Job Roles

Job Roles

Creative Development

Game Designer:

This is the big one. The crux of the industry and one of the most exciting jobs there is it’s about creating worlds, manipulating emotions and defining the experience that you want the player to go through. This is a job about ideas the actual content and theme of the game, the actions and abilities that the player will have available, the mechanics they will be able to use and the challenges they will face. However, a good Game Designer needs much more than just raw creativity and imagination. The role requires enormous discipline and the ability to understand the needs and demands of the entire audience. You need to strike the balance between creating a game that you want to play versus the game the audience want. It's a difficult task and constantly hits you with contradictory demands. Game design actually covers two different strands development design and initial concept design. Of the two, the initial concept design is the one that most people expect to be doing: actually coming up with ideas for brand new games. In truth, this is only a small part of the designer's life. You will spend much more time working on the development design, where you will go into enormous detail about every action, ability and mechanic of the game. In many respects, the term Game Designer is not so much a specific job performed by a given person, but more a general task that is performed by the senior members of the design team level designers and design manager. So, good communication skills and an excellent attitude to teamwork are vital for this role as, in fact, they are for all the design roles.

Level Editor:

Although this is often the entry point for designers, it's an extremely important part of the development process. The Level Editor is the person who actually places the items, enemies and interactive mechanics in the game world. In a typical game this might include monsters, health pickups, weapons or special items. However, it goes much further, since the editor is ultimately responsible for the timing and choreography of the level itself. There are so many decisions to be taken when editing a level. For example, how many enemies should the player have to fight through before you offer them a health pack or special power-up. Or maybe you want to generate tension by having a few enemies attacking in a slightly unpredictable way. Careful and skilled use of the available gameplay options will have an enormous impact on the quality of the final game. This is where you will learn a huge amount about the art of game design. You will discover how to pace the gameplay to keep the experience varied and exciting. It is also a very technical job. As a Level Editor you will be ultimately responsible for the script that runs the level, the triggers and rules that cope with the actions of the player and the responses of AI entities in their vicinity. This requires a very clear and logical brain, as well as the creative and imaginative mind-set that puts the fun and excitement into the gameplay.

Lead Artist:

The lead artist is responsible for the overall look of the game. Working with the Game Designer and Lead Programmer, the Lead Artist devises the game’s visual style and directs the production of all visual material throughout the game’s development. They produce much of the initial artwork themselves, setting creative and technical standards and determining the best tools and techniques to use. In conjunction with the Producer, the Lead Artist puts together and manages the team of Artists and Animators who produce most of the art assets for the game including environments, characters, objects and effects under the lead artist’s direction. The lead artist must ensure that the art and animation team works to schedule and within budget. They also work closely with the programming team to make sure that all art and animation assets produced can be easily imported into the game engine. The styling is often communicated through concept art. The Lead Artist will supervise, if not actually undertake the production of material which illustrates the visual atmosphere and graphical design for the game. They also research and test out different modelling, texturing, animation, rendering and lighting techniques and tools appropriate to the games technology, with input from the Lead Programmer. They supervise the team’s output from a creative and technical point of view, and also ensure that the work gets done according to budget and schedule, alongside the game’s producer, anticipating problems and planning for any contingencies. They are also usually responsible for overseeing any outsourced art production.

Technical Artist:

Technical Artist helps artist and designers to get their content into the game with the least pain possible, and helps engineers and the artist to communicate fluidly. If you are an artist or designer and you have problems with your content or your tools, the lead technical artist is the first person you should go to for help. If you’re already working with another technical artist then certainly continue to do so, but new issues should always go to the lead, for the quickest solution. If you are an engineer designing a new content feature, it’s a good idea to solicit feedback from the lead technical artist, for how it will fit into the content pipeline.

Artist:

The duties of a game artist will vary depending on what part of game production an artist works on and the particular medium or aspect of game art he or she specializes in creating. Someone who works on pre-production for a game, for example, will typically create concept art for various locations, characters, and items found in the game world. A production artist, on the other hand, usually creates art assets for use within the game itself, which are directly seen by players of the game. The assets that are made, however, are often made by many different artists and any one game artist will usually only create a certain aspect of such work. A game artist is typically someone who works in the video game industry and creates various pieces of artwork while working on games. The actual work done by such an artist can vary quite widely, depending on the nature of the work he or she does. A game artist usually works on pre-production or production of a game, though he or she could also create marketing artwork that is not used within the game itself.

Animator: 

An animator produces multiple images called frames, which when sequenced together rapidly create an illusion of movement known as animation. The images can be made up of digital or hand-drawn pictures, models or puppets.

Animators tend to work in 2D animation, 3D model-making animation, stop frame or computer generated animation. Computer generated animation features strongly in motion pictures to create special effects or an animated film in its own right, as well as in aspects of television work, the internet and the computer games industry.

The basic skill of animation still relies heavily on the animator's artistic ability, but there is an increasing need for familiarity with technical computer packages.

Audio Engineer: 

A sound engineer or designer working in the computer and video game industry is charged with making the game and its characters come to life. By adding background music, as well as giving the characters a voice, computer and video games become an entertainment experience, not just a hobby. The sound engineer/designer also adds other kinds of sounds to the game. He or she is responsible for making the game more interesting by making sure that explosion, car chases, crowd noises, and weather conditions like storms or rain are included in the game. This part of the video game production team needs to use their creativity to make sure that the game has the right sound effects to fit its tone and story line. They may need to create just the right sound effect for a game as part of their job responsibilities. Familiarity and an appreciation for the game industry are essential for anyone who wants to work in this capacity. The sound engineer/designer may be working with real or manufactured sounds. He or she may need to edit and mix the sounds when working on a game project. Another part of the sound design job description is sound mastering.

Technical Development

Game Programmer:

At the most basic level, programmers write the code that makes things happen in a video game. This includes connecting or mapping the player input from the control pad to the action that's happening on the screen. It also includes all the action or movement of non-player characters; for instance, when you see NPCs wandering the terrain of a video game, it's the programmers who gave the characters the artificial intelligence to roam where they do. In related industries, the equivalent position to game programmer is usually a software developer or software programmer. Some programmers, depending on their title, might code something other than the game, such as the proprietary tools used to build the game or the networking architecture behind the game. Programmers work closely with artists, designers, producers, testers, sound designers, and everyone else who has hands on role making the game, supporting them when they need more technical know-how to complete their tasks.

Lead Game Programmer:

The Lead Programmer leads the programming team responsible for creating all the computer code which runs and controls a game. Programmers have various roles and specialisms including AI which is artificial intelligence, game engine development, user interface, tools development and physics. They usually compile all the technical documentation for the software produced by the programming team and ensure the quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of all the game code. Also the lead game programmer will also provide to support the programming team to make sure that the programmers understand to have the right skills and training to be able to do their jobs effectively within the company that they are in and will benefit everyone in the industry.

Project Implementation

Project Manager/Producer:

The project manager also known as the producer is responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of a game on time and within budget for the people. During development the Project Manager monitors progress against the schedule. They are the central point of contact for all aspects of a production liaising with senior management publishers PR and marketing departments QA as well as the programming design and art teams which can include any outsourced personal. Also project managers might have to go oversee after a game product has be launched and released this will involve updates on the game to talk about for the public new things that they might need to know about and at the end they might also ask you questions about the product you produce and might leave comments on what your game is like and how they feel about your product.

Assistant Producer:

The assistant producer works with a game's production staff to ensure the timely delivery of the highest quality product possible. Typically, they will focus on specific areas of the development process. This could involve handling the communications between the publisher and developer, or co-ordinating work on some of the project's key processes such as managing the outsourcing of art assets. Assistant Producers are employed by publishers as well as development studios. Working within a development studio often involves managing communications between different teams such as design, art and programming. In a publisher environment, Assistant Producers will focus on liaising between sales and marketing departments and the developer, and supporting the work of the publisher's Producer. The Assistant Producer's role and responsibilities change during the development process, as different elements of the game are created. Important aspects of the job can include task and milestone planning and tracking, as well as handling review and approval processes. They are usually responsible for filing and archiving game assets such as concept artwork, marketing and press assets.

External Producer:

They are mostly responsible for ensuring the delivery of a game, while working from the development team. External producers are mostly always employed by a game publisher and working out of the publishers head office and they are liaise between the publishers sales and marketing departments and the game developer which is located miles away. Also they work closely with the games internal producer who is a part of the on site development team while the internal producers focuses on the staff management task of getting a game finished on time and on a budget and it’s the external producer are more concerned with the broader issues.

Creative Director:

A creative director is the important person during the game development process with any high level decisions that effect on how the gameplay with look like and what it will sound like. Not all game companies employ creative directors but some companies prefer to continue to split the jobs between a games lead artist, programmers, designers and producers they will work all together as a team to produce a product.  The position is used in each game development team has its own creative director with some highly experienced and talented directors oversee multiple projects. Also responsible for the overall look and feel of a computer or console game. The position is a relatively new one within the games industry. It has evolved out of the producer’s role which has shifted into towards managing the process of completing a game on time and with a budget.

Quality Assurance

QA Tester:

Quality assurance is responsible for testing a game while they drop down some points on what to sort out and fix about the game with maybe some bugs or glitches or technical faults. They put the title of the country that you tested it in and what type of console that you played it on and the name of the bug and what happened on it. Whilst they put the version of that game and what version maybe the bug or glitches happened on and also put down the date on what it happened on then how many times you repeated the game so you know that glitch or bug on that game actually happens on the game. Then the QA testers put the level of that map or the level of the game and you label what bug type it is if it’s a class a, b or c and if that bug is a class a where it crashes the whole game down the testers would label it a class a with it being a class b they would say that it’s a minor but doesn’t crashes the game down with the final class c it would just be minor with slight delays also with evidence by showing the bug and glitches some sources of images and videos. All of the quality assurance they put it all down to show for the makers of the game to sort out before releasing the game so the buyers would not be disappointed of that game. 

Business Development

Public Relation Manager:

The primary role of the public relations manager will be to help execute full global PR campaigns that broaden the visibility of assigned gaming products. The PR Manager will work closely across all functions within gaming division to execute global PR plans, develop strategies, as well as create positioning and messaging to secure media coverage throughout the campaigns. An additional responsibility includes.

· Execute strategic tactics as outlined in the PR plans 

· Provide PR and communications counsel to the greater team 

· Develop all external communication, including press releases, fact sheets, EPKs and other press materials 

· Align activities and maximize opportunities across gaming division, as well as the rest of the studio 

· Distribute coverage reports as needed 

· Manage PR agencies to secure coverage with key press 

· Arrange and staff press tours and events 

· Manage licensee PR

Product Manager:

Their job is to help and create an implement marketing campaigns to maximise the sales of the games that they are working on. While working in the marketing team as they support the senior marketing managers who organise international or global campaigns. They might also work with a brand manager who is responsible for developing long term plans for an individual game franchise and also providing strategic overview of how a game brand should change over time. Product managers typically work for a game publisher or independent marketing companies who work with publishers they also manage the marketing budget in a responsible manner and demonstrate an effective return on investment.

Marketing Executive:

They are involved in developing marketing campaigns to promote a product service or an idea that is a varied role that includes planning, advertising, event organisation, product development, distribution etc. The work is often a fast-paced which many organisations have marketing departments, that marketing executives can be found in both private and public sectors, ranging from the financial retailing and media industries to voluntary and public sector organisations. The marking executive vary depending on the size of the organisation and sector and whether the selling product or service or on raising awareness of an issue that affects the public. If they are selling games in the industry they would need to have an idea on what it is about and if they are certain to release the game for the public.

Marketing Manager:

They would be responsible for preparing and conducting marketing strategies, cooperation with external contractor’s media, advertising industry and market monitoring and research supervision of production of market assets and documents writing press releases and product descriptions and creating ads like print, online if you have at least 3 years of professional experience gained on similar position within gaming industry excellent writing and communication skills combined with extensive knowledge about the gaming industry for a passion when they are needed for several services or products that could be in charge of a single product as all marketing managers need to be highly focused and very conscientious of meeting budget restraints and timelines.