Monday 10th Oct . –Jo daly Presentation/s Game development cycles and Game Producers.

Monday 10th Oct . –Jo daly Presentation/s
Game development cycles and Game Producers.

To keep game development *Nice* and organized they are built within the range of a 6 step cycle ranging from the concepts and ideas all the way to Post-production.
Each of the steps are as follows.. In order
Pre-Production -> Production -> Alpha -> Beta> Master and Post production
After every stage of the production of the game everything must be “Green lighted”
The pre-production stage of game development features brainstorming / Designing and almost all aspects of the game are planned.
A “Playable” build of the game will be made at this phase of production.
Sometimes a “X-movie” will also be made to act as a “Visual benchmark” for the game in order to show what the game will “Be like” by the end of production.
The next phase is Production
During this phase all game features and content that was planned are built and are put together to produce a game that is playable and has all assets for the game in place and running.
After this phase is Alpha testing, this phase is a preliminary act for finding and quashing bugs and general errors in-game.
Tweaks and game balancing efforts are also done to make sure the game seems even.
Focus testing is also done to provide data towards what parts of the game that are a problem and or need tweaking or are not needed. Metrics are taken from the testing to provide data to point out and justify the changes in the game.
Bug hunting and fixing are the priority at this point of development.
Beta phase
The range of testing is increased and more rigorous testing is done.
Once the game seems *Compete* and bugless then the game will move onto the next phase.

Master phase
ALL CHANGES ARE FORBIDDEN – (Unless the publisher has a problem)
Any issues with console compatibility are tested. Such as the memory device taken out mid game to see what happens.
Once this is complete the next phase is Post-Production.
Analysis of the completed project is carried out and a Post mortem will be carried out to review the process of the game creation.

Most staff that work on games are NOT allowed to take holidays during the Alpha – beta and Master phases of production to ensure that the game doesn’t fall behind on deadlines.
DEADLINES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MISSED!!
And staff usually work on Multiple projects at the same time.
This list of how games are created may seem simple at a glance but that would be wrong. A lot of time and effort is put into games to ensure that there is a high quality and that it can actually be released on time so that money can be made and put towards the next project.


Game Producers
The role of a game producer is to Oversee the production of Projects and to maintain awareness of a projects progression. And to ensure that the Project is finished by a deadline, To a suitable Quality, until the project is complete and finally sold.
Some companies do not have an internal Producer However they will sometimes have an External producer who handles the job
Internal producers will only usually focus on a single game.
Main responsibilities include:
Acting as a liaison between staff and shareholders.
Develops and maintains Schedules and budgets.
Oversees game develop (Not actually create assets for the game)
Oversees Localization
Scheduling QA testing.
Making sure that what is created is what the publisher will accept.

At the end of the day the Producer is in charge of the final quality of a game rather than in charge of the people who are building it.]
Many different titles of a Producer include:
(Just) Producer – Senior Producer – Executive Producer
Apparently there have been many producers that have made their way into the profession through QA testing by working their way up to being a Test Lead or a testing manager.

Some of the traits that are required for a Producer are:
Cool Headed – Does not go off tangent and go *Crazy*
and
Must be good at communication / Timekeeping and management.
Many say that the role of a game producer is Unpopular since they have to make sure deadlines are met which can sometimes mean dropping specific features of a game to make sure that it is on time in terms of development
After this lecture I believe that many games companies are fickle since smaller companies might not be able to pay their employees when their salary is due, however larger companies that do have a large cash flow are capable of keeping many employees with a much less threat of the studio from bankrupting.
I already knew games development is not an easy thing to do but this put it into perspective that making a AAA game is a hard task that takes time, which will unfortunately wear away at people including myself should i get into a game design role in the future.
This is not a deterrent for me; I understand that there is a lot to be required from each discipline of game development but games are a labour of love, If we don’t put care and attention into a game we won’t have a final product that is enjoyable.
Hard fact is this. Good games are good to play (Yeah. A no brainer). But if they don’t make money then it’s unlikely that the people making the game will get paid or work on another project.