GAMES PRODUCER

Different studios will have different approaches to production

It can be very independent role or just tasks executor

Producer is a manager: she manages process, timelines and teams

Focal point of game production

Most Important difference between Project Manager and Producer: keep game vision together across disciplines and makes sure that games looks and plays in coherent, unified way in acceptable time and budget. Project manager ensures that project is going according to plan, on time and on budget.

Producer should have in-depth knowledge of the games business, the genre at hand, and games in general. Producer should also have a high level knowledge of each discipline in the team. While Producer doesn't need to know how to code or do art, she needs to understand how art and coding work on a high level.

IS GAME PRODUCER PROJECT MANAGER?

EP stands for Executive Producer.

PROJECT MANAGERS SKILLS

PRODUCER’S SKILLSET

• A producer does require project management skills, but it’s more than a project manager
  Needs to be familiar with all disciplines involved in game development
  Does she need to be technical? No, but needs to understand platform limitations and possibilities and overall code architecture
  Producer needs to be able to think critically and analytically about games
  People skills are probably the most important skill a producer must have
  Knowledgeable about games and platforms, trends
  Troubleshooting - lots of things go wrong in production, how to solve them?
  Decision making - team members look up to the Producer to make organizational decisions
  Communication skills - need to regularly communicate with different stakeholders
  Prioritization - often dealing with conflicting priorities and tight timelines
• 
  What do I mean about code architecture? To understand which game mechanics are controlled from backend and which from client side, how easy/hard is to add/change content etc.
  
  

GAME PRODUCER – JOB DESCRIPTION

• Producer is responsible for shipping the game on time and within the budget
• She leads the team, plans the operation, and troubleshoots the problems
• Game Producer is the focal point of game development – she makes sure that communication flows between all relevant stakeholders
• Game Producers enforces and supports tools and methodology used in game production
• Reports to top management and external stakeholders
• Often gets blamed for fails, rarely applauded for success
  

TYPES OF PRODUCTION JOBS

Associate Producer/Junior Producer = entry production point, assists Producer and backs up

Producer = team lead and project lead; responsible for shipping on time

Live Producer = responsible for maintenance of the live game

Custom Producer = in charge for specific, custom game SDK (for example, Chinese market game or minor technical platform)

Senior Producer = experienced producer often with product owner/EP responsibilities

Executive Producer = In charge for overall game execution as well as product management and business side

Production Lead = often equals Senior Producer with some EP responsibilities or another name for Head of Production

Head of Production = oversees overall production in the studio; initiate processes, represents production as a discipline, creates and maintains relationships with key service providers, coaches and mentors, strategic planning for overall production

These titles can mean different things in different studios, so it's always important to get yourself familiar with the studio structure.

Minor technical platforms examples: smart TV, Samsung store.

EP examples = brings or decides about publisher on board, long term game planning, commercial opportunities outside of the studio (product placement, relationship with video ads providers etc.)

Who Is A Producer?

• Many people become producers after having careers in different fields (art, coding, QA, game design)
• Producers must be objective and “leave behind” their old career
  Ideally, the producer should never be a dual role (Producer/Game designer or Producer/Coder etc.)
• The reason for that is that Producer must make hard calls; cut features, move or add people from the team, etc.
• You should love working with people – communication and HR issues take a major part of your time
• You are good at organizing things and you NEVER panic
  

WHY GAMES NEED A PRODUCER?

- Statistics show that only 1 in 5 games (that got some type of funding) ever gets finished

- The game is never perfect and an objective view is needed to push the game live in optimal time

- Ensures that the team works well together

- It saves money and time

- In small companies can even save the company (when artists and coders have different visions…)

- Decision on outsourcing, prioritizing tasks, etc.

- Can have a huge impact on quality and delivery