On January 4, I received an email I had both been anticipating and dreading for months. My copy of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, one of my most anticipated games of 2024, had dropped into my inbox. Usually, that moment would give me a jolt of energy. I love critiquing games that have real substance, and I was still chewing on 2020’s unforgettable Yakuza: Like a Dragon several years later. That RPG tells a thematically rich story about an unlikely hero finding his confidence amid a quest to take on Japan’s criminal underworld.
An introduction to video game production
18.01.2024 - 15:23 / gamesindustry.biz
This article is part of our Get into Games special, offering students insight on life in the games industry and advice on how to get into the business
While many roles across game development do exactly what they say on the tin – artist, composer, programmer; it's hardly rocket science – one of the more essential roles is harder to define: producer.
Not only can the duties of a producer change from studio to studio, but almost from producer to producer, too.
During an EGX 2023 talk, Media Molecule's senior producer Steven Taarland – who's also a programme director for the IGDA Foundation and founder of queer-friendly game jam, Rainbow Game Jam – identified six key components common to most producer roles:
In this article, we'll explore Taarland's breakdown of a games producer's role for those who are considering this as a career path. You can also watch the full talk below:
Production roles generally focus on overseeing the development of a project such as a video game.
"[This includes] managing the development team to schedule stakeholders, publishers, external teams and budgets for a project," Taarland explained. "This may vary depending on the studio or projects, and different stages of projects require different skills, workflows, and processes. It requires a varied, ever-changing number of skills, and can often feel like you're spinning a lot of plates, or that you need a lot of hands to be able to keep on top of your work."
Ultimately, though, the goal of production is "to deliver a high-quality game on time, on budget, and with a happy and productive team."
Producers use the tools and data at their disposal to make the "best decisions possible" to ensure that the team is able to deliver a product within set parameters and removing obstacles – both known and unforeseen – that may crop up along the way.
If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is. It can also be a difficult balancing act, too, requiring compromise in order to deliver a game on time. Otherwise, dates and deadlines can slip, studios release buggy games, or teams are subjected to crunch.
Unlike disciplines like art and programming, which have clear expectations around skills and are generally consistent across the industry, the role and goals of a producer depend on the company they work at.
"The day-to-day skill requirements and responsibilities of a producer will vary massively between different studios," Taarland explains. "It's a very non-standardised role, and often can involve wearing multiple hats."
That's not all that changes from studio to studio, though – even the job titles given to producers can vary across the industry. Some producers are called development managers, for example. It's always best to fully read a job
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