 5 to 10 years of experience.
- Lead engineer – The lead engineer is responsible for managing the day-to-day tasks of the team. The lead also works closely with the technical director to determine what technologies are needed for the game. The lead may or may not have a chance to actually create code for the game, as it depends on how busy he or she is managing the engineers. If there is no technical director on the team, the lead engineer is responsible for setting the technical standards of the game. A lead has 3 to 5 years of experience, general knowledge of all areas of game technology, and good communication skills.
- Engineer - “Engineer” is a general title for a role that can have many variations within a development team. Many game engineers are well versed in several areas of programming but will probably choose to focus on one or two specialties. However, engineers need to be flexible enough to move out of their specialised areas to work in other areas if needed.
Some basic engineering roles on a development team are as follows:
- Networking engineer: The networking engineer is responsible for creating multiplayer code. This person works closely with the multiplayer designer to ensure that all the necessary gameplay functionality is supported.
- Sound engineer: The sound engineer focuses on creating the sound engine for the game. This person works closely with the sound designer to make sure that the sound engine can support the desired sound features for the game.
- Graphics engineer: The graphics engineer is responsible for creating the graphics code. This person works closely with the technical artist on the art tools and art production pipeline.
- Tools engineer: The tools engineer is responsible for creating the proprietary tools used during game development. These tools include scripting, lighting, exporters, localisation tools, and any other tools that can be coded to streamline the game production pipeline. This person will work with many different people on the team to get an understanding of what tools are needed.
- AI engineer: The AI engineer focuses on the artificial intelligence (AI) behaviours in the game. This person works closely with the design team to identify the behaviours and functionality that are needed for the characters in the game.
Design:
The game design team is responsible for developing, documenting, and scripting the core concept for a game. This concept can originate with the design team, creative director, studio management, publisher, or a combination of these and other team members. The design process varies from company to company, as each has its own procedures and role definitions.
Designers have a broad range of responsibilities on a development team, such as designing the game's control scheme, creating the characters' backgrounds and personalities, and designing the combat system. Ultimately, they are responsible for creating a compelling and immersive gameplay experience. To accomplish this goal, designers must work closely with artists and engineers to determine how to utilise art and technology to best bring the game to life.
Designers are involved in the game production process from start to finish. In pre-production, they are brainstorming and prototyping potential gameplay ideas and then documenting the ones that will work best within the game's limitations. During production, they are implementing the game design, which includes scripting missions, writing dialogue, and play-testing. Their duties also include incorporating feedback and redesigning certain aspects of the game when necessary. In addition, designers must work cooperatively with the other team members throughout the development process. The basic design positions on a development team are as follows:
- Creative director – Each development team will interpret the role and responsibility of a creative director differently. Normally the creative director is responsible for communicating the overall creative vision to the team and ensuring that this vision is carried through to every aspect of the game.
To be successful at this position, the creative director must interact with many different team members. The creative director ensures that the environments, characters, music, dialogue, and gameplay all work together to form a cohesive whole. It is important to note that the creative director does not assume the role of the art director, but rather works closely with the art director in determining the look and feel of the game. Not all projects have creative directors. Someone in this position usually has 5 to 10 years of work experience and lead design experience on several shipped titles.
- Lead designer – The lead designer is responsible for managing the day-to-day tasks of the design team and acting as a go-between for the creative director and designers. The lead designer directs the design team in documenting the design concepts, prototyping gameplay, implementing design features, balancing gameplay, and redesigning features as needed. If the team has no creative director, the lead designer is responsible for communicating the creative vision. A lead designer usually has at least 3 to 5 years of design experience.
- Designer - “Designer” is a general title for a role that has different functions on a team. The designer is responsible for creating, prototyping, implementing, and balancing different areas of the game, depending on his or her expertise. A few types of designers on a team are as follows:
- Systems designer: This person designs the system components within the gameplay. Examples include the scoring system, the combat model, the controller scheme, and the character creation system.
- UI designer: This person designs the game's user interface including how the UI screens will function and fit together in the game.
- Level designer: Also known as a world builder, this person creates the level layouts for the game. Some developers consider this to be an art position rather than a design position. In some instances, the designer creates the level designs on paper and then an artist builds the levels.
- Scripter: This person places the interactive objects and enemies in the levels. Essentially, he or she controls how many enemies a player will face, where the gameplay challenges appear in a level, how non-player characters will interact with the player's character, and so on.
- Writer – The writer is responsible for creating the story elements, characters and dialogue for the game. The write interacts closely with the lead designer and/or creative director to ensure that these elements are in keeping with the game's creative vision. The writer also writes marketing and PR copy, website content, the manual, and anything else that needs to be written related to the game. Writers must have experience in creative writing and writing for interactive media.
Quality Assurance Testing:
Quality Assurance (QA) testers are a vital part of the game development process and are involved in play-testing and finding defects in the game. Testers usually begin their work in the production phase, after playable game builds are available. They are involved in the development process until the end and are often the last people to finish working on the game. Testers work closely with all members of the development team and are a good resource for testing prototypes and new features. The basic testing roles include the following:
- Lead QA tester – The Lead QA tester works closely with the producer and other leads on a project to evaluate the game's features from a testing point of view. For example, if the game is going to feature 50 variables for creating a character, the lead QA tester will estimate how long these variables will take to test and then most likely suggest that the number be greatly reduced to save on testing time. This recommendation might be because testing combinations of different variables can quickly eat up valuable time, which is needed for testing other areas of the game. The lead QA tester also determines, along with the producer and leads, when the game is ready to be code released.The lead QA tester is responsible for writing the game's test plan. To do this, he or she must know exactly how every part of the game functions so these details can be included in the test plan. Finally, the lead QA tester manages all the testers and assigns them specific areas of the test plan to check. A lead QA tester should have 2 to 3 years of experience as a QA tester.
- QA tester – QA testers are responsible for checking the game's functionality against the test plan, testing new features and prototypes, and finding defects in the game software. In addition, they check that the game meets all of the console manufacturer's technical requirements. They spend the majority of their workday actually playing the game and, therefore have informed opinions on the overall fun factor.
Corporate:
Any full list of game credits includes recognition of all the corporate people who are integral to creating and launching a successful game. People in these roles are usually working for the publisher, and are responsible for creating the packaging, marketing campaign, sales plan, and anything else that supplements the actual game. These people normally communicate with the producer and are treated as external members of the development team. These departments include the following:
- Marketing and public relations – The main responsibility of the marketing department is to market the game to the target consumer. Their challenge is building a compelling marketing campaign around the game's features, story, and gameplay experience that entices players to buy the game. To be most effective, marketing should be involved with the game during pre-production. This involvement gives them the opportunity to suggest features and other ways to make the game more marketable. For example, they might suggest using licensed music from a popular band, casting celebrity voices, or adding some unique new gameplay features.Public relations is responsible for generating publicity for the game through websites, magazines, and television spots. This process includes setting up interviews with the development team and organising press tours for the game. In addition, they create unique publicity events to get players to ask questions about the game. Marketing and public relations work together closely to ensure that they are presenting a unified vision of the game to the target audience.
- Creative services – Creative services works closely with the marketing department to create the packaging and manual for the game. After the look and feel of the packaging is decided, creative services generates the necessary assets, creates the final layout, and coordinates the printing of all the materials.Because the producer is more familiar with the game than someone in the creative services department, the producer is expected to provide the manual text, screenshots, and other game assets for the printed materials.
- Sales – The sales department is responsible for selling the game to retail stores, such as Walmart, EB Games, and Best Buy, as well as online providers, such as IGN's Direct2Drive. They also determine whether special editions of the game can be created to increase sales. For example, a special edition of the game may be created that includes game-related merchandise, a strategy guide, and other premiums.
The specific roles I would like to focus on are as follows:
- Art Director // Lead Artist – once I have enough experience, I would like to work up to a lead role in this area.
- Creative Director // Lead Designer – this is again something I would like to consider once I have the required experience.
- Concept Artist
- Designer (Systems Designer, UI Designer, Level Designer)
- Writer
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