Task 2 - Job Roles

Project Implementation

Project manager/ producer
The role of a Project manager is to that the game is successful completed and released by the release date and the overall cost of the game stays in budget. they also oversee all aspects of a games development and delivery. They control financial issues and other resources and they ensure that the quality of the working teams are maintained and they also make sure that they are staying on task and not slacking off. They will help and deal with problems that occur but the main job is to do with the financing. The money will be sorted out on how much the working teams will earn depending on effort, work done and time spent on what they have been doing. They will also set deadlines for things that need to be done for the game so everything is completed to a high standard so that the final product of the game doesn't come out in a low quality. Producers have to deal with the maintaince side of the game to make sure everything is going well. They will have to deal with other aspects after the game is released such as patches, updates and additional content.

Assistant producer
This role is based on how time is split up in the tie of creating a game. An assistant producer makes sure that the game is delivered on time with the highest quality product possible. They space out how long and when the team should be working on the game so this role is similar to creating a certain schedule or timetable for the game. They are employed by publishers and development studios which would usually involve communicating between different teams like design, art and programming. An assistant producer would also have the job of working with the publishers external producer where the focus is liaising between sale and marketing departments and the developer. Planning and tracking of milestones and tasks is another thing that the assistant producer contributes towards which helps save time and makes task more efficient. They are also usually responsible for filing and archiving game assets including concept art, marketing and press assets. An assistant producer is responsible for any outsourcing that is required as they often act as the main point of contact for outsourcing companies, where they must track the quality of deliverables and provide feedback.

External producer
External producers have a similar role to a project manager but they are not in the same company as the original makers of the game. They are mostly responsible for the task of ensuring that the delivery of the game is successfully delivered meanwhile working externally from the development team. External producers are employed by a game publisher usually and this means that they work outside of the publishers head office. They help gather important information and techniques so the game will be a commercial success. They also focus on testing alpha versions of the game so they know that the development of the game is going well.

Creative director

This is a role that is responsible to make sure the overall look of the game looks good which includes the quality and feels that the art has. They confirm the what should be in the game and they also make decisions between what art work would fit in best with the game and they also decide whether the art needs to be changed or altered.

Business Development

Public relations manager

A public relations manager is responsible for managing an organisations image and reputation. They attempt to inform the public about the organisations image along with other important groups such as employees, partners, investors and much more. This means that they need to be good at using words which can inform and persuade the public about the image and reputation of the organisation.

Product manager

The product manager aims to help create and implement marketing campaigns so the game will rise in the sales. They control the development of an organisation by trying to increase the income they make by using new creative ideas and techniques. They have good communication skills which allow them to spread ideas and information faster and easier which also allows them to be able to ensure that the idea that the product is based around will be represented in the highest quality.

Marketing executive

A marketing executive would promote the employers products, services and ideas which is pretty crucial as it allows the products to be more recognised which would most likely result in more copies of the products being bought. They also promote the employers products, services and ideas which will most likely allow the game to become more popular and known. They have to plan, advertise. work with the public relations and organise events. They deal with how they want the product to be presented through the media which would also show that they want the product to look nice and persuasive. The advertisement that is produced should be filled with all the crucial information where the consumer should be ensured that it is definitely worth the amount of money you pay for the game. They take feedback from the feedback given which leads to improving the game further.

Marketing manager

The marketing manager aim is to find the best way to advertise the game, services or idea as they will collaborate with the marketing department and discuss what they will do, ideas and how to make the promotion good enough to get the product noticed. The ways they will advertise the product can vary as it could be through television, articles, magazines, advertisements or it could even be through direct speech/ person to person. The feedback received from the public can be discussed and used to improve their way of promoting the organisation using new ideas. A budget will be used for the process and a schedule is most likely to be used for sales meetings and conferences.

Technical Development

Lead game programmer

A lead game programmer are capable of making sure that the programming and coding team are on task, making sure they are doing the correct work to a certain standard. This obviously has to stay in the certain time period that has been given which probably means that a schedule needs to be created for what needs to be finished and when for, which also means they have to stay within the budget they have been given. They will test the coding and make sure that it works fluently and if it could be improved, a message would be sent to the programming team telling them that it need to be improved. A lead game programmer is capable of making sure that the new versions of the game released are made with improvements and new content. This will include adding new aspects, patching bugs and glitches and making sure that they get fixed so they work smoothly and the error wouldn't occur again. They make sure that the tasks are completed in time and also make sure that the programmers are doing the right stuff and know what they are doing.

Game programmer

A game programmer is responsible for creating the computer code that runs and controls the game, where they have to test the code regularly and fix bugs which are found throughout the process of creating the code. This job could be slightly altered depending on what gaming platforms it is initially used for such as PC, PS4, Xbox One, Mobile. Some of the programming has different types of requirements that need to be met like physics programming, AI, 3D engine development, interface and control systems. Programmers also usually work in a large team where specific aspects are targeted on to be created clean and smooth. Programmers would usually work o a wide range of tasks with codes that have been written by other programmers. The also ensure that the game obeys the laws of gravity and they liaise with QA testers to find bugs that need to be fixed for smooth performance. 

Creative Development

Game designer
A games designer generate ideas for a game. They have to look at most different perspectives of a game which includes the genre, story, platform, perspective, 2D/ 3D, environment, characters, items etc. They come up with a abase idea and then elaborate on the idea exploring creativity, uniqueness and what they think the consumers will want to buy. Once a base idea comes through, then the idea will be discussed to all of the teams where base concept art will be sketched out of what it would look like in the game.

Level editor

A level editor aims to create the architecture and environment within a game which could consist of the layout and where things are initially places. They consider how structures are defined and created which include landscapes, building and objects. They are limited to the ideas processed from the team so they must stick to certain sizes of how big and wide certain objects and buildings are.

Lead artist

A lead artist is overall responsible of how a game looks and they also plan how the style of the game is going to be to be like as they direct the production of the visual materials they will use in the games development. They are also in charge of looking over the art and animation team to ensure that all the correct art is being produced for the game and it is also being made in the right style.

Technical artist

The technical artists communicate and cooperate between both the artists and the programmers and they also ensure that the textures and objects that are implemented into a game doesn't lose any quality or resolution. They also investigate new techniques that could be useful in the art department and they implement these into the game to see if it makes the game more smooth or fluent. They train the team to learn these new skill so the game could be able to run more smoothly or look better.

Artist

An artist basically focuses on creating visual elements in a game which could consist of characters, scenery, objects, vehicles and textures that could enhance whether a game could look realistic or not. They are also responsible for the concept art and storyboards for the game which could help with the visual elements of a game in pre-production.

Animator

An animator is responsible in how the animation and movement will look in a game. They should use a game engines technology to create smooth and fluent movements so the game will look better and they could also focus on the realism area of a game considering that this could be involved with in game sprites such as characters, environmental features, scenery and vegetation.

Audio engineer

An audio engineer focuses on the sounds that a used within a game such as a soundtrack, sound effects, voices, spoken instructions and ambiance effects. They spend time trying to perfect the sounds that are implemented into a game as they have a wide variety of features they can use to captures sound in order to receive the perfect piece of audio they need for the game whether it sounds realistic or not. for example, audio can be captured using the method of audio field recorded where they find the exact sound they need and implement it into the game such as the ocean. They also use methods such as Foley artistry, studio recordings and also audio created from a VST or a software.

Quality Assurance

QA tester

The main focus of a QA tester is to test, tune and debug early versions of a game and they assess and analyse how good the quality and the gameplay is and also the difficulty of the game itself. They report any obvious bugs so they can be fixed immediately and they also assure that the quality and audio sounds good ingame before it is actually released.