If you are wanting to work in the video game industry, “Producing Games: From Business and Budgets to Creativity and Design” is a thorough, well-written book giving you insight of the producer’s job but also various roles in the industry. A valuable resource that is definitely recommended!
TITLE: Producing Games: From Business and Budgets to Creativity and Design
BY: D.S. Cohen, Sergio A. Bustamante II
PUBLISHER: Focal Press
PAGE COUNT: 284
Master the secrets behind video game production – from concept to completion – with these comprehensive tips and tricks from two accomplished, working game producers. Discover how to lead a team, communicate effectively, budget, schedule, staff, and design quality next-generation games. Producing Games walks you through every stage of the production process with a focus on the part the producer plays at each phase.
*What it takes to be an effective producer in the world of video games
*All the key roles in game development and how they relate to the game producer
*How to manage budgets, staff, schedules, and the overall vision of the project
*The secrets behind one of the most misunderstood roles in the gaming industry – including tips on communication and team leadership
*The art of managing management – their expectations and communication
*Maintain the vision of the game throughout the entire development process and how to save troubled projects
*Companion website includes sample milestone schedules, a glossary, and more
When it comes to video games, I’m sure that many people who play them often have thought about “what if” in working in a career that deals with video games outside of working at the local video game shop. How to break into the industry, how to become a producer?
Of course, there have been podcasts, interviews on television or online of how to break into the industry and for the most part, most answer in a similar situation – start out as a game tester! In other words, start from the bottom where you would make near $10 or a little more (or less) and hopefully get noticed and move up in the ranks of the industry. Sounds easy but in truth, as many of my cohorts who have done so, sometimes you get lucky but when times are bad, your job is never as a game tester is never secure.
But what about the big jobs as a producer. The ones that we seen interviewed on “X-Play” or some video game show. Who are these people. How did they get there? What do they do?
Fortunately, Focal Press has those answers in their book “Producing Games: From Business and Budgets to Creativity and Design” by D.S. Cohen and Sergio A. Bustamante II.
Both writers break the book down in the following chapters:
I. Section One: What is a Video Game Producer
- Producer Primer – What a producer manages, why become a producer, how to become a producer
- Producing at a Developer – The Schedule, development budget, pitching ideas, representing the team, managing milestone submissions
- Producing at a Publisher – Managing schedules, budgets, milestones, approvals, testing, support, stakeholders and more.
- Producer Roles – Executive Producer, Senior Producer, Producer, Associate Producer and more.
- Size and Scope: Large vs. Small, Licensed vs. Original – Team sizes, small and big budgets, long vs. short schedules, etc.
- Producing Skills: Managing a game, Key Skills of a Producer
- Tools of the Trade – Software Solutions, 3-D Graphics and Modeling Packages
II. Section Two: The Process in a Nutshell
- The History of Game Development
- Game Project Lifecycle Overview – Concept Phase through the Pre-Alpha and Release Candidate
- The Development Team – The various roles involved in development
- The Publishing Team – The various roles in publishing
- Publishing Selecting Developers – Projects that start with the publisher, finding a developer and more.
III. Section Three: Scheduling and Structure
- Scheduling and Structure – Schedules, Troubleshooting, needs of departments and more.
- Development Plan Management – Tasking the project, delegation and more.
- Budget Management – Creating a project budget, where to cut corners and more.
- The Milestone Schedule – Creating and managing a milestone schedule
- Pipelines – Examples, pods and cross-disciplinary teams and more.
IV. Section Four: Managing Your Project, Your Team, Your Time and Yourself
- Being an Organized Producer – Organizational duties
- Reviews and Approvals – Approving Pipeline, Forms and more.
- Meetings
- Managing and Supporting Multiple Projects
- Staffing
- Technology: What Ever Producer Should Know
- External Management (Publisher)
V: Section Five: Concept Phase
- What You Hope to Achieve at Concept
- The Producer’s role at the Concept Stage
- The Creative at the Concept Stage: The Evolution
- Concept Risk Management
VI: Section Six: Pre-Production
- Looking Ahead – Planning, design, prototype phases
- What You Hope to Achieve in Pre-Production
- The Producer’s Role at Pre-Production
- The Game Design Doc
- Tech, Art and Sound Design Docs
- The Tech Side at Pre-Production
- Proof of Concepts, Target Renders, and Prototypes
- Risk Management: What Can Go Wrong at Pre-Production
VII: Section Seven: The Production Phase
- What Are Your goals for the Production Phase
- Builds and the Build Process
- The Quality Assurance (QA) Process
- Localization
- Risk Management During Production
VIII: Section Eight: Crunch Mode
- What is the Goal at the End of Production
- Game Ratings: The ESRB and You
- First-Party Submissions
IX: Section Nine: Post-Production
- Producer Role During Post-Production Phase
- Archiving
- Postmortem
Overall, “Producing Games: From Business and Budgets to Creativity and Design” is a pretty in-depth book for those seriously wanting to get into the video game industry. D.S. Cohen who has over ten years experience has worked on over 50 current and next-gen console video games. Sergio Bustamante has worked in the industry for 16 years and has worked at Activision/Treyarch, EA/Tiburon and Brash Entertainment. Both men do a pretty thorough job in showing that the job is not easy and takes a lot of persistence, person willing to accept the stress and challenges and to be on schedule, to work around the budget and overall being mindful of the people of the various departments.
The good thing is that they do show the various roles of the video game industry and what people do. So, this is book is also a good way to figure out where you think your talent lies and work to that career goal.
Again, if you are wanting to seriously get into the industry, this is one book that is a valuable resource and worth the purchase!