Producer
Producing a game is a difficult and stressful job which requires a range of skills. You will be expected to take a design document and turn it into a working schedule to produce the game. You will have to understand how to budget for the work, how to plan every stage of the production and how to get the best from your team.
On a day to day basis you will be managing your team and facilitating them, ensuring they have everything they need to do the job. You will also be expected to work to strict deadlines and ultimately you will be responsible for making sure the team meets them and the game is delivered on time and to a high level of quality.
Producers oversee everything and delegate the work to team leads so it can filter down to individual team members. Different producers have different styles and the level of involvement you have with each team member can vary according to the working practices of the developer. You will generally be expected to report on progress to the company directors and if you are working with a publisher you will be the main point of contact and you will have to keep them happy.
Good planning is essential in order to produce a game but in an industry where slippage is common place you will also have to be able to adjust to changing demands. You rarely make a plan and then follow it through to the letter there are simply too many variables, requests from the publisher, requests from the directors, unforeseen technical problems and staff illness all have to be dealt with.
Internal producers work at game developers and are involved in everything to do with their game from the initial deal, through the budgeting and scheduling to the hiring and managing and overseeing of every detail of production ending with localisation and testing.
External producers work at publishers and are often charged with overseeing the production of multiple titles at various developers. They have to make sure the game vision as their publisher sees it is being met and the job will generally involve frequent travel as they have to visit the game developers they are overseeing.
Getting a Producer Job
You are extremely unlikely to get a producer job without working in game development in another role for a few years first. Many producers, like designers, come through the QA department and having learned the process of game development try their hand at production. Most commonly producers work as assistant producers first or they are team leads from one of the departments who make the move into production.
You will need to understand the basic principles of management and scheduling so, although not essential, a business related degree will be very helpful.
Useful Links for Producers
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