In this post I will explore the various job roles involved in the production of a game;
Production Department
Publishers
A games publisher gives games developers the money upfront to produce a game. They work closely with the games producer at a studio to ensure the game is being made to the brief, on budget and on time.
Publishers help provide jobs for the studio as well, particularly around marketing and testing. It’s the publishers responsibility also that if the game is to get sold internationally to deal with technicalities such as language barriers and cultures.
Examples of Game publishers
Activision Blizzard (Est. 1979) – Call of duty, Spyro
Bethesda (Est 1986) – Fallout, Skyrim
Electronic Arts (Est 1982) – Battlefield, The Sims
Nintendo (Est 1889) – Mario, Zelda
Mojang (Est 2009) – Minecraft
Games Producer (and assistant)
A games producer oversees everything that happens in the game development , including hiring staff and raising money. They work with the production and design department to work out the characters and plot of the game, and sometimes get player or audience feedback before production fully begins.
Producers seek out publishers for the game and negotiate contracts for people coming onboard to help with development.
Marketing Executive
Marketing Executives create the noise and buzz about a new game coming out. They are in charge of the advertising campaigns and use various platforms to get the word out about the game, such as social media, websites, face to face events etc.
The majority of marketing is done just before completion of a game. This is to ensure that people remain excited about the game until release and drives the best possible sales, and prevents competitors making similar games or announcements before the game releases.
Community Manager
Community managers are hired to take care of the audience. They attend events, write newsletters, post on social media and set up live streams.
Community managers are often the go between the audience and game developers. They receive the feedback of released games and feed it back in a constructive way to the development team, to either improve currently released games or improve developing ones. If the community managers do their job efficiently, sales of the game and reputation of the publisher increases.
Design Department
Lead Games Designer
The lead games designer leads the game design team and is responsible for how the game looks and feels, such as props, characters, plots etc.
Gameplay Designer
Gameplay designers are the core of the game experience and how it’s actually played . They are in charge of the mechanics, structure, rules, characters, props and different ways to play the game, such as story modes, multiplayer versions.
Writer
Gaming Writers think up the plot of the game. While the art department creates the look of a monster, the writers explain how the monster got there, and it’s purpose in the game.
Writers are often given a very short brief and left to work out the game. A story of a game continuously changes before production, as a writer has to please everyone and its a collaborative process.
UX designer
A UX designer is responsible for making sure the layout of a game is nice and easy to use. They create features such as the heads us display, menus, showing the score, health bars etc.
Art Department
3D modelling Artist
The role of a 3D modelling artist in gaming is similar to that of a 3D artist for animation. (See 3D artist post)
Environment Artist
An environment artist is similar to a 3D artist except instead of producing props, they produce the scenery, which can be anything from real world places like cities, to fantasy places. They world with both the 3D artist and Level designer to ensure that what they are producing matches the tone and contains the critical elements for the game. Poly count is a big factor for environment designers, as they have a balance between a beautiful, detailed environment, and one that won’t contain so many polys the game will lag.
Texturing Artist
A job of a texturing artist is to take the models made by 3D artists and environment artist and basically painting them and giving them life, for example rust on cans, wallpaper on walls, dust on surfaces. The aim of a texturing artist is to make the surfaces realistic so that the player forgets the world is computer generated.
Animation Department
Animator
Animators take the objects made by 2D and 3D artists and make them move. They add personality, emotion and realism to the game. To be a good animator you need to have an understanding of programming and game engines, so can be seen as less of a creative job role in turns of visual creativity.
Technical Animator
Technical animators help animators by optimising the tools and game engines available, if an animation runs into problems. Problems could include budget, complex movements or game lag.
Technical Art Department
Technical Artist
Technical artists develop the game engines and tools to help animators and artists efficiently do their job.
VFX Artist
A visual effects artist adds the movement of objects that create more depth and atmosphere to the game, such as dust particles, explosions, water. They use both traditional art and digital art to create realistic insights and convey them into a game.
Audio Department
Musical Composer
Game music composers add mood and excitement to a game. They write the theme tune, compose music which signifies danger, celebration or humour. They have to have a good sense of gaming, knowing at which points of a game providing music which will enhance the user experience.
Sound Designer
Sound designers create the soundtrack for a game, including sound effects like footsteps, water droplets, crashes, cheers etc. This role adds depth and makes the game more immersive and enjoyable.
Audio Programmer
An audio programmer works closely with a sound designer by programming the sound effects. The program script makes it possible that player actions trigger sounds, like knocking something over. They are also responsible for testing and debugging audio code.
Programming Department
Gameplay Programmer
Gameplay programmers work with level designers to see what needs done to make a game work. The programmer ensures that for example, if combat is due to happen, that it actually engages and happens.
AI programmer
Artificial intelligence programmers are behind the ‘brains’ of the game. To create depth to a game, non playable characters are required to behave in ways that engage the player. Good code writing means NPCs are believable and convey thought and emotion.
Engine Programmer
Engine programmers develop the game engines that the game is created and run on. They create new and rewrite existing systems.
Network Programmer
Network programmers ensure that gamers can play with each other. They are not necessary for every game producing, for example if the game is a single player story. They write code to ensure players can connect and they are displayed the same information at the same time. It’s a complex job role as you need both an understanding of game programming and network protocols.
Quality Assurance Department
Games Tester
Games testers test specific aspects of a game, write detailed bug reports, and retest fixed problems. Testers could be looking for bugs, spelling mistakes, audio errors or copyright issues. It can be a tedious job as they could be testing the same part of a game over and over again.
QA build engineer
As a game needs to be continually up to date, and a build engineers role is to ensure an up to date or patched version of the game is always available. This includes optimising processes, maintaining software, testing and creating tools.