Friday 25 January 2013
Working life in a creative gaming team
Game Designer:
Game Designers are responsible for devising what a game consists
of and how it plays. They plan and define all the elements and components of a game: its setting; structure;
rules; story flow; characters; the objects, props, vehicles, and devices
available to the characters; interface design; and modes of play.
 Sometimes the Game Designer is the originator of the game’s concept or premise. More often,
most of the core ingredients are already defined and the Game Designer must
decide how to create the best game using these elements, within the
constraints of budget and timescale. |
(AKA - Art Director or Creative Manager)
The Lead Artist is responsible for the overall look of the game.
Working with the Game Designer in the first instance, the Lead Artist devises the game’s visual style and directs the production of all visual material throughout the game’s development.
The Lead Artist produces much of the initial artwork themselves, setting creative and technical standards and also determining the best tools and techniques to deploy.
In conjunction with the producer, the Lead Artist puts together and manages the team of artists and animators who produce the bulk of the art assets for the game (including environments, characters, objects and effects) under the Lead Artist’s direction.
Lead 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 (artificial intelligence), game engine development, user interface, tools development, and physics. These are all overseen by the Lead Programmer who is responsible for the technical specification of the game and manages the overall code development process. It is also their job to make sure that everything happens effectively and on time. Lead Programmers are employed by development studios, either independent or publisher-owned. This is one of the highest paid roles in the games industry, reflecting the responsibility that goes with the role and the skills and experience required. This high pressured job can involve hard work and very long hours. The Lead Programmer must also inspire the creativity and technical excellence at the heart of game development.
Programmer:
Programmers work at the heart of the game development process. They design and write the computer code that runs and controls the game, incorporating and adapting any ready made code libraries and writing custom code as needed. They test the code and fix bugs, and they also develop customised tools for use by other members of the development team. Different platforms (games consoles, PCs, handhelds, mobiles, etc.) have particular programming requirements and there are also various specialisms within programming, such as physics programming, AI (artificial intelligence), 3D engine development, interface and control systems.
The programmer works with the lead programmer to create the AI (artificial intelligence), game engine development, user interface, tools development, and the physics of the game.
Advantages:
- Ability to do what you love to do.
- Industry seems to be growing while others are declining
- Software engineers, animators, graphic designers, sound engineers and writers working in the gaming industry can benefit from the tremendous opportunities that are available.
- Game designers work long hours
- Spending a great amount of time in front of a computer can be hard on the eyes and back
- Poor posture while sitting in front of a computer can also contribute to the negative effects of long hours as a video game designer
- The number of workers seeking opportunities increases as the
- The ability to stand out from the crowd becomes more difficult
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