To create any sort of game, an industry needs specific groups of people to work on different parts of a project. All these groups have to be able to collaborate, while also having their own tasks to complete.
In the Games Industry, there are many departments that each focus on a different aspect of a game. If one of these departments is ignored or forgotten, the game won't turn out up to scratch. These are all the departments needed to create a game, along with the most important roles, to the more specific roles.
Production:
The production team are in charge of overseeing the entire project, and their jobs are to make sure deadlines are met and budgets aren't exceeded.
The most important roles within the Production Department are the Publisher, who are in charge of funding a project, and the Producer, who works closely with the Publisher to make sure deadlines are met. The Producer also works with the Art and Programming Departments early on to set the project in motion. Another important role is the Marketing Executive, who is in charge of promoting the game.
The less important roles are the jobs of assistants, and the Esports Producers, which are only necessary if the game is a tournament or competitive one. There is also a Community Manager, who is in charge of attending events, writing newsletters and organising social media. They also report any feedback they receive to the rest of the department.
Design:
The Design Department are responsible for designing how the game will play, feel and what the story will be.
The most important roles are the Lead Designer, who is in charge of the rest of the department, and pitch ideas to the publisher. Then there's the Gameplay Designer, who designs how the game will play, like controls, and the Games Writer, who writes the story, or turns it into a script if needed.
These two roles aren't unimportant, but would most likely have to work with other departments. The Level Design is responsible for the mechanics, layout and challenges a player will face in a game, and they might have to work with the Technical Art Department to make sure everything works, along with the Art Department. Then there's the User Experience Designer, who makes sure all the mechanics and in-game features are easy and understandable to a player. They would probably have to work with the Quality Assurance Department, who are in charge of game testing.
Art:
The Art Department create the artwork for the game, both 2D and 3D.
Th roles are the Concept Artists, who draws all the concept for the game, and their ideas are developed into the final idea. Then there's the 3D Modelling Artists, who creates some (or sometimes all) of the 3D assets for a game, sometimes including environments.
There are also the Environment Artists, who create the environments, and the Texturing Artists, who are in charge of texturing all the assets.
Animation:
The Animation Department are in charge of all the animation in a game, anything from 2D to 3D.
The roles are the Animators, who do the general animations, and the Technical Animators, who are the bridge between the Programming and Animation Departments. This means they can keep everyone up to date in both departments.
Technical Art:
The Technical Art Department is the bridge between the Art and Programming Departments.
The roles are the Technical Artist, who is essentially the lead of the department. They make sure everything is working between the Art and Programming Departments. Then there's the VFX Artist, who is responsible for any particle affects, and the Graphics Programmer, who is the quality control of the look of the game.
Audio:
The Audio Department are in charge of any soundtracks and sound effects in the game.
The main roles are the Music Composer, who writes the music, the Sound Designer, who creates the soundtrack with foley, and the Audio Programmer, who programmes the music and sound effects in.
Programming:
The Programming Department are responsible for coding and creating the game. They work the Audio, Quality Assurance and Technical Art Departments.
The main roles are the Engine Programmer, who creates the engine in which the game runs, the Gameplay Programmer, who codes the interactions a player would make in the game, the Physics Programmer, who makes sure collision/gravity is working correctly in a game, the AI Programmer, who creates any NPCs in a game, and the Generalist Programmer, who does a bit of everything.
Also in the department is the Tools Engineer, who provides other departments with the software they need to work and find the most efficient ways to transport data and assets around, the Network Programmer, who sets up a connection if the game is multiplayer and can be played by different people, and the VR Programmer, who is responsible for any VR programming. This only applies if the game is a VR game.
Quality Assurance:
The Quality Assurance Department are responsible for testing a game.
The roles are the QA Testers, who test out specific aspects of a game, and the Build Engineer, who helps the flow of work by updating code.
This is a game project pipeline. With the different Departments in mind, it's easy to see how they may interact with each other during a project.
Managing workflow in any project is important, especially in the VFX, Animation and Game industries. Today we learned about the different pipelines certain industries have to keep a steady pace in pre-production, production and post-production. It's important that we learn this, as it will be useful when planning out our synoptic projects.
Pipelines are used to organise the flow of a project. Different projects will have different pipelines. For example, an animation project will have a very different pipeline to a game project.
Different companies will have different pipelines, as they are creating different games. Because there are so many types of games, it would make sense that different departments would have less or more prominent roles, and more people depending on the project.
However, there are certain things that need to be done within the timeframes of pre-production, production, and post production.
Pre-Production:
In pre-production, the costs must be calculated and defined to ensure that nothing snags down the line. This is also the phase where ideas. concepts and prototypes are created for the game, but these will all be solidified later in production. The Design, Art and Programming Departments are highly active in this phase, as a lot has to established early on allow room for changes later. This is also the time when a Game Design Document may be made so that everyone working on the game can be on the same page. Since pre-production is about 10% to 20% of a game project, its important to take note of any decisions made to help prepare and plan for production. This means establishing core game mechanics and grey boxing and game testing a game.
Production:
When a game is moved to production, more content (like models or assets) is added, and a vertical slice is created. A vertical slice is created by putting all the core mechanics into a smaller, compressed version of the final version will be like. This essentially makes it a 'slice' of the game, and should represent how the final game will play. This phase is nicknamed 'pre-Alpha,' which is also when most of the content is created.
When a game enters Alpha it's fully playable, but not final. Assets will still be needed, and testing is still required. The 3D Modelling Artists will be working a lot, and closely alongside the Level Designers, and the Level Designers will be talking to the Technical Artists to communicate better with the Programmers. After Alpha comes Beta, which is when bugs are being fixed, and all the assets are added. This means that a Beta version of a game is the first 'stable' version. When a game is deemed stable and complete, it's sent to publishers, in the phase nicknamed 'Gold.' If the publishers deem it acceptable, they'll publish it.
Post-Production:
Although post-production is the shortest stage of the pipeline, it's an important time for a company. If any glitches or problems with the game arise, patches may be sent out to correct them. A postmortem is also performed on the game that was created. This means everything is analysed; how they went about creating the game, how they could've done it differently, what they've learnt and how it will impact the next project, etc. The discussion is with the whole team, so everyone learns from each other. This is useful to bring aware to any problems during the process. Once the postmortem has been done, the team must create a 'closing kit,' which means organizing everything into files for future reference. This could be anything from sequels, to DLC for the game, or even as a guideline for any similar mechanics used in future games.
Two jobs that appeal to me the most out of all the jobs in the pipeline are Concept Artist and several in the Design Department. To become a Concept Artist, some form of artistic background is needed, or a Diploma in Video Games Art and Design, or something of a similar caliber. As it's not entry level, an apprenticeship or another job might have to be held first.
In the Design Department, the work is not only artistic but logical as well. The Role 'Games Writer' is for the people who write the story of a game. Without the script, a monster the player is fighting is just a monster. It doesn't have a name, or a backstory, or why a player needs to defeat it until the game writers create it. They are given the characters, locations and context, and then sent away to write up how a scene should play out. To become a Writer, it's preferred to have an A-Level in English, or the language the game is being developed in.
The second Design Department is interesting to me is the department lead, as they need to have knowledge of both art and science to function. They need to have a knowledge of how gameplay works, and how that in turn will affect the visual representation of the game. I think this is an interesting role because it incorporates so many different aspects into one. To get this role, a person must have studied and passed a course on both game design and computer science.
To use an example game to demonstrate how game pipelines can differ, I've decided to look at the development of Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It came out in 2006, and development began after Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was released.
The pre-production of the game began some time in 2003, under the same team that had worked on Wind Waker. Originally, the game was going to have the same cell-shaded graphics of Wind Waker, however since this was one of the reasons for the lack of sales, they decided against it and went for a darker, more realistic art style. This meant the concept artists had to be skilled in adopting new styles. They also had help from outside and internal artists for the project. The outside artists would work on the project temporarily, and they were initially worried that people wouldn't like the art style chosen for the game.
The game was first announced at E3 in 2004, with no title, just as a trailer of Link, the main character, on a horse. People were overjoyed at the announcement of a new installment in the Zelda Series, and the anticipation became real. Behind the scenes before E3, it was decided that Link would be able to turn into a wolf to add a gimmick to the game. However, they felt that the wolf wasn’t engaging enough to watch run around, so they added a character sitting on top. This later became Midna, the guide of the game who points the player in the right direction. There also needed to be distinct differences in the two realms that would feature in the game, so extra care was given when creating those.
Some of the team members had never worked on a Legend of Zelda game, and like the artists, most were overwhelmed by work and needed more guidance. Many things were changed during development, like characters being taken out, or mechanics being changed. Another change that was made early on in development was that the player would not start as a wolf at the beginning. This was so that players could get used to the original control first before being thrust into something new.
For someone on the design team, they would probably have a lot of work to deal with, as they are handling elements of the both art and programming. This would mean a lot more employees would be needed to keep everything on track. Since the controls were also debated, it would mean more time put into testing out and reviewing. When fans played the game at E3, some criticized how they wanted motion controls when using a sword. This was tried out, but scrapped because it would be tiring to continuously move your arms.
It was decided near the end of production that the game would have to wait a year to be released so that it could be played on the Gameboy and the new Nintendo Wii. This was the fairest way according to Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma (the game’s director), as it would minimize any anger about the console the game was released on.
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