Task 2 – Job Roles

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Game designer:
Game designers are extremely important in the game design industry and this is mainly because they are the people that let the lead artists know what the game they are creating consists of for e.g. what the game includes, what the game is about, what theme it is, and pretty telling them what the game is, what is about, and how it plays, and the reason they tell the lead artists this is so they know what they and the other artists have to/can create so that they can go and tell the other artists and start creating designs that will be used in the game. Game designers have to think about several things before they tell the artists this information though such as: the games setting, the rules, the structure, the characters, the props and most importantly the story line because the story line is what helps you to think of pretty much every other aspect of the game.

Level Editor:
Level Editors are the people that make all the interactive designs for levels such as the buildings, the map, the campaign and etc. Level editors also put together the levels after the level designer has created the designs for the level.

Lead Artist:
A lead artist is really important because they care the ones that get the information off the game designers and then feed that back to the other artists, and basically tells them what they have to do and what type of art to create for the game. if one of the artists needs to look up pictures of a certain object because they are unsure of how to create it, the lead artist is the one who does the research and then provides them with images to help them create the art, and they do this so that they artists do not have to waste time researching when they could be creating something else whilst waiting. A lead artists manages the design and animation team, so if something goes wrong in the process of both teams the lead artists is responsible for it.

Technical Artist:
A technical artists is stuck in between the middle of the artists and programmers because the technical artist has to make sure that the art assets can be put into a game without eliminating the artistic vision or exceeding the platforms technical limits. Technical artists also have to find new techniques and help the team by training them. this role is becoming a lot more important in the game industry now that consoles and pc hardware are becoming more complex and difficult to work with.

Artist:
An artist has to create the visual elements of the game and for those who do not know what this means is the qualities which make the properties of a piece of art or design together. Artists also have to create concept art and storyboards and this is mainly to help communicate the visual elements of the game during the pre-production. All artists must have many techniques and things to help them become an artist in the first place, such as: a portfolio, drawing from life, be able to work and communicate with a team, be creative and imaginative so stand out from the crowd, have good observation and there own style of drawing which should include complex detail. You need all these things and many more to become an artists.

Animator:
Animators are extremely important in the game design industry and there are several reasons for this: Animators are the ones who are responsible for the portrayal of movement and behavior in a game, meaning they have to make the best use out of the game engines technology , also this must be done within the platforms limitations. The reason animators do this, is to bring more of a realistic culture to the game, such as the characters and the creatures animators bring life to mostly. characters and creatures are not the only thing animators have to animate though, sometimes an animator has to apply animations to things such as objects, scenery and environmental effects.

Audio Engineer:
Audio engineering is a really important job and helps a lot in the area of sound in a game, an audio engineer works on the recording, manipulation, reinforcement, mixing and the reproduction of sound. in audio engineering there will be certain roles certain people play for e.g. the people that are studio engineers will work on studio recording, the assistant engineers will help the studio engineers in the studio. The monitor engineers will work on helping live sound engineers by helping the live performers at a live event to hear themselves. The System engineers will manage live sound engineers and monitor engineers. Audio post engineers works on mixing and editing audio for television and movies. Mastering engineers work on smoothing the results of a mix engineer by making the final product into a whole. Mix engineers work on mixing different tracks to mesh and create a new track. An recording engineer focuses just on the aspect on recording sound, literally. Game and audio designers work with the sound engineering on video games as well as adding sound to the game. All of these engineers are apart of audio engineering and are needed in audio engineering.

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

Game Programmer:
Game programmers are the reason that the game works, this is because game programmers deign/write the computer code for the game, without this the game wouldn't work/would be broke. game programmers have to write different codes depending on the situation for e.g. if there is a bug with the game they have to write a code and incorporate it into the game so that the bug is fixed. Every code is different. All consoles have different programming requirements and game programmers have to deal with this, and make sure they fulfill the requirements so that there are now major bugs on that console.

Lead Game Programmer
Lead game programmers are responsible for all codes created for the game even if its a game programmer fault not the leads. Lead Game Programmers are responsible for the technical side of the game, and because of this they manage the software engineering of the start of a game to the end and this is basically so that they can make sure there's no technical difficulties and to check that game completes and turns out well and as expected.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Project Manager/Producer:
Project managers are fully responsible for the plan of a project. If there are any problems or issues i any areas of department then the leads of each role for e.g. Lead designer would tell the project manager and then they would discuss it and deal with it. Project managers are extremely important as they sort out all the issues the departments have and make sure they understand what they have to do it instead and the reason the project managers have to do this is because if they don't, then the issue can escalate into a huge problem. Project managers basically do everything possible to try and make sure that the overall project does not fail. Project managers must be clear and be good at communicating because they have to tell the groups working on different aspects of the game there objectives.

Assistant Producer:
Assistant producers works with the games production staff ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality standard. Most assistant producers work on areas of the development process which could be dealing with communications between the publisher and developer, or co-coordinating some of the work of the projects key processes. Assistant producers are also really important because without them the game would take so much longer to make, and the game would not finish no where near on time.

External Producer:
An External Producer is also responsible for ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality possible, but not only this, they work with externally from the development team at the same time.

Creative Director:
A creative director is responsible for how a game turns out and the look and feel of the game, so they must ensure that this does not fail by making sure the quality of the gameplay and all the other aspects of a game such as the artwork, music and audio assets is to the best standard and tat it would appeal to the audience. They can decide weather to change any of the gameplay or story mode of high levels, or how it looks or sounds. Creative Directors are not essential to make a game or extremely important, with them it would help a lot but companies do not NEED them as some companies do not hire them.

Quality Assurance

QA Tester:
QA Testers are essential for a computer game, because without QA Testers the game is guaranteed to fail because you wouldn't be able to test the levels, search for bugs so they can fix it, and try and find anything wrong with the game before it gets published/released. Without QA Testers the company would be taking a huge risk publishing the game without having QA Testers to test it because 99% of the time there's a lot of bugs and issues with the in-game gameplay. QA Testers are kind of responsible for how the game turns out when published because if they miss a bug and it is major the press/public will pick u on this almost immediately. There are responsible for any bugs in the game and are expected to find all of them and fix them.

Business Development

Public Relations Manager:
These are responsible for any press/publicity about the game, especially a major issues that becomes a huge topic and then that big that the company of the game are confronted about it. Public relation Managers are responsible for advertising and gaining exposure for the game.
Public Relation Managers are really important for a company that are making a game/made a game.

Product Manager:
Product Managers are responsible for maximizing the sales of the game as much as they can and basically earning the company as much money as possible from this.  They are expected to do this by doing marketing campaigns and helping create them. Product Managers  must also manage the marketing budget of the game.

Marketing Executive:
Marketing Executives are responsible for promoting the game and are expected to gain the game a lot more publicity and sales by doing so. They can promote the game in many ways such as advertising such as TV Ads, Newspapers etc etc. They are also expected to plan and develop marketing communication campaigns for the marketing department of the game. They must also represent the company and game in conferences/exhibitions and answering any questions thrown at them. The Marketing executive is responsible for the marketing of a game.

Marketing Manager:
Marketing Managers must find and plan the best ways to promote the company's game. in the marketing manager is in charge of the game.