Understanding this divide between large and small companies can impact your decisions about what kind of job you want to look for. If you're happy doing one specific job function and sticking with that, then looking at larger companies should appeal to you. However, if you like to do a variety of tasks for a game, then working on your own or seeking a job with a smaller company that looks for multitasking folks could be the way to go. For more information on entry-level jobs and working in the industry, see Appendix B, “Education, Training, and Working in Games.”

The following is a partial list of some of the common jobs you'll find in this industry:

• Game developer
• Game designer
• Creative director
• Producer
• Art director
• Leads
• Audio director
• Animation director
• Writer
• Level designer
• System designer
• Interface designer
• World builder
• Q/A (tester)
• Technical director
• Programmer
• Animator
• Modeler
• Rigger

Game Developer

Game developer is a comprehensive, overarching term for the person in charge of almost any aspect of game design and production. If you want to design and then build your own game, you'll be a game developer. Within the industry, though, the developer can also work with others in a group of other developers or specialties associated with design and production in a larger company.

In smaller companies, the developer and designer positions can be covered by one person.

Game Designer

The designer comes up with ideas and can create art/concepts and playable demos (even the final finished game). They also understand the different platforms such as computer, handheld, console, arcade, mobile, other wireless apps and Internet games, and programming. Therefore, this person needs to remain current with technology and what the demographic the game is targeting looks for in a game. Designers tend to also stay as current as possible with trends in the industry—what kinds of games people like to play and the platforms they like to play them on.

Creative Director

The role of the creative director is to oversee and assist with developing the overall look and feel of the game during development. This work includes development of the art, animation, and sound, and making any decisions that can affect the gameplay. In addition, as builds are created that can be used to start testing the gameplay, decisions are made about how to possibly redesign weaker aspects of the game, and the creative director is responsible for overseeing that work.

In larger companies, this person may work with a core team of developers, coming up with the art, audio, and other elements that will go into the game. Other companies defer these duties to the lead artists, producers, and programmers.

Producer

The job of the producer is essentially overseeing the entire production process. Unlike in other creative industries, such as film and television, the game producer is primarily a project manager responsible for maintaining budgets and timely delivery of milestones and the final product. Again, depending on the size and scope of the project, the tasks that fall to this person can vary. For the most part, their biggest responsibility is seeing that the production stays on schedule and within budget. Successful producers have to be good managers who can have both the big picture and the details in mind at all times—not an easy task.

In a real sense, the producer is the senior or lead manager on a project and coordinates the discipline managers, such as the technical director and art director. Of course, this can vary depending on the team or studio. EA, for example, has producers who oversee budgets and timelines, and others who oversee content production.

Art Director

The art director is usually involved in all stages of the project, from working on the early concepts (look) of the game to post-production work with marketing and everything in between. The role of the art director is often extremely critical to the successful look and feel of a game. Art directors have even been known to create the packaging for the game they helped to build.

Often, the art director comes up with guides for the artists that contain specific color palettes, textures, and methods for drawing and painting. This is one of the most critical jobs for which art directors are responsible. They're tasked with creating a style guide for the game that lists all the things just mentioned. The style guide sets the game's overall look and feel.

The art director also serves as a mentor to those on the crew. Mentoring is an often overlooked aspect of the job. However, it can be an enormous part of what this person does, so being able to work well with others and communicate clearly and effectively is a must.

Leads

There may be a team of artists with a lead creating the art and assets for one level of the game, while another team and its lead are tasked with creating art and assets for other sections of the game, including cinematics, advertising, introductory panels, and so on. The larger a project is, the more likely it is that dozens of people will be brought on board to complete the work; these miniteams for animation, audio, programming, art, and so on may have their own leads who take direction from the art director to keep everything on track time-wise and style-wise.

Audio Director

As described in Chapter 8, “Sound,” the audio director (or producer) oversees work on the ambient sounds, scores, recorded dialogue, sound effects, and interactive sound elements for the game. Their role is quite large; they come on board at the outset when the concept work is created, because unique audio needs to be created for each original project.

Often, the audio director also works with the programmers to come up with ways to use sounds to help drive the gameplay. Remember that gameplay is paramount. It has to work; and being able to develop the right amount of layered sound to introduce key moments in the game, or devise a fun and unique sound for buttons on the interface, or write the opening score for the game can help create a signature for that project.

Animation Director

This person needs to have a solid understanding of the principles of animation. They're often selected for a project depending on their specialty in 2D or 3D animation, although in this day and age, most have knowledge and skill in both areas, including motion capture. This person works with a tasks-and-needs analysis for all moving elements in the game and determines the best way to produce them. A tasks-and-needs analysis is essentially another way to list assets that are required so they can be examined logically. For example, a tasks-and-needs analysis of a character might look like this:

Needs:

• walk
• swim
• fly
• cast five different types of spells

Tasks:

• walk cycle
• swim cycle
• fly cycle, including takeoff and landing
• unique movements to indicate a spell is being cast
• fire
• ice
• stun
• fear
• sleep

The tasks and needs analysis is constantly being revised through all phases of game production. More than one type of cycle might need to be created to allow for random movements during gameplay to help keep things fresh. If the character casts spells, then some of those might be removed, added to, or revised.

An animation director's skills and abilities are firmly rooted in the basics of knowing what animation is all about: squash and stretch, holds, cycles, frame rates, and so on. During any production, the animation may require different frame rates. And if the object being animated is created in 3D, the animation director needs to work closely with the modelers to be sure the poly count used to build the model will allow for the type of movement required.

Animation extends to the interface as well as technical animation. The interface may need special effects to show buttons being pushed or menus creatively swapping about.

Technical animation can include weather, the movement of foliage blowing in the breeze, cycles showing water moving on a river, and other secondary animations such as birds flying in the sky or rabbits bouncing about in the background.

Because this person works on sorting out the tasks and needs for each item to be animated, they tend to work closely with any animators on the team—just as the art director works with artists—to mentor and make decisions about reworking the animation if the initial attempt doesn't look or feel quite right.

Writer

Although this position sounds like it might be the first and most important one for any project, it tends to fall in behind game designer and developer. The following are the two biggest tasks for the game writer

Narrative Writing Develop the story/lore of the game

Dialogue Writing Create character dialogue

Sometimes the dialogue is combined with the narrative, but they really are two specific specialties. Large production teams have writers tasked to both items. Small teams usually combine these roles.

Writers may be brought onto a project as well to help with the more technical aspects of the project. Some of these duties include the following:

Manual Writer Write specific instructions to teach gamers how to play the game

Support of Game Design and Gameplay Produce any and all writing related to the game, including press releases and revisions to the Game Design Document (GDD)

Translator Translate the game into other languages. The final text documents from the project are prepared by the game writer and sent to the technical writer for this part of the process.

Level Designer

The level designer focuses on a specific section of the game to help create its look and scenarios. Often, this means working on the art for a section of the world, such as a town, and then determining where key actions will take place in that location.

Figure 9.1 shows a level design for the game Vostok and maps out quite clearly what the locations are and their purpose. The level designer works with these physical locations to assign where specific actions need to take place that are in line with what the story indicates and how to help advance the gameplay.

FIGURE 9.1 In this map, the level designer has determined where key actions need to take place in order to facilitate the gameplay.

System Designer

The system designer devises mechanics that result in good gameplay. The mechanics are the constructs of rules and feedback loops built into the game. Another way to look at how mechanics work is this: a player performs an action in the game, that action causes an effect, and from that effect the player receives feedback. That feedback provides the player with new information or tools, and they're now equipped to perform more actions. This is a highly specialized job.

Interface Designer

The interface is what allows the player to actually interact with the game. Gorgeous art, terrific animation, and amazing sound can add to a fun gaming experience, but if the player can't interact efficiently with this world you have created, they won't play your game. It's the interface designer's job to create interfaces that allow for a logical interaction with the game world.

Understanding, therefore, that the player must feel in control of what they're doing and be able to intuitively grasp how the controls work and directly interact with the game makes for great gameplay. In the game Apparitions, a variety of screens in the interface allow players to sign in, change their player names, navigate around a haunted hotel to hunt ghosts by using a map, and try to capture evidence of the paranormal. The interface resembles a computer laptop screen because the research team, according to the game narrative, uses a laptop computer to store and analyze the data they collect.

Figure 9.2 shows two screens from an interface designed for the game that let the player record and then review evidence they have captured. Players can also use this screen/menu to remotely place cameras throughout locations in the hotel to try to record video of a ghost and access a tutorial to help them learn how to play the game.

FIGURE 9.2 These two screens show various phases of an interface from the game Apparitions, which resembles a laptop computer and helps players collect and analyze evidence.

Other features on the screens that players can access include these:

Red Reef Inn A brief history of the hotel

Hauntings Access to folders that contain past reports of hauntings at the inn

Peter Wren Agency Biographies of the three members of the paranormal research group: Peter Wren, Lucy Ponds, and James Light

Tutorial Allows the player to see, whenever they want, a tutorial on how to play the game.

Audio Playback Lets the players review any audio evidence they have collected.

Video Playback Lets the players review any video they have collected.

Image Playback Lets the players review any static images they have collected.

Remote Cameras Lets the players access a new menu where they see a map of the hotel and can place up to three cameras in remote locations. Any video evidence the cameras collect can then be reviewed through the Video Playback button.

The other buttons along the bottom of the interface allow the player, at any time, to return to the game or rate the evidence (the three yellow buttons in the middle). Once they feel they have reviewed and judged enough material, they can submit evidence to The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS). TAPS is a real-life group of ghost hunters lead by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, and the makers of Apparitions worked closely with TAPS in the making of the game.

World Builder

World builders, also called environment artists/modelers, are responsible for creating the look and feel for the worlds the gamer plays in. They create the towns, houses, roads, forests, and so on that may be needed for the project. Typically, those who work in this specialty have a solid understanding of the following areas:

• Architecture
• Landscaping
• Interior decoration
• Capabilities of the game engine being used

Q/A (Tester)

Q/A, QA, or Q&A refers to Quality Assurance. This division is responsible for the very important task of testing the game. Some companies have their own Q/A departments, whereas others use a third-party company because they feel this can be a more objective way to get accurate testing.

The testers begin their task as soon as the first playable version of the game is available and continue right up until the product is released. If a game is sold with mistakes and flaws, months of work and large sums of money spent on making the game can be lost because the game will quickly gain the reputation, through reviewers and gamers, of being flawed and worthless. That kind of disaster is akin to car manufacturers selling an automobile that must be recalled due to faulty parts.

Testing sounds tedious and boring, however, if this important step is not followed through, hard work by a lot of people will be discounted. Even if a game is released with errors and then repaired and rereleased, not many gamers have confidence in the game makers at that point.

Technical Director

As the name implies, this person works primarily with the technology associated with the production. Like the art or audio director, this individual oversees and manages all things technical, and all the programming leads (supervising various aspects of programming, such as the game engine, gameplay, physics, interface, and so on) report to this individual. This person is the über-technical lead.

The technical director is often referred to as the TD. Their duties can include the following:

• Create in-game effects.
• Act as a technical liaison between the software engineers and the artists.
• Work closely with the art director and lead technical director to research, create, and implement art processes and solutions within the game for final production.
• Automate as many processes as possible into tools that can be used by the entire art team.

This job can also be split among different technical directors, depending on their specialties. For example:

Lighting TDs Light and render 3D scenes

Character TDs Rig a character with a skeleton, and create clothing, hair, and deformation controls

Shader TDs Write and adjust shaders to create the appearance of models

Because of the rapid changes in technology, how games are delivered to the players (platforms), and how engines are constantly being revised and updated, this person needs to remain as current as possible with these updates.

Programmer

Programming is the art of building the language for the game. The language is the way the game talks to the game engine and the playback system. Programmers can work with existing engines or, more likely, create a unique engine for the game they're working on.

Third-party game engines, such as the Unreal engine, can be licensed for use in games. Any programmer working on the game project will need to understand how to work with a system like this. Many small, independent production companies can't afford the large price tag of an engine like Unreal, but game engines come in all sizes and price ranges. Small companies might choose a smaller, more compact engine that can be licensed or purchased for use, such as Torque, or even a freeware engine.

Games may have programming directors, technical directors, and programming leads in charge of whole crews that are working on a game. Technology is ever-changing, which is one reason this book has not focused too much attention on that aspect of game design. Programmers, however, need to have a solid background in computer languages like C++ and work at creating the artificial intelligence for a game along with the simulated physics and many of the graphics for the game.

Animator

Animators have been working in film and television for years, and when games first started to gain popularity, many people who had worked in feature animated films found their way into this industry. Animators need to have a strong background in the basics of animation, which can include lifelike, believable movement for characters. Some mechanical animations may also fall under the job description of an animator, such as frames per second (fps) and how to do 2D and 3D animation. There is also the specialty of motion capture, which is gaining in popularity within the industry.

Modeler

A modeler is anyone who creates 3D polygonal models, whether they're characters or environmental pieces. Terms such as character modeler, prop modeler, and environment modeler are common in game development. On small teams, they're often the same person. Figure 9.3 shows another example of a 3D model of an in-game character for a game from Artery Studios.

FIGURE 9.3 An in-game character is one that is animated programmatically from the game engine. Typically, nonplayer characters (NPCs) are animated this way.

Rigger

For any 3D model that the animator needs to work with, a skeletal system, or rig, needs to placed inside the model. A rig is essentially a way of adding controls to the model that the animator can manipulate, in much the same way that a puppeteer uses rods attached to the joints of a puppet to make it move.

Rigging can be used for characters, props, and vehicles (including mounts like horses). Figure 9.4 shows a rig for a human-like character with arms and legs that can be animated to walk, run, jump, and perform all of the types of movements associated with a bipedal figure.

FIGURE 9.4 A rig, the yellow armature, has been placed inside the model to allow the animator the ability to move it.

Pipelines

A pipeline is the hierarchy of production. Different studios will create their own hierarchy depending on the needs of the project, how much is done in-house, and how much might be done through third-party developers. The pipeline is about putting in place tools, policies, and procedures for how things (content) are created and how they get into the game. A flowchart is a visual of the pipeline that explains what parts of the project need to get done before moving on to different groups associated with the project.

Figure 9.5 shows a rudimentary layout for a production chart to visually help explain the order in which things are accomplished during production. Getting organized and laying out the pipeline is actually an extremely constructive part of the process of conceptualizing and then building a game.

FIGURE 9.5 Visual pipelines are good to help identify what departments are needed and when.

Those who are involved in the production can view this visual to see who has work they need to get in order to move forward, and who in turn receives their work.

Managers use these charts to help determine how many people to assign to different parts of the pipeline to help keep the work flowing. An average casual game takes about 9 months to complete, whereas a big AAA title can take 18 months or more. Couple those lengths of time with crews that can range in size from 3 to 300 or more, and the dollars can begin to add up very quickly, so being organized is essential to a successful production.

The chart presented in Figure 9.5 isn't inclusive because each game tends to have unique requirements.

Production Phases

Typically, the main steps in any production are as follows:

Preproduction Phase The initial game idea is written, and early concept art, animation, storyboards, and vertical slices are created.

Production Phase Each major department begins development in earnest from creation of art assets, to coding and testing every playable piece that is built.

Testing Phase Testing is closely related to the production phase. This phase begins with alpha and goes through gold:

Postproduction Phase This phase covers all the work for a product that occurs after the game ships, such as additional marketing, trade shows, articles, and advertising. It should be understood, though, that much of the first marketing for a game can begin before the project is complete, to get the audience excited and talking about the upcoming release.

Builds

During the production phase, the majority of games go through a series of builds. A build takes all the art, audio, and coding done at the time and creates a playable version of the game that can be reviewed and tested. A game can go through dozens of builds before hitting the final, finished version that's ready for release.

Tracking Progress

Pipelines and charts for tracking progress must be flexible. When a tracking chart is created using Excel spreadsheets or Gantt charts, it should include milestones, which are the deadlines. These deadlines are taken seriously in the industry. When one is missed, it tends to create a domino effect, causing other divisions in the production to get behind in their work; it can trigger further missed deadlines, and could lead to the cancellation or failure of a project.

The flowchart or production chart is usually created and managed by the producer and the production staff. Some discipline leaders, such as the art or audio director, may create additional flowcharts that show the details of tasks that are specifically related to their departments. Producers use these charts to track and predict the game's progress through production. Missed deadlines can be spotted quickly and then acted on. Failure at this level could lead to the dismissal of the producer.

Not only do these charts set milestones or deadlines for delivery of specific parts of a game project, but they also track progress. For people working on a team, this chart provides a quick view of where the production is, what pieces need to be completed, what is on schedule and budget or behind, and who is handling what phase of the production.

Gone are the days of one person associated with a project carrying all this information in their head: that “go-to” person who could put their hand on any file or tell you who was doing what. This isn't to say that such a person isn't around; however, given the cost and time involved in making games these days, any time wasted trying to track down a file or locate who is doing what is needless and completely unprofessional.

After you create the pipeline and the project goes into production, there are a variety of ways to anticipate milestones and subsequently track progress:

• Microsoft Project is specifically designed to create very detailed production charts that list milestones and content dependencies.
• Flowcharts can be easily created using Excel docs (part of the Microsoft Word Office Suite or OpenSource.
• Google Docs provides an online version. Simply go to www.docs.google.com and create an account. Then share it with anyone on the team who needs to view or edit this chart online. The chart can be updated constantly to reflect changes in the production or exported as an Excel doc for backup.

Most medium to large teams use Project or equivalent software. Small indie teams are more likely to use Excel or Google Docs.

Several companies create flowchart systems that gaming companies license or purchase to use as a tracking system for their games. A lot of these are kept in house; team members can access them using a local area network (LAN), or the company may opt to use an online system. Online systems are widely accepted during productions because game crews can be located all over the globe, and being able to access that pipeline and flowchart is critical.

Flowchart systems are excellent investments for gaming companies because if work is lost, then the entire production may have to shut down while the files are located, and that is a pointless waste of time and money. Any business has a method for tracking work, and gaming is no different, particularly given the amount of money this industry garners every year. Savvy business managers know the value of understanding the pipeline and, more important, tracking the workflow and where the work is at any given time.

Copyrights and Licenses

Many new game designers tend to be a bit skittish about sharing their ideas, for fear they will be pirated. At some point, if you're going to pitch your idea or seek help from others about getting it made or published, you'll need to share your material.

Copyrights

Visiting the U.S. Copyright Office website, www.copyright.gov/, to gain information about what can be copyrighted is a solid first step in understanding what copyright will and won't protect. Copyright law gives the creator of a creative effort the exclusive right to control who can make copies or make works derived from that original work.

The government has a fact sheet specifically about games. In part, it says:

In addition to providing information about what copyrights do and don't protect, the site also provides information about how to apply for a copyright.

Understanding how copyrights work is also important so you don't infringe on the copyrights of others.

PMCs

A “poor man's copyright” (PMC) is no substitute for an actual copyright. For a PMC, you write out as much information as you can about your idea; include art, audio, and so on related to the project; seal it in an envelope; and then mail it to yourself. When you receive it, don't open the envelope. The date stamped on the envelope by the U.S. Post Office proves when it was sent.

At the outset, this sounds like a cheap and easy way to protect property; however, PMCs are generally ignored by any court of law and aren't considered a viable method for protecting original material. I don't recommend that any designer attempt to protect their work using this method. Adhere to the guidelines of the U.S. Copyright office, or seek the advice of an attorney.

Trademarks

A trademark is a distinctive sign such as a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols, or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the product of one party from those of others.

Examples of trademarks can be seen in most AAA titles and lots of indie and casual games. For the most part, trademarks tend to be found in relation to the logo or name of a game, or the name or look of a character. Trademarks can be sought for dialogue too: for example, the manufacturers of Donkey Kong sought to trademark a catchphrase from their game: “It's on like Donkey Kong.”

The phrase has been adopted by pop culture and shows up in movies, television, and music, and when used is meant to intimidate someone (it was made popular on rapper Ice Cube's Predator album, released in 1992). Nintendo, which makes Donkey Kong, is asserting its right to trademark this phrase, which originated in its game but has been picked up and used in other media; holding a trademark would prevent anyone from using the phrase without Nintendo's specific permission.

Standards

Manufacturers such as Sony and Microsoft encrypt their final games so that they can only be played on their specific game systems, and you must get the manufacturer's approval before you can begin developing for a particular game system, such as PS3 or Wii. The submission process can be very long and involved, with no guarantee that the manufacturer will approve the game concept or development.

Each game system requires special development kits that are unique to these game systems and can only be provided by the specific manufacturer.

When a game is made to be played on a specific playback system, such as a Wii or a PlayStation, the manufacturer needs to make sure that all the programming built into the game will match what the controllers need to do once the game is installed on that system. For example, games developed for the Xbox gaming system need to always have the B button programmed to allow a player to back out of menus.

The game manufacturer ships a copy of the game to the manufacturers of each playback system for which they have built their game. Those manufacturers test the product extensively before submitting their approval.

Licenses

Games may require the use of software or hardware that is owned by a separate party but can be licensed for a fee. A good example of this is a game engine.

Certain software packages, such as Photoshop and Maya, require a license for use in the production of games that are created for sale.

Instead, some designers use open-source software, such as Blender, which is free 3D software, or Gimp, which is a free 2D package similar to Photoshop. Although getting the software free seems like a great idea to avoid paying for the software or a licensing fee, if the software doesn't perform properly, there is little or no support to help you troubleshoot problems.

Projects that do license software to be used during the creation of the game can solicit help from these companies when it comes time to market the project. For example, Adobe is the manufacturer of Photoshop and regularly uses examples of actual applications of its software from finished games. Submitting work you created with your licensed software to the software company can help provide solid promotion and endorsements for the game if it uses your examples in the promotion of the company's products.