For case study reference and my interest to join the video games industry, I will be exploring the roles for the video game pipelines. Furthermore, these roles we'll go over are either key roles or roles I'm interested in.
Site: https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/games/ Here is the full video game industry pipeline: https://www.screenskills.com/media/2595/games-map-downloadable-final.pdf Key roles in the game industry:
Game publisher:
Providing the developers with the money upfront for their games project. They go for a deal with the studio(s) (game development company) to create a game by following the agreed brief. Afterward, the publisher works closely with video game developers and producer and to maintain the games structure, ideas to an agreement with deadlines and budget.
They also help the studio out with jobs to support the development and process of the game. Publishers help with marketing and to ensure the market's quality of the game's product itself. They also cover product and brand management which means deciding how to describe and communicate the game vision and strategy. And they deal with the complexities of selling games in other countries, such as translation and localization. Some game developers don't use publishers at all as games are increasingly sold independently through app and console stores and Steam. However, most games studios still need publishers to fund and sell their games, resulting in produce physical copies and dealing with the branding, advertising, and variety of ways in which the games can be bought. What are the qualities of a game publisher? Project management: understand how a game is made from start to finish and be able to plan that process, keeping on top of what needs to happen and when Communication: create a game's brand, tell its story, and work with a wide range of clients. Knowledge of games industry
Knowledge of rights and licensing
Budget handling
Game producer:
Keeps the whole project on track and moving forward. Before production starts, they work with the designer, lead artist and lead programmer to work out what needs to happen to create the game. They agree targets to be met by certain dates (milestones). They work out a schedule (pipeline) for the project and decide the teams and equipment needed. Once development is underway, they make sure none of the team slips behind schedule.
Producers work closely with the publisher to agree on changes to the way the game is developing. They are often the people who speak about the game to the media once it's released.
Overall, maintaining the team's consistency and game production without hassle or inconvenience.
What are the qualities of a game producer?
Relationships: having the ability to work with people from a wide range of backgrounds, be able to negotiate and keep clients
Marketing
Project management
Knowledge of rights and licensing
Knowledge of games industry
Budget handling
Roles I'm personally interested in: Games writer
Games writer directs the story and creates a narrative for the direction of characters, themes, and setting of the game.
Games writers think up the story of a game. While artists create the look of a monster, game writers give the monster a name, show how it became a monster and why it needs to be defeated.
Writing for games is a highly collaborative process. In most cases, writers will be given a loose sequence of events and locations and be told to “make it work”. The story of a game is the result of many people and disciplines working together with conflicting needs and goals. The game will inevitably go through many stages of iteration and change – and most of it will be out of your control or influence. Writers will have to find a way to stitch it all together in the most efficient way possible so that the audience believes it was meant to be that way all along.
There’s another way in which writing for games is different from writing novels or writing for film. In games, the players contribute to the story through their interaction. Instead of telling the player a story, the writer invites a player to do things so they will understand the story.
So why am I interested in being a games writer? I usually tend to get creative and come up with anything really. From a basic story to a weird wacky bizarre story. It could be done in a sci-fi or fantasy setting. Two of my favorite settings in fact. From time to time, I do try to create a story of my own. Stories have always fascinated me as a child but I never got into until 3 years ago. Being a games writer would bring out this spark of creativity inside of me to flare it out in my writing style and skills.
Gameplay designer
Gameplay designers are responsible for the central part of the game experience – how it plays. They design the mechanics of the game - how high a character can jump, how long it takes to accelerate to maximum speed, or when you can gain points. They plan and define the game’s structure, its rules, characters, objects, props, and vehicles, and think about different modes of play, like story mode or multi-player.
Gameplay designers are a bridge between the technical and art teams. If the gameplay is too difficult to achieve technically, they figure out what’s possible and re-write the specification accordingly. Likewise, if the programmers develop the game engine in a way that means new, exciting things can be done, the gameplay designer works out how to incorporate those into the game. They also train testers to play the game, making sure that they understand what’s expected of the finished product.
The reason why I want to become a gameplay designer is that I want to offer the creative flare, well crafted, and made designs in a game. I would like to show what I have to offer and improve on my designer skills every time criticism is met. Whether its level design, challenges, tasks/objectives, gameplay, etc. Whilst I still have a ways to go to hone my skills and perfect them. I understand there are technical and art processes behind this.
Concept artist
Responsible for the overall style and look of a game. They use traditional and digital art skills to visualize the initial game ideas in 2D. This helps the art team to understand the look of the game and becomes the basis for the marketing materials.
Concept artists are responsible for the style and look of a game. They are the first to draw the environments, enemies, and player characters. Working with a brief from the producer, their sketches are used to help 3D artists, producers, programmers, and publishers understand how the game will look.
The drawings of the concept artist are a vital part of the game’s development as they are the starting point of all the artwork and an important part of the marketing plans.
Why do I want to try and work as a concept artist, the majority of the time I have a passion for art specifically, architecture, sci-fi, fantasy, and manga art. I own plenty of artbooks personally speaking. I only got myself into art 6 years ago and my passion for art is growing and becoming more open-minded on art ever since. Passion and interests aside, I will occasionally work on sketches and art for myself. I used to sketch a lot when I was younger however, as I got busy I found less time and mood to concentrate. That being said though, I will do my utmost to bring more sketches and art for art in itself.
Games tester
Game testers test games. They specialize in exploiting bugs, finding errors, glitches, review the games detail, environments, user interface, design, characters, and gameplay, etc. They give critical and structured criticism for feedback based on what could be improved upon on the game and review the game product thoroughly. Testing is very consistent in the games industry and helps to create a more refined and stronger product to sell on the market.
What makes me want to do game testing? Well, the thing that underlines in-game testing is that you need to reassure the quality of the game is up to marketing and working standard. If you're like me, a gamer who has OCD or Autism and wants to try and solve simple problems and issues then this is the perfect job for you. I also did game testing back in 2019 where I was testing a game in its beta phase.
Conclusion: After finding a few roles that would benefit me in the industry, The road keeps gets clearer for me as I read, see and think what would get me into the industry, recognizing these job roles and knowing what you are doing in a role shows and reflects yourself in the industry inside.
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