Secrets of the Game Business (Game Development Series)

A Producer's Day

As you can see in Figure 1.5.3, a producer's day is typically spent making sure his projects are progressing according to plan. Topping the list of activities in his day is most definitely communication. These communications vary greatly depending on the status of the product and might include:

• Bug list reviews. This typically happens first thing in the morning to understand the state of products in the alpha or beta phase.

• Milestone schedule review. In order to keep on top of project status, a regular review of the milestone status is conducted by the producer with the developer.

• Marketing plan updates. Keeping abreast of the status of marketing efforts and keeping the marketing group informed of how the game is coming along will help ensure the product gets the proper attention when it ships.

• Product pitches. The product pitch process seems never ending to most producers. It is a constant cycle of creating and pitching project plans. Many of these pitches are built with the help of the targeted developer.

• Negotiations. Negotiations are a large part of the producer's day. This might include negotiating additional features for his game, a multi-million dollar development deal, or convincing the test department to close a particular bug.

• Product review. There is a constant stream of meetings designed to update all stakeholders within a producer's organization on the status of his titles. The product review meetings are most important because each product and its status are discussed.

Figure 1.5.3: A producer's day.

Communication Is Key

It is important to note that the more effective producers will put communication with the developer and testers at the top of their priority list. Each producer interviewed told stories of inheriting troubled projects in which the developer was months behind. These projects were turned around in every instance because more effective communication was made a priority. Developers cannot succeed if they do not know how to meet the objectives of their publishers. Further, developers also need to feel that the project they are working on has visibility with their publisher and that their efforts will be rewarded at the end by effective marketing and sales programs.

The rest of the producer's day is split between reviewing schedules, seeking out and solving problems and, of course, playing games. Each producer interviewed acknowledged that playing theirs and competitive products was always something they wished they had more time to do, but that this typically gets pushed aside because more immediate problems or priorities demand their attention.

A Producer's Dream

In addition to their technical expertise, there are several other attributes that a producer will look for in a development team.

• Communication. Effective communication was most definitely at the top of the list. Being able to know when and how to communicate are essential traits in a developer.

• Passion for making games. If you do not love what you are doing, do something else.

• Willingness to take and act on feedback. Everyone needs to be able to take criticism: it's what makes good games better.

• Objectivity. Know when to escalate issues such as when a product is in trouble, an individual is not meshing with the rest of the team, or a key milestone date is not achievable. When you lose objectivity, things can quickly get off track. For example, one story shared during the interview detailed how a development team was falling apart. Milestones were being missed, the team members were at odds with each other, and the lead developer had put in his resignation notice. Why? Because one of the key contributors on the development team was not capable of doing his job. Eventually, that producer and the programmer in question were fired. The project had already missed too many key dates and was ultimately cancelled.

Words of Wisdom

When asked to share their best advice with the development community, they had some excellent words of wisdom to keep in mind:

• Say what you are going to say. Say it. Say what you said. This is a lesson taught in every communication class, but cannot be reiterated enough when you are dealing with game development. Communication, follow-through, and follow-up are essential in a successful producer/developer relationship.

• Plan for everything to fall apart. Create a solid plan in advance; plan for it to change and plan for everything around it to go wrong. Producers are keen risk assessors. If they do not feel like you have planned for all contingencies, they will not believe you are capable of succeeding. As you see the need for change, raise the flag high detailing exactly what the costs of this change might be to the schedule, budget, and team. Plan to do this early and often.

• It is more work to make a bad game than a good game. Once the plans are set in motion, each time a producer feels he needs to tune, tweak, and polish the design, art, or gameplay, the bigger the opportunity for disaster. With the proper team in place, much of this polishing will occur seamlessly with only the occasional redirect. If a producer gets into a pattern of constantly changing or redirecting resources, the budget and schedule (and typically the game quality) will quickly get out of control.

• Throwing more resources at a problem will not always fix it. There is a critical path for everything. Do not shift resources from one project to something else (that you deem higher priority) and expect to make up that time later. These antics drive producers absolutely crazy.

• Never throw good money after bad money. Some games should never make it to market. This determination might not be accessible until a significant investment has been made in the development process. Cancelling those games as soon as this fact is obvious is not only prudent for the publisher, but also very healthy for the development team as they can focus on more positive work. Every producer can tell stories of how they witness millions of dollars being thrown at a project that will obviously either never make it to market, or will never succeed in the market.

• Success has many parents, failure is an orphan. If you have a successful project, people will come out of the woodwork to take credit. But if your project fails, only the truest friends will stand by your side.