GDW Project 3

Exercises:

3.3: 

SPVG: Uncharted 4

MPVG: Ratchet & Clank All 4 One

PvP: Blazblue

Unilateral competition: Luigi's Haunted Mansion

Multilateral Competition: Monopoly

Co-Op: Ratchet & Clank All 4 One

Team Competition: FIFA

Capture: CoD Domination

Chase: Infection

Race: MarioKart

Alighnment: Tic Tac Toe

Rescue/Escape: Dead by Daylight

Forbidden Act: Taboo

Construction: Super Smash Bros ("Stage Builder Mode")

Exploration: Uncharted 3 Multiplayer

Solution: Taboo/Pictionary/skribbl.io

Outwit: Clue/Fakin' It

3.4:

Uncharted 4: Get the treasure at the end of the adventure

God of War (2018): Make it to the top of a mountain (Similar to UC4 in a "get to the goal" manner)

Blazblue: Defeat opponent

Dragonball FighterZ: Defeat opponent (Similar to BB)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PS2): Make it through story of the game while solving puzzles, fighting & accomplishing missions

Persona 5: Make it through story while solving puzzles, fighting & accomplishing missions while being a schoolboy (Similar to HP)

Super Smash Bros: Ultimate: Defeat your enemies who are competing with you (Similar to BB & DBFZ)

DOOM (2016): Kill all the demons

Cards Against Humanity: Try to gain the favor of the card czar by playing cards that are offensive & humorous

SuperFight: Try to decide who would win in a fight depending on what cards are played (Similar to CAH with player judgement)

3.5:

1. Blackjack may be played with one to eight decks of 52-card decks.
2. Aces may be counted as 1 or 11 points, 2 to 9 according to pip value, and tens and face cards count as ten points.
3. The value of a hand is the sum of the point values of the individual cards. Except, a "blackjack" is the highest hand, consisting of an ace and any 10-point card, and it outranks all other 21-point hands.
4. After the players have bet, the dealer will give two cards to each player and two cards to himself. One of the dealer cards is dealt face up. The facedown card is called the "hole card."
5. If the dealer has an ace showing, he will offer a side bet called "insurance." This side wager pays 2 to 1 if the dealer's hole card is any 10-point card. Insurance wagers are optional and may not exceed half the original wager.
6. If the dealer has a ten or an ace showing (after offering insurance with an ace showing), then he will peek at his facedown card to see if he has a blackjack. If he does, then he will turn it over immediately.
7. If the dealer does have a blackjack, then all wagers (except insurance) will lose, unless the player also has a blackjack, which will result in a push. The dealer will resolve insurance wagers at this time.
8. Play begins with the player to the dealer's left. The following are the choices available to the player:
   • Stand: Player stands pat with his cards.
   • Hit: Player draws another card (and more if he wishes). If this card causes the player's total points to exceed 21 (known as "breaking" or "busting") then he loses.
   • Double: Player doubles his bet and gets one, and only one, more card.
   • Split: If the player has a pair, or any two 10-point cards, then he may double his bet and separate his cards into two individual hands. The dealer will automatically give each card a second card. Then, the player may hit, stand, or double normally. However, when splitting aces, each ace gets only one card. Sometimes doubling after splitting is not allowed. If the player gets a ten and ace after splitting, then it counts as 21 points, not a blackjack. Usually the player may keep re-splitting up to a total of four hands. Sometimes re-splitting aces is not allowed.
   • Surrender: The player forfeits half his wager, keeping the other half, and does not play out his hand. This option is only available on the initial two cards, and depending on casino rules, sometimes it is not allowed at all.
9. After each player has had his turn, the dealer will turn over his hole card. If the dealer has 16 or less, then he will draw another card. A special situation is when the dealer has an ace and any number of cards totaling six points (known as a "soft 17"). At some tables, the dealer will also hit a soft 17.
10. If the dealer goes over 21 points, then any player who didn't already bust will win.
11. If the dealer does not bust, then the higher point total between the player and dealer will win.
12. Winning wagers pay even money, except a winning player blackjack usually pays 3 to 2. Some casinos have been short-paying blackjacks, which is a rule strongly in the casino's favor.

3.6:

Twister: players can only use hands/feet to play & have to place their limbs on the color that has been selected/spun

Pictionary: Sketches can't contain numbers/letters

Scrabble: Players can only use specific lines and letters that are available to them

Operation: Doctor has to perform operation on body part specified on specialist card & can't hit sides of the body

Pong: players can only move up or down

3.7: I remembered all the rules, although it was very confusing in terms of how they worked at first

3.8

Resources in scrabble: Letters, they're useful to the players because they have points and form the words needed to win.  They're made scarce in the game system since only a few amount of letters are available.

Resources in CoD: Guns, ammo, explosives, weapons, etc.  Useful to players because they allow them to kill other players, they're made scarce because it's difficult to find ammo/guns unless they are dropped by other players

3.9:

Persona 5 uses Health, Currency, Actions, Powerups, Inventory, time

Shadow the Hedgehog uses lives

Totally Accurate Battle Sim uses units

God of War uses special terrain

3.10

Tetris: Conflict is created by having the choice of how/where to place blocks

Frogger: Conflict is created by deciding where/when to jump

Bomberman: Conflict is created between players & deciding where to place bombs

Minesweeper: Conflict is created from obstacles & dilemmas

Solitaire: Conflict is created from dilemmas

3.11:

Boundaries include the map of the game and the abilities of the characters in the party

3.12:

2 0-sum games: Uno, Cards Against Humanity.

2 Nonzero Sum Games: Ratchet & Clank Full-Frontal Assault, Mario-Party

The main difference in the outcome of these games is that in 2, only one person can win, and in the other 2, multiple people can win.  This affects gameplay because it makes people behave more or less competitively

3.13:

Rather than roll a dice, players decide where to place their pieces.  This changes the gameplay because it makes the game less based on luck and more based on tactics.

4.1:

Each checkers side represents a country or immigrants, your goal is to get to the other side without getting captured by the country you're trying to enter, whoever enters the other place wins.  

The dramatic elements were humorous to those I played with, but didn't add or detract much.

4.2:

Uncharted 2: The characters are all very well done & I'm interested in trying to achieve my goal before the enemy does.

Persona 5: A very relatable scenario, making the game more personal

Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban (PS2): Characters are those I'm familiar with, so seeing them in an adventure that's not exactly like the book is very interesting

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time: It's story & characters are all extremely fleshed out, and the motivations behind each party involved are understandable and lead to a very believable and engaging conflict

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2: I find the exploration of true identity to be fascinating

4.4:

Guitar Hero: Flat note if something is missed, relates to goal of the game because it tells the player when he/she is messing up

Super Smash Bros: Vibration & visual feedback, tells player when or how they have died, so that way, each player knows what's going on

Dragonball FighterZ: Visual feedback, tells player what attack they have been hit with, so that way, both the attacking player, and player being attacked, have an idea what's coming next.

4.5:

Competitor: Guilty Gear

Explorer: Tomb Raider

Collector: Spider-Man (PS4)

Achiever: Dark Souls/God of War (PS4)

Joker: Cards Against Humanity

Artist: Journey

Director: Persona 5

Storyteller: Star Wars The Old Republic

Performer: Just Dance

Craftsman: Minecraft

I tend to be a competitor because my preferred genre of game is fighting games.

6.6: Challenge for a game is to make a game that can be a VR Competitive fighting game

-Have 2 players use 1 headset each

-Have 2 players have unique abilities

-Ninja VR

-VR swordfighter game

6.7:

My game idea is to create a virtual reality fighting game in which the player has to physically move in order to attack or defend,  The player can use special attacks by doing specific gestures or using specific buttons.  A player wins when the other player loses all health.  The mechanics are going to be mainly punches, and in order to do special attacks, the player has to press a button and/or do a specific hand motion.

6.8:

Formal elements:

Conflict: Fighting against other player for dominance

Rules/Procedures: KO 3 times to win, if another player is KO'd, he/she can't get backup until 10 secs have passed

Actions: Players can attack at any time, but if one player is knocked down, the player who knocked that other one down can't attack

Turns: No turns

How many players: 2

How long does a game take: 2-8 mins

Working Title: F'Real Fighter

Target audience: People who enjoy motion games & fighting games

Platform: VR

7.8:

Core Gameplay:

Main level: 2 players physically swinging their arms to attack one another

Level 2: Each player has the ability to punch & one special ability

Level 3: Special abilities include: Automatic stun, 1 hit knockdown, blinding of enemy, inability to dodge

10.1:

People were able to play the game from start to finish & had fun with it, although they called it just a "VR Version of Wii Sports", didn't need to explain anything except special abilities.

10.8:

The game prototype was asymmetrical since both players had varying abilities and that made things seem different for both players.

Reading:

Chapter 3:

Games are experiences designed for players, who must voluntarily accept the rules and constraints in order to play.  When they accept the invitation to play, they enter a "magic circle", as described by Huizinga.  Within that area, the rules of a game take control, within that game space, players perform actions that they would never do under any other circumstances.  Players also perform actions that they would like to imagine they are capable of.  These options create game rules, and when put into action create the opportunity of play.  

In order to get people to play, players need an invitation so they can be interested in playing.  However, in addition to interest, there are other factors that have to be taken into consideration in order to play.  Some factors include...

-Amount of players needed to participate

-Amount of players game allows for

-Roles of players

-Competitive, cooperative or both?

To answer the questions, look back to player experience goals and think about what structure supports those goals

-# of players:

A game designed form one player is different from those designed for ones designed for multiple players, and a game designed for 2 players is different from ones designed for more than 2 players.  Some games only support a certain amount of players because their systems do not function with any more or less than that amount.  By contrast, some games are designed to be played with a wide range of players, ranging from 4 to potentially hundreds with MMOs.

-Roles of players:

Most games have uniform roles for all players, however, some games have more than one role for players to choose between (i.e: Mastermind).  Many team games have different player roles that fill up the whole team.  RPGs have several roles for players to choose between.  Roles define many of the player's basic abilities, hence why players create more than one character in an online game.

In addition to roles defined in game rules, players might want to consider other potential play styles.

-Player interaction patterns:

• Single player vs. Game: 

A game in which one player competes against a game system.  Games that use this structure tend to include puzzles & other game structures to create conflict.

• Multiple individual players vs. Game:

A game structure where multiple players compete against a game system in the company of each other.  Action is not directed towards each other and it's not necessary to interact between participants.  This pattern works well for noncompetitive players

• PvP:

This is a game structure in which 2 players compete directly.  This is a classic structure for strategy games and works well for competitive players.  Two-player fighting games have employed this structure successfully, the intense competition marks this pattern for focused, head to head play.

• Unilateral Competition:

A game structure in which 2+ players compete against just one player.  This pattern works in free for all games like tag, Scotland Yard, etc.  

• Multilateral Competition:

A game structure in which 3+ players directly compete.  This is the pattern most people think of when referring to multiplayer play.  Nowadays, the trend is to think of multiplayer in terms of a large amount of players, however, it is still possible to play smaller games, and this form of interaction between players have been "tuned" for years.  

• Cooperative Play

This game structure is where 2+ players cooperate against the game system.

• Team Competition:

A game structure in which 2+ groups compete, examples include soccer, basketball, DotA, TF2.

Objectives give players something to strive for, they define what players are trying to accomplish within the rules of the game.  There are categories for what some objectives might be in game design, including...

• Capture

The objective of this type of game is to take/destroy something of the opponents while avoiding being captured or killed.

• Chase

The objective of this game is to catch or elude an opponent.  Chase games can be structured as single player vs games, PvP games or unilateral competition.

• Race

Objective of the game is to reach a goal before other players.  These can be determined by physical dexterity, chance, and/or strategy

• Alignment

Objective is to arrange pieces in a certain spatial configuration.  These can be determined by logic & calculation or chance opportunity combined with calculation

• Rescue/Escape

The objective of this game is to get a defined unit or set of units to safety.

• Forbidden Act

Objective is to get competition to break rules and lose.

• Construction

Build, maintain or manage objects

• Exploration

Objective is an exploration game is to explore areas, often combined with more competitive objectives.

• Solution

Solve a problem  before or more efficiently than the competition.

• Outwit

Objective is to gain and use knowledge to defeat other players

Rules define objects and concepts and those objects and concepts can be completely fabricated or based on real world objects. 

Rules can restrict actions, determine effects, etc.

Resources in games allow players to accomplish certain goals, some include:

Lives

Units

Health

Currency

Actions

Power-Ups

Inventory

Special Terrain

Conflicts are when players have to accomplish goals of a game within its goals and boundaries.  Conflict is designed by creating rules, procedures and situations that don't allow players to accomplish their goals directly.  Instead, procedures allow players to accomplish their goals inefficiently.  These means challenge players by forcing them to use a particular skill or set of skills.

3 classic sources of conflict in game:

Obstacles: Obstacles can take a physical form, such as bumpers on a pinball table, etc.

Opponents: Other players compete to accomplish a goal

Dilemmas: Force players into internal conflict based on their choices.

Boundaries: Separate the game from everything that isn't the game.

Outcome must be uncertain to hold players' attention and uncertainty is resolved 

Chapter 5 (Sidebar):

Convo with Will Wright:

Why does he design games?

He's always enjoyed making things, started out with models and when computers came along, he started programming and realized a computer was a good tool for making things, models, dynamic models, behaviors, etc.  When he started doing games, he wanted to carry that to the next step.  Give a player a tool to create things and give them context to create them.  To put player in designer role, etc.

Influence of Sim City?

Was influenced by an old game called "Pinball Construction Set" by Bill Budge, played the game, and really enjoyed it.  In addition, early modeling things were very fun, as it was a self-consistent world where you could interact in limited ways.  After that, he was inspired by reading, and the idea of simulation.

Experimentation as a play mechanic?

Because a lot of the games he makes are simulation based, there's a really elaborate simulation of some aspect of reality.  As a player, one of the main goals is to reverse engineer the simulation you are placed in.  You're trying to solve problems within the system.  As designers, what you are trying to do is build up mental models to players so they can play this simulation more accurately.  Because of all these variables when it comes to the player understanding the model, you have to do these simulations and experimentation

Chapter 6:

Where do ideas come from?

Input from mind and senses.

Classic stages of creativity:

-Preparation: Being immersed in a topic/set of problematic issues

-Incubation: A period of time in which ideas churn around below threshold of consciousness

-Insight: When the pieces of a puzzle/an idea fall into place

-Evaluation: When the person decides whether the insight is valuable

-Elaboration: The longest part of the process

Work on other aspects of games all the time

Ideas can come from analyzing existing games

Check websites

Brainstorming is a more formalized system of idea generation

Good practices include:

-Stating a challenge: Figure out a gameplay potential and audience

-No criticism: Don't censor/limit/edit ideas, take note of everything

-Vary method: Mix up the way you brainstorm

-Playful Environment: Go somewhere else to think

-Put it on the wall: Visualize ideas on a whiteboard or something

-Go for lots of ideas: Come up with hundreds of ideas at once, doesn't matter what they are

-Don't go too long: Don't brainstorm for too long

Other methods include list creation, idea cards, mind mapping, stream of consciousness, cutting it up, surrealist games, research, etc.

After brainstorming, refine your ideas, think about

-Technical feasibility

-Market opportunity

-Artistic Considerations

-Business/Cost restrictions

When turning a concept into a game

-Focus on formal elements: Ask yourself

--where is conflict

--what are rules and procedures

--what actions do players take & when

--are there turns?

--How many players can play

--How long does a game take to resolve

--What's the working title

--Who's the target audience

--What platform will the game run on?

--What restrictions/opportunities does the environment have

To further game structure, think about

--Each player's goal

--win condition

--most important actions

--how do they function

--procedures & rules

--focus on critical rules

--map out a turn

--how many players

--how do these players interact with one another?

Keep practicing this

Feature storyboards to help diagram how game's procedure is

Chapter 6 (Sidebar):

Experimental games are games that are experimental in a focused way and are games that are designed to do something new with games or make a discovery in game design.  They help push frontiers of game design by revealing new mechanic, patterns of play, etc.

By making these types of games we can test out new ideas, mechanics, etc.

Designing an experimental game is a challenge, but a good way to do so is to find a subject matter & stick to it, then, figure out all formal elements, and then start making the game.

Chapter 7:

Methods of prototyping:

Physical prototypes: Easiest version, typically done using strips of paper, etc., create iterations of a game physically, allows for non-technical team members to participate at high levels in design process.  Don't worry about artwork, just make the functions.

Prototyping original game idea involves:

Visualizing core gameplay: Figure out how the game's central functions are going to work, while the meaning/consequences of a player can change over the course of the game, the core actions tend to remain the same from beginning to end.  Occasionally, some mechanics can create a positive or negative feedback loop.

Build physical prototype: 

Foundation: Create representation of core gameplay

Structure: Prioritize and solidify ideas on how the core gameplay is going to work.  You've built the foundation & now the framework is needed.

Formal details: Create rules to make the game fully functional

Refinement: At this point, prototype is playable, although it's rough.  Through experiment & tweaking, play system becomes more refined.  Rather than questioning the fundamentals of the game, you start questioning the smaller details and the most important question of whether or not the game is compelling.

During refinement, add all ideas for features that have come up while testing which weren't necessarily essential.

Rank features in terms of necessity so that you don't get ahead of yourself

Note that some features might diminish playability.

Refine visualization so you can see how changes affect overall flow of system.  As structure is refined, see what activities have little payoff and what activities are overvalued.  Make sure core actions have significant impact for the player.

Make physical prototype better.  Make sure that prototype is playable and fun, start again and make sure your game is as best as it can be.

After physical prototyping, continue to other prototypes.

Chapter 9:

Playtesting is the most important activity that a designer does.  Unfortunately, it's also the one that the designer understands the least about.  Playtesting is something the designer performs throughout the process to gain insight into how players experience the game.  There are several ways to conduct playtesting.  

Playtesters are the first thing needed before you can begin playtesting.  However, there are only a few types of people who can playtest a game, they are...

Yourself: As you build a working version of your game, you play the game repeatedly to understand how it functions.  When collaborating with others, you self-test both as a group and as individuals.  Self-testing is most important in the foundational stages of a game.

Playtesting with confidants: When you move past the foundation stage and the prototype can be played, test with people you are very familiar with.  These people bring fresh eyes and will uncover things that, as developers, you haven't considered.  Explain the game first.  The goal here is to make a game that players can play without much intervention from the devs.

Playtest with people you don't know: This is the main way to get criticism for your game so that you can gain fresh insight and criticism to improve design.  This is mainly because outsiders don't gain or lose anything whenever they tell you something.

Playtest with target audience:  These are the ideal playtesters, these are the testers who will actually go out and spend their money to buy games like the ones you make.  These people give far more relevant feedback than those who aren't attracted to your game in the first place.  They know what they like & dislike and can tell you this in excessive detail.

Conducting playtests goes as follows:

-Introductions: Welcome playtesters & thank them for participation, get introductions out of the way, explain what is going on, etc.

-Warm-up discussion: Learn about these people, what do they play, why they like what they play, where do they go to find new games, what was the last game they got.

-Play session: Explain that the playtesters will be trying out a game that's still in development.  The purpose is to get feedback.  2 ways to proceed after this, one is leave them alone in a room and watch them play behind a glass or watch from behind.  Get playtesters to speak out loud.

Discussion of game experience: Ask playtesters...

--Overall, what are your thoughts on the game?

--What are your thoughts on the gameplay?

--Were you able to learn how to play quickly?

--What is the objective of the game?

--How would you describe this game to someone who has never played it before? What would you tell them?

--Now that you've played the game, is there any info that would have been useful to you before starting?

--Is there anything that you didn't like about the game? If so, what?

--Was anything confusing? Please take me through what you found to be confusing.

-Wrap-up

Thank playtesters for coming in.  Make sure to note contact info.  Listen to feedback, but don't respond to every point.  As the designer, you feel a strong attachment to whatever it is you have made, however, it's important to take feedback without an emotional response.  Note down criticisms, but don't answer them.  Listen carefully to what players are saying.  Goal is to discover what players don't like or don't understand.  Try to embrace criticism received from playtesters.  Don't let any problems escape your attention as it's much better to hear bad news during playtest than later from a game critic.  There are times when criticism gets too heavy.  Try isolating playtesters to make sure that certain testers don't overshadow others.  Keep feedback honest and allow everyone a chance to speak.

Methods of playtesting include...

-One on one testing: you sit down with individuals and observe from over their shoulders or behind a one way glass, watch as they play a game, take notes & ask questions both before and after the session.

-Group testing: Get a group of people and allow them to play your game together, works for physical prototypes, but also useful for digital prototypes if you have access to a lab with several computers.

-Feedback forms: Give each person who tests the game a standard list of questions to answer after playing and then compare the results.  Is a good method for getting quantitative feedback.

-Interview: Sit down face to face with playtesters and give them an in-depth oral interview after playtesting session.  Is more of a verbal quiz.

-Open discussion: Conduct either one-on-one discussion or group discussion after a round of playtesting and take notes.  Promote freeform discussion or have a more structured approach where you guide the conversation and introduce specific questions

-Metrics: As playtesting becomes integrated into design process, new tools and techniques are being developed for gathering info on how players engage with games.  Data is analyzed to show what features players use and what features they don't.

Combine these forms of testing into a mechanism that works for your game.

Play matrix is a good playtesting tool.

Along x-axis is the continuum between skill & chance, on y-axis is continuum between mental calculation and physical dexterity.  These are core aspects of interactive experience.  This could be a good way to figure out what kind of game your audience prefers.

Take notes, gather quantitative & qualitative data.

Chapter 10:

Balancing positions:  when balancing starting positions for a game, goal is to make the system fair enough that all the players have the same chance of victory.  However, this doesn't mean that all players have to have the exact same abilities, setups, etc.  There are other ways to design games.  In addition, there are differences in balancing for multiplayer games and balancing for single player games.

There are 2 basic models for multiplayer games.

Symmetrical Games: Each player has the exact same starting conditions and access to the same resources and information.

Asymmetrical Games: Opponents have different abilities, resources, rules, or objectives.  However, the game must still be fair.

Another way to make a game asymmetrical is by offering each player different objectives.

This adds variety to a game, so that way, balance is challenged.  There are several examples of asymmetric objectives...

Ticking clock: A time-based objective, where one player has a certain amount of time to accomplish one task, while the other player has a certain amount of time to accomplish a separate task.  This is usually a staple in mission-based games.

Protection: A variant on ticking clock, player has to defend something while another player needs to capture it.

Combination: It's possible to combine ticking clock & protection devices

Individual objectives: Different players take up different roles in the game and each role has their own set of conditions and objectives to accomplish so they can win.

Complete asymmetry: Everything is different, but to make things fair, if there's a team of players against an individual player, the individual player has access to several resources that the team does not.

In both multiplayer models, the most important balance to work out is between the various players.

Balance for skill

Balance for median skill level

Balance dynamically

Balance CPUs

Techniques to balance game:

-Think modular: Most games can be broken up into functional units that allows you to see how the mechanics of each unit interrelate, the more interconnected some pieces are, the harder it can be to make alterations.  To deal with this, isolate subsystems.

-Purity of purpose: make every component of the game have a single, clearly defined mission, nothing exists without a reason and everything only has one function,  To do this, break mechanics down using a flowchart and precisely define what the purpose of each block is.  This helps avoid creating a bunch of extra rules and subsystems.

-Spreadsheet: When balancing a game, it's valuable to keep track of all data in spreadsheets, which should mirror the structure of the game.

Chapter 12:

Team structure: Game development is, nowadays, done by a group of people, and that can be split up into 2 categories, publishing and developing.  The relationship between publisher and developer is critical, it determines how everything is structured.  These relationships vary.  

Publisher vs Developer: Typically, a publisher gives a developer advance against royalties and the developer uses money to pay team members, cover overhead and subcontract portions of work.  Developer has to deliver the product while the publisher finances and distributes the product.  Some game developers are owned by publishers.  However, some of these "in-house development teams" need to act like small companies responsible for their own cash flow, profit & loss, schedules & staffing.

Dev teams include:

-Game Designer: This person is responsible for the play experience, it is his/her job to ensure that gameplay works at all levels.  Some responsibilities of game designers include...

--Brainstorming concepts

--Creating prototypes

--Playtesting & revising prototypes

--Creating concept and design docs and updates

--Communicating vision of the game to the team

--Creating levels for the game

--Advocating for player

Game designers aren't necessarily dedicated though, other members of a team can take up the role of game designer.  However, this can be detrimental to the design process.  For example, a game designer who is a programmer might not be as enthusiastic or attentive towards a particular feature since that feature took them a lot of time to code.  This conflict of interest can be seen the most when the role of the designer is combined with that of the producer.  As a solution to this problem, at some companies, the producer acts as a game designer, but the producer's traditional responsibilities are handled by the development director.

-Producer: This is the project leader, this person's job is to make sure the game is delivered to the publisher as promised.  The producer needs to make a plan for delivery, including scheduling, budgeting, resources, etc.

In most productions, there are producers on both the publishers' and developers' teams.  These 2 producers serve as the single point of contact for important decisions.

Responsibilities of producer for developer are...

--Team leader for developer's team

--Main link between publisher and developer

--Responsible for schedule and budget for the production from the developer side

--Responsible for tracking and allocating resources as well as forecasting

--Manage developer team to make sure deliverables are completed on time

--Motivate team and solve production-related problems

Might be an executive producer who needs to oversee multiple productions and groups.

Programmers: Everyone involved in technically implementing the game, including coders, network & system engineers, database programmers, computer hardware support, etc.

Programming team's responsibilities include...

--Drafting technical specs

--Implementing game including

---Software prototypes

---Software tools

---Game modules and engines

---Structuring data

---Managing communications

---Documenting code

---Coordinating with QA engineers to fix/resolve bugs

Visual artists: Team members who have to design all the visual aspects of a game, including:

-Characters

-Worlds & world objects

-Interfaces

-Animations

-Cutscenes

QA Engineers: Quality assurance engineers, user/bug testers.  Many game professionals start their careers as QA engineers.  Responsibilities include...

-Create test plan for project

-Execute test plan

-Record all unexpected or undesirable behavior

-Categorize, prioritize, and report all issues found during testing

-Retest and resolve issues after they've been fixed

Make sure everyone in QA staff has everything necessary to create a comprehensive test plan

Specialized media: People who do different roles (i.e: Sound design, writing, etc.)

Level designer: Designing and implementing levels into a game, responsibilities include

-Implementing level designs

-Coming up with concepts

-Testing levels and working with designer to improve overall gameplay

Publisher's team: Includes...

-Producer: Project leader, but spends less time interacting with production team and more with marketing team for publishers, responsibilities include

-Team leader for publisher team

-Main communication between publisher & developer

-Responsible for schedule & budget on publisher's side

-Responsible for tracking/allocating resources

-Approve work done by developer, so milestone payments can be made

-Coordinate with internal executive management, marketing, & QA personnel

Marketing team: Sells teams to buyers

Executives: Directors of publishing companies who run everything

QA team: same as devs, but not as familiar with the game and their main goal is to decide whether or not the build of the game is deliverable

Usability specialists: 3rd Party companies hired by the publisher/developer for a specific series of tests, responsibilities include....

-Perform heuristic evaluation of interfaces

 -Create user scenarios

-Identify & recruit test subjects from target market

-Conduct usability sessions

-Record & analyze data from sessions

-Report findings & recommendations

Common mistake is to push off user testing till end of development.

Conduct meetings for effective communication

Use agile development so that the development process is more adaptive and people-centric.