Task 2
Creative Development
- Game Designer- a games designer is the person or people who apply aesthetics as well as design to a game, to make the interaction between the player and the game less complex. They are tasked with helping develop the rules of the game, the story and how it develops, the setting, characters, weapons and other in-game assets. Games Designers usually work with everyone in the company to develop what they need to develop. For example, they would work with an artist with the characters by offering the backstory to the character while the artist will design the appearance of it. This job is useful in the industry because in development the designer helps create the game itself such as the background story and descriptions for the artists.
- Level Editor- A level editor is an architect in the games industry, they create buildings, objects and the general landscape in the game. They are linked to Games Designers because they use the character elements as well as the story. Even though they work with the game designers they are not restricted, actually, they have a huge amount of freedom with the general aesthetics of the level and the feel of it. This job is useful because these people design the layout of each level, this is useful for many reasons. For the campaign, it offers places to put secret rooms allow for more exploration, for multiplayer the level editor can help make competitive games more interesting. For example, on Call Of Duty, the best types of competitive maps go by a "three-lane" system where there are 3 main areas on the map which allows for more strategy and fast paced combat.
- Lead Artist- The lead artist is the person who is responsible for the look of the entire game. They work with the lead programmer and Game Designer as well. Lead Artist directs the entire visual material throughout the game, with the help of the Lead programmer and Games Designer. These are important in the industry because they create the visual aspect of the game, which appeals most to players when they first see the game, increasing sales of the game by making them appeal to their audience.
- Technical Artist- These people act as a link between both the artists and programmers who are working on the game. They keep the realism in the art making sure it can be compatible with the chosen platform by not exceeding the platform's limits and also allowing the asset to be implemented without getting rid of any of the artistic vision. This job is now becoming more valuable as time goes on due to hardware in PC's becoming more complex as well as the hardware in consoles. These are extremely useful in the industry because without these people, games would take longer to make due to deadlines not being met and nonrealistic projects being pursued.
- Artist- An artist is someone who will create visual aspects in the game such as characters, surface textures, and scenery, they also will create any concept art for the game and help propose visual aid in the pre-production phase by offering storyboards. Without these people, we would have badly drawn characters and if we had bad looking characters it would mean the game would be less intriguing for us, especially when the appearance of the character has a backstory.
- Animator- An animator is responsible for the movement and behaviors of the characters. For example how the characters walk or interact with certain objects. They can also be responsible for small animations in the game such as the grass moving or the behavior of the grass when you walk through it. This job is extremely important because it is adding the realism and the most important bits to the game.
- Audio Engineer- The audio engineer creates the soundtrack for the actual game, meaning that they create all the sounds for the game, not just the soundtrack that is available to the public but they are responsible for sound effects, background noises such as crowds. This job can vary in size depending on the company but will sometimes only contain a couple of people working hard for long hours. An example of what they might do is known as Foley Sounds, which is useful because it adds realism to the game, and on horror games, it adds a more of a fear factor to the game.
- Technical Development
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- Game Programmer- These people work at the center of the game development, they are basically the core of the game. They write the code for the game and how it runs as well as how it controls, adapting to changes along the way as well as producing custom code whenever it is required. Being able to write custom code is useful in the industry because if there is any issue with their existing code or if there is needed new code to be creating, then it can be done near enough instantly.
- Lead Game Programmer- This is the team that is responsible for writing all of the code that needs to be included within the game. These people can specialize in various aspects to writing the code for, an example is AI which would be code for bots in the game, like Call Of Duty. This is useful because certain games are based off AI, such as an upcoming game where the AI is so intelligent it learns how you play
- Project Implementation
- Project Manager/Producer- A producer is the overseer of the development as well as the funding of the game. They keep the development on track and make sure any goal is realistic to achieve, this can sometimes mean getting rid of ideas and introducing new ones. The producer plays a very important part in the industry as they make sure any contracts are signed and that whatever is signed isn't going to have a negative impact on the company or the game.
- Assistant Producer- An assistant producer makes sure that any deadline is met with the highest quality product possible. They will usually act as a bridge for communications in the company as well as between the developer and producer for managing outsourcing products. This job is available in both developer and publisher companies. This is useful in the industry because it speeds up communication between developers and publishers rather than wasting time, also the communication, therefore, becomes more effective when more information is passed along.
- External Producer- These producers are near enough always employed by the publishers to help manage the delivery of the actual game, making sure it is both successful and meets the deadline given. This producer will work with the developer's producer to help tackle broader issues with the game. They help with giving advice and other help to the developer rather than dealing with the smaller details that can happen during the day, which is a job for the internal producer. Finally, they help make the game commercially successful, such as when to release demos and which screenshots to use to intrigue the audience. This is useful in the industry because it will help increase sales of the game.
- Creative Director- A creative director is another overseer of the game, even though they oversee any game changing decisions such as how the game itself plays or its appearance. This job can contain a lot of pressure as you are in control of decisions that will either make or break a game's feel. This job is fairly recent in the industry, before this, we only had the producers even though their role has become more of a management role now. The directors also work closely with the Lead Programmer, Lead Artist, and the Designers ensuring everything is correct and complete. For example checking that code can be used and checking that a playable version of the game, like a demo, is a high enough quality to be released to the public. Meanwhile, when the director isn't in the development team, they are trying to promote the game to outsourcing companies for marketing to get the game out there. Creative Directors are useful because they can improve upon bad ideas, which potentially affect sales.Image result for creative director
- Quality Assurance
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- QA Tester- A QA tester is someone who tests the game itself, debugging and tuning the game. they can suggest what to do to improve the game whether it is taking away bugs or anything to do to improve the gameplay and feel for the game. QA testers are usually only temporary jobs, you will work for the company when the final game is being made so they can test the quality of the game and be assured that the game is ready for final release to the public with minimal bugs or glitches within the game. QA testers are useful because without them broken games will be released that are full of bugs due to the fact the developers don't have time to bug test.
- Business Development
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- Public Relations Manager- PR manager is someone who handles the social aspect of the games, they will help organize forums and keep the public entertained with the game. They will also handle any legal problems, for example, Hello Games are under investigation for false advertisement, they would need a PR person to defend them in this situation, they can be described as a "lawyer" of some sorts. As well as this, any forums the game has will be run by PR so it is official rather than being fan run, also any feedback that has been given in the forum will be sent through the PR and to the developers. The reason for using a PR as someone who manages the social aspect because it allows the developers to be more in touch with their community and receive more feedback on their game. In the legal side of PR, they are also useful because they handle all of the legal requirements that some people might not be aware they need.
- Product Manager- These help with the marketing of the game to the public, trying to gain more sales for the game. These people support the senior managers within marketing, as well as get directly involved with the development such as decisions like scenarios as well as characters in the game and other "products". And they will give feedback on the game towards the end of development and critical advice which could improve the game. Product managers are useful because they can help on sales and improve certain ideas. This is beneficial for the developers/publishers because this will then bring more profit for them due to increased game sales.
- Marketing Executive- A marketing executive is responsible for many things, they should investigate the competition for your game (another first person shooter for example) and the price the other people are selling their game at, the reason for this is because they can see what the opposition are doing wrong in their game and they will improve on it. As well as compiling financial statistics, such as a budget for the game and how much money is being spent developing the game. They are also responsible for managing campaigns on social media that can help promote the game, which is useful for the industry because they help increase sales.
- Marketing Manager- A marketing manager will help monitor the progress of the game, just like a producer. They also create marketing strategies to help promote the game to the public, such as which ways to advertise or where to advertise. For example, an effective advertising method would be to have trailers before YouTube videos so more people will view them or advertise the game on billboards. Marketing managers are useful because with their advertising they can bring in various audiences for the job.
Bibliography:
To help me with getting information for these job roles I have used the following sites;
Any information I have used from these sources has not been plagiarised.
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