Chapter 7.

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Game Production & Management
 Overview

 Mainstream Video games and computer games are

made by large teams of people.
– Big
– Expensive
– Time-consuming projects

 Chapter 7 is from point of view of the Producer

(a.k.a. director or project manager)
– Producers can work for game developers
– Manage the developer’s team in fulfilling a game
development contract

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 Five Phases of Making a Game

1. Concept Phase
2. Preproduction
3. Production
4. Postproduction
5. AfterMarket

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 Concept Phase

 Publisher has decided to pursue a game concept.

– Producer usually first person assigned to work on new
project
 Game concepts usually not brainchild of game
designer
 Usually based on past successes or business deals
 Where concepts come from
– Sequels based on previous successful games
– Film licenses
– Technology re-use (characters, add new features inherent in
other games that are gaining wide consumer acceptance)
– Occasionally, original concepts get greenlit
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 Concept Phase – cont.
 Producing the conceptual design
– Written by Producer or Game Designer
– Producer can hire internal or external game designer (sworn to secrecy)
 Requires several meetings
 Describes story and character developments to occur
 Outline improvements
– Game
– UI
– Level design
 Address ways game will reclaim users
 If the game was a licensed concept…
– Producer would have to discuss concept with the licensor.
 Working Title (Important Marketing Tool)
 For Sequels you just need a subtitle
 Producer creates executive summary (just highlights)
– Concept Document needs to be brief, yet provide satisfactory answers to
5 big questions
 Concept Phase – cont.
Green Light Committee
 Producer supplies
– Printed copies of conceptual design
– PowerPoint presentation
– Games are installed in meeting room
 Folks Present
– Executives of Publisher’s studio, distribution, licensing, sales,
marketing, financial and international divisions (by teleconference
or video conference)
 The meeting could go smoothly  or not .
 If all goes well the Producer will get approve the Green Light to
proceed and use the Publishing company’s resources:
– Money, personnel, equipment, office space, and internal network

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 Pre-Production Phase

 Producer needs GDD written by internal or freelance designer and

and selects development team

 GDD (Game Design Document)

 Team Selection

 Internal staffing plan (management challenge)

– Existing employees (same roles)
– Promotions, transfers (new roles)
– Hire new employees

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 External Development
 Selecting an external developer
– Previously used developers
 Other sources (e.g. IGDA and Gamasutra.com)
– Referrals (producers, developers)
– Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
 Bid package
– Treatment or GDD to date
– Publisher’s expectations for product
 Developer needs to know
 Genre, Platform, Target Audience and Competition
– Bid format and due date
 Triple-A or budget title?
 How many levels, characters, or missions game entails?
 Special technology or features
 Demo? Specs? Demo Due date?
 Some developers ask for royalties on the game’s sales. Producer will
8 want lower upfront cost (advance) if royalties are a part of the picture.
 The Development Agreement

 Developer’s obligations
 Publisher’s obligations
 IP ownership
 Warranties
 Termination
 Milestones

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 Milestones

 Highly detailed, specific

 Quantifiable, measurable
 Due dates
 Payment amounts (upon acceptance)
 Avoid terms like “alpha” and “beta” unless
clearly defined
 Milestone approval cycles

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 The Technical
Design Document

 GDD is a statement of the problem; TDD is a

statement of the solution
 Foundation for the programming work
 Identify technical challenges
 Plan for technical solutions
 Set forth asset format guidelines

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 Scheduling

 Generate task lists from GDD & TDD

 Plan everything
– Programming
– Assets
– Demos
– Approvals
– Green lights
– Vacations, holidays
– QA
 Work backwards from completion

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 The Golden Spike

 May 10, 1869 – Promontory, Utah

 Start at both ends, work towards the middle
(alpha and/or beta)
 The back end cannot be compressed
 Determine target beta date to achieve
desired ship date
 Can game achieve beta by target date?

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 Adjusting the Schedule

 Add people to reduce development time?

 Deliver assets on time
– Don’t make programmers wait for assets
 Prioritize feature set
– Lower priority features to be done later if possible
 Look for bottlenecks
– (feature-technology interdependencies)

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 Budgeting

 Personnel costs
– Salary x time x involvement %
 Developer/Contractor payments
 Equipment & software
 Supplies
 Travel & meals
 Shipments

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 Profit & Loss Analysis (P&L)

 Costs
– Production budget
– Cost of goods (COGs)
– Marketing
– Licensor royalties
– Developer royalties
 Revenues
– Projected Sales
– Wholesale price
– Ancillary sales (OEM, strategy guides)

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 Kickoff Green Light

 Producer’s plan for the project

– GDD
– TDD
– Schedule
– Budget
 Green light
– Executives
– IP owner (licensor)
– Platform holder

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 Production Phase

 Programming now underway

 Kicking off tasks – art creation
– Art lists
– Art asset file naming conventions
– Art asset tracking
– Art asset approval cycles
– Art asset delivery formats

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 Red Flag Spotting

 The usual causes of red flags:

– Team conflicts
– Personnel issues
– Design problems
– Money troubles
– Technical glitches
– Change requests
– Schedule delays
 Take immediate action

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 Kicking Off Tasks - Audio

 Sound list
 Music specification
 Story text
 Voice-over script
 Creation of sounds
 Creation or licensing of music
 Recording of voice-overs

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 First Playable –
Proof of Concept

 Keeping everyone on board

– Licensor(s)
– Platform holder(s)
– Executives
– The Team
 The Cerny method
 Keeping the momentum going

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 Phases Within Phases

 Pre-production
 Production
– Early production
– Mid-production
 Alpha
– Late production
 Beta
 Post-production

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 The Multitasking Producer

 Time management
 Managing mid-production
 Expecting the unexpected
 Red flags in mid-production
 Design by committee = consensus?
 Late production

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 Working with Marketing

 Working title  final title

 Screen shots
 E3 demo
 Magazine demo
 Platform holder promo

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 Post-Production

 Personnel transfers
 Localizations
 ESRB rating
 Box & docs
 Strategy guide

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 Quality Assurance

 Test plan
 The QA database
 QA – the view from inside
 The QA-producer relationship

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 The Light at the
End of the Tunnel

 Operations
 OEM & bundled versions
 Post mortem

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