Producing games : from business budgets to creativity and design / D.S. Cohen, Sergio A. Bustamante II.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, D. S.

Contributor:

Bustamante, Sergio A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games--Design.

Video games.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 p.)

Edition:

1st edition

Place of Publication:

Burlington, MA ; Oxford : Focal Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Computer games are big business - tens of billions of dollars are spent annually by the worldwide video games market. The cost of producing video games has ballooned to beyond 20 million dollars in many cases, and team sizes are quickly growing past 100 team members. At the center of this storm is the producer - one person who transforms the money, the hours spent by the team, and the latest technology into a work of art that millions of people will call fun. This book will dig deeply into the role of the producer and expose secrets of game production that stand the test of time: how to build

Contents:

Front Cover; Producing Games; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; About the Authors; Acknowledgements; Intro: So You Want to be a Video Game Producer; Section One: What is a Video Game Producer?; Chapter 1 Producer Primer; What a Producer Manages; Why Become a Game Producer; How to Become a Producer; Publishers and Developers; Internal and External Producer Roles; Chapter 2 Producing at a Developer; The Schedule; Dev Budget; Pitching Ideas and Representing the Team; Manage Milestone Submissions; Working With Your Publishing Counterpart; Chapter 3 Producing at a Publisher; Managing Schedules

Managing the BudgetsReviewing Milestones; Managing Approvals; Managing Testing; Support: Sales, Marketing, and PR; Working with Stakeholders; Supervising Audio Production; Voice-Over; Contractors; Prep for First Party Submissions; Chapter 4 Producer Roles; Executive Producer; Senior Producer; Producer; Associate Producer; Production Coordinator/Assistant Producer; Other Producer Roles; Localization Producer; Cinematics Producer; Licensor Producer; Chapter 5 Size and Scope: Large vs. Small, Licensed vs. Original; Team Sizes; Larger vs. Smaller; Big Budgets; Small Budgets

Long vs. Short SchedulesLicensed vs. Original IPs; Sequels and Expansion Packs and Downloadable Content; Chapter 6 Producing Skills; Managing a Game; The Key Skills of a Producer (Hard Skills); Soft Skills (Or, What You Should Know, but Can Learn on the Curve); Chapter 7 Tools of the Trade; Software Solutions and Recommendations; 3-D Graphics and Modeling Packages; Section Two: The Process in a Nutshell; Chapter 8 The History of Game Development; Case Study: The History of Game Development Through the Evolution of Sierra; Chapter 9 Game Project Lifecycle Overview; Concept Phase

Pre-Production PhaseProduction Phase; The Crunch: From Pre-Alpha to Release Candidate; Chapter 10 The Development Team; Technical Director; Programmers and Engineers; Creative Director; Designers; Art Director; Artists; Animators; Audio Director and Engineer; Writers; QA/Compliance; Chapter 11 The Publishing Team; The Producer; Operations, a.k.a. Ops; Tech Director; Art Director; QA Team; Creative Director; Chapter 12 Publishers Selecting Developers; Projects That Start With the Publisher (The Dog Wagging the Tail); Finding the Developer

Projects That Start With the Publisher (The Tail Wagging the Dog)Section Three: Scheduling and Structure; Chapter 13 Scheduling and Structure; The Producer's Role in Scheduling; Why Schedule? Heavy Scheduling vs. No Scheduling; Who Owns the Schedules?; Man-Month Schedule; Milestones: How They Affect Everything; Scrum, Waterfall, Agile, and Cowboy Coding; Elements of a Schedule; Troubleshooting; Other Teams' Needs and Schedules; Hardware; DLC, Expansion Packs, and Sequels; Marketing, PR, and Sales Needs; Screenshots and PR/Marketing Materials; Holidays and Vacation

Chapter 14 Development Plan Management (Scheduling to Production)

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

1-136-13878-1

1-282-30927-7

9786612309274

0-08-092804-8

9780080928043

OCLC:

500575217