No, being a game designer is no easier than a producer.
What are the professions of producer and game design? How do they manage a team together? How to avoid mistakes in communication? We have prepared and translated an article that will answer these and other questions for you in the blog of the “Game Management for Internet Projects” program.
I recently completed a six-month project at SMU Guildhall, where I worked as a game designer. Since I am a certified producer and have much more experience in project management than in game design, this was a very instructive experience. Of course, during these 6 months I learned a lot about the work of a game designer, but the most valuable thing is what will allow me to work better on my projects as a producer. I decided to take a few minutes to share these moments with you, considering them from the point of view of the producer’s part of my brain.
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This may seem obvious, but I have heard many times how my colleagues say that the work of game designers is much easier than theirs, and that they could do it with their eyes closed. Damn, I have to admit that in my head this thought slipped a couple of times. Despite the fact that in some projects this can take place, in my experience, game designers are just as hard as producers.
Game designers use many, if not all, “producer” communication skills when interacting with a team, setting goals, or presenting design to shareholders. They even have to resolve disputes between team members — usually creative rather than personal, and in fact they can sometimes be even more painful.
There is one interesting feature that I do not fully understand: people always ask the game designer to explain something to them. Developers want to learn more about the system you designed, shareholders want to know why you designed it exactly the way you did it, and producers want to prioritize everything related to your system in order to understand what you can refuse; and all along the way everyone wants to know why you didn’t take their ideas into account or apply them in a different way. Producers also face similar problems, but from personal experience I was convinced that there is one difference: you don’t have to make excuses for yourself, but only for the project as a whole.
These professions are very similar in many respects, they simply approach communication and coordination from two different sides: producers from the management side, and game designers from the creative side. In my experience, none of the professions is more difficult than the other; they are just different and some share of participation is required for one to understand what the other is.
Another lesson that I thought was learned long ago, but it turned out that in fact I did not understand this until I was on the other side. Producer and game designer are two sides of the same coin , their activities are so closely related that they must also work in a very tenacious bundle with each other. If these two do not understand each other or do not trust each other, the team will lose a single control, which entails many other problems coming from the rest of the team. For example, when my producer and I were at first confronted with some misunderstanding, we noted several similar failures in communication with our leaders, as well as leads with their departments. Regardless of whether we understand this or not, the team feels that their leaders do not get along with each other, and this destabilizes the entire project.
The reverse is also true. Later, the producer and I worked so well together that we joked that we had one brain for two. We noticed that the team is motivated for hard work and achieves overall success. The fact that we learned to manage together not only gave us support for each other and lowered the level of stress, but also made the team understand how to work together.
In addition, there is no single scenario of relationship dynamics suitable for all pairs of producer-game designer. Talking with my producer, I realized that one of the reasons for our problems was his suggestion that I had the same strengths and needs as his previous game designer, although I needed something completely different. Producers and game designers should spend enough time to get to know their soul mate, and be flexible enough to be able to find ways to interact with each partner.
My producer and I in the first half of the project fell into this trap several times, largely because we felt the pressure of time. I asked to enter some parameter and he stated it without asking me about the details. He asked me to transfer some tasks to the next sprint under the pressure of the schedule, and I did this without considering all the consequences until the end or trying to figure out what else to throw away. In such situations, we spent more time on all this haste, instead of sitting down and discussing everything thoroughly.
This concept can also expand to interact with team members. There was one moment when I approved the design of the level, not making sure that the designer understood me correctly, and in the end I got a completely wrong design in the game. Or I asked the developer to enter the part, which, as it seemed to me, he understood, but then implemented it incorrectly, and had to start all over again, grumbling that we could save time if he asked all the questions, even if we were sure of them .
About halfway through, we started using active listening techniques with the producer: “I correctly understand what you mean ...”. This slightly lengthened our meetings, but significantly reduced the number of mistakes and omissions. Also, an additional advantage is how it affects the rest of the team who heard our conversation. This allowed everyone in the long run to spend less time talking and more on work.
This conclusion is more for game designers, but it seems to me that it is also useful for producers to understand it. Often, game designers have a reputation for answering all questions. In some cases this is the case, but I know for sure that I was not the only creative mind who invented all the chips and solutions for my last game, even though I was a game designer. The duty of the game designer, as well as the producer, is to identify the problems and find solutions for them, regardless of whether they come from themselves or from other team members. For example, I spent a fair amount of time trying to describe how the camera should be arranged, describing in words and using references in other games, but did not achieve great success. Everything became much better when I stopped dictating my vision and simply asked the level designer and programmer to work together on it and do what they thought was right.
In order to get ideas, game designer and producer must build a collaborative culture in the team so that each team member can freely express their thoughts and share their ideas. In this there is a risk of falling into the trap of collective design, but with experience and not without diplomacy, this can be a good help. “This is a great idea. Let me think it over and discuss it with other managers, ” is a polite phrase I used to refuse or accept, but with modifications.
There are a lot of things that I learned from this experience for my work as a producer. Some of them I learned in the process of work as a game designer, others - watching other producers. I highly recommend the producers to work at least one project as game designers at some point in their career, in order to better understand their creative colleagues. Maybe I will not take it again soon, but this experience really helped me evaluate what game designers are going through. He also gave me an understanding of how I can better support the next game designer with whom I have to work so that together we can build a strong link between the producer and game designer, which is vital to the success of the game.
By the way, if you want to talk live with experienced domestic game designers and producers, listen to their lectures and ask them your questions, then we invite you to a one-day game development conference to be held in VSHBI on February 11th. Free registration on the event website.
Well, in the meantime, we are preparing new interesting articles on the gaming industry for translation, and in the comments we will be happy to discuss your thoughts on the features of work as a game designer and game producer.
Max Krembs: “What skills that a game designer rendered from work will help me to become better as a producer?”
Link to the original.I recently completed a six-month project at SMU Guildhall, where I worked as a game designer. Since I am a certified producer and have much more experience in project management than in game design, this was a very instructive experience. Of course, during these 6 months I learned a lot about the work of a game designer, but the most valuable thing is what will allow me to work better on my projects as a producer. I decided to take a few minutes to share these moments with you, considering them from the point of view of the producer’s part of my brain.
')
No, being a game designer is no easier than a producer.
This may seem obvious, but I have heard many times how my colleagues say that the work of game designers is much easier than theirs, and that they could do it with their eyes closed. Damn, I have to admit that in my head this thought slipped a couple of times. Despite the fact that in some projects this can take place, in my experience, game designers are just as hard as producers.
Game designers use many, if not all, “producer” communication skills when interacting with a team, setting goals, or presenting design to shareholders. They even have to resolve disputes between team members — usually creative rather than personal, and in fact they can sometimes be even more painful.
There is one interesting feature that I do not fully understand: people always ask the game designer to explain something to them. Developers want to learn more about the system you designed, shareholders want to know why you designed it exactly the way you did it, and producers want to prioritize everything related to your system in order to understand what you can refuse; and all along the way everyone wants to know why you didn’t take their ideas into account or apply them in a different way. Producers also face similar problems, but from personal experience I was convinced that there is one difference: you don’t have to make excuses for yourself, but only for the project as a whole.
These professions are very similar in many respects, they simply approach communication and coordination from two different sides: producers from the management side, and game designers from the creative side. In my experience, none of the professions is more difficult than the other; they are just different and some share of participation is required for one to understand what the other is.
The relationship between game designer and producer is vital.
Another lesson that I thought was learned long ago, but it turned out that in fact I did not understand this until I was on the other side. Producer and game designer are two sides of the same coin , their activities are so closely related that they must also work in a very tenacious bundle with each other. If these two do not understand each other or do not trust each other, the team will lose a single control, which entails many other problems coming from the rest of the team. For example, when my producer and I were at first confronted with some misunderstanding, we noted several similar failures in communication with our leaders, as well as leads with their departments. Regardless of whether we understand this or not, the team feels that their leaders do not get along with each other, and this destabilizes the entire project.
The reverse is also true. Later, the producer and I worked so well together that we joked that we had one brain for two. We noticed that the team is motivated for hard work and achieves overall success. The fact that we learned to manage together not only gave us support for each other and lowered the level of stress, but also made the team understand how to work together.
In addition, there is no single scenario of relationship dynamics suitable for all pairs of producer-game designer. Talking with my producer, I realized that one of the reasons for our problems was his suggestion that I had the same strengths and needs as his previous game designer, although I needed something completely different. Producers and game designers should spend enough time to get to know their soul mate, and be flexible enough to be able to find ways to interact with each partner.
No need to hurry: first we think - then we do.
My producer and I in the first half of the project fell into this trap several times, largely because we felt the pressure of time. I asked to enter some parameter and he stated it without asking me about the details. He asked me to transfer some tasks to the next sprint under the pressure of the schedule, and I did this without considering all the consequences until the end or trying to figure out what else to throw away. In such situations, we spent more time on all this haste, instead of sitting down and discussing everything thoroughly.
This concept can also expand to interact with team members. There was one moment when I approved the design of the level, not making sure that the designer understood me correctly, and in the end I got a completely wrong design in the game. Or I asked the developer to enter the part, which, as it seemed to me, he understood, but then implemented it incorrectly, and had to start all over again, grumbling that we could save time if he asked all the questions, even if we were sure of them .
About halfway through, we started using active listening techniques with the producer: “I correctly understand what you mean ...”. This slightly lengthened our meetings, but significantly reduced the number of mistakes and omissions. Also, an additional advantage is how it affects the rest of the team who heard our conversation. This allowed everyone in the long run to spend less time talking and more on work.
Ideas come from everywhere. Good ideas too.
This conclusion is more for game designers, but it seems to me that it is also useful for producers to understand it. Often, game designers have a reputation for answering all questions. In some cases this is the case, but I know for sure that I was not the only creative mind who invented all the chips and solutions for my last game, even though I was a game designer. The duty of the game designer, as well as the producer, is to identify the problems and find solutions for them, regardless of whether they come from themselves or from other team members. For example, I spent a fair amount of time trying to describe how the camera should be arranged, describing in words and using references in other games, but did not achieve great success. Everything became much better when I stopped dictating my vision and simply asked the level designer and programmer to work together on it and do what they thought was right.
In order to get ideas, game designer and producer must build a collaborative culture in the team so that each team member can freely express their thoughts and share their ideas. In this there is a risk of falling into the trap of collective design, but with experience and not without diplomacy, this can be a good help. “This is a great idea. Let me think it over and discuss it with other managers, ” is a polite phrase I used to refuse or accept, but with modifications.
There are a lot of things that I learned from this experience for my work as a producer. Some of them I learned in the process of work as a game designer, others - watching other producers. I highly recommend the producers to work at least one project as game designers at some point in their career, in order to better understand their creative colleagues. Maybe I will not take it again soon, but this experience really helped me evaluate what game designers are going through. He also gave me an understanding of how I can better support the next game designer with whom I have to work so that together we can build a strong link between the producer and game designer, which is vital to the success of the game.
By the way, if you want to talk live with experienced domestic game designers and producers, listen to their lectures and ask them your questions, then we invite you to a one-day game development conference to be held in VSHBI on February 11th. Free registration on the event website.
Well, in the meantime, we are preparing new interesting articles on the gaming industry for translation, and in the comments we will be happy to discuss your thoughts on the features of work as a game designer and game producer.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/319478/
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