The Game Production Toolbox / Edition 1

by Heather Chandler

Overview

The Game Production Toolbox focuses on the nuts and bolts of producing interactive content and how you can organize and support the creative, technical, and business efforts that are all part of interactive game development. This book isn’t going to tell you how to design a game or what technologies to use. Instead it provides techniques for and insights into managing, from concept to release, all the pieces that must come together in order to get a game into the hands of a player.

Readers will learn about each phase of game production: prototyping, defining the requirements, assembling the team, making the game, and releasing to the players. Interviews from professional game developers give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make a game.

Key Features

• A framework for how to get an interactive game from concept to release, including information on financing and pitching to publishers and investors.
• Techniques for working with the game development team to get effective prototypes and documentation to prove out game concept and mechanics.
• Concrete information on how to plan and execute the different aspects of game production, such as audio, localization, testing, and software ratings.
• Advice from industry experts on managing teams, project management, communicating effectively, and keeping everyone happy.
• Information about working effectively with marketing, PR, and other people that are involved with the publishing and release process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138341708
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/27/2020
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Heather Maxwell Chandler is a multimedia producer with over 20 years of experience in the video game industry. She's worked in production at Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Activision. She was most recently a Senior Producer on Fortnite.Heather has contributed to over 35 games, including Fortnite, Never Alone, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Sid Meier's Railroads, Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Vigilante 8, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Shanghai: Second Dynasty, and Apocalypse. She also worked on every title in the Ghost Recon series, including Ghost Recon 2 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. In 2005, Heather founded Media Sunshine, Inc., a company that provides consulting services to game developers and publishers. She is the author of The Game Production Handbook, The Game Localization Handbook, and several other articles on game development and localization. Her articles have been published in Secrets of the Game Business and The Project Manager's Desk Reference, 3rd Ed. Heather has lectured on game production and development at North Carolina State University, the Game Developers Conference, IGDA Leadership Forum, and at several other conferences and educational institutions. She served as the chairperson of the IGDA Production SIG from 2006 - 2010. Heather graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University and received an M.A. from the USC School of Cinema-Television.

Table of Contents

Foreword xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

Author xxiii

Part 1 Overview

Chapter 1 Game Industry Overview 3

1.1 Introduction 3

1.2 Game Development Framework 4

1.3 Financing Options 6

1.3.1 Self-Financing 7

1.3.2 Credit Cards 7

1.3.3 Bank Loans 7

1.3.4 Crowdfunding 8

1.3.5 Investors 11

1.3.5.1 Friends and Family 11

1.3.5.2 Angel Investors 11

1.3.5.3 Venture Capital (VC) 11

1.3.5.4 Accelerators and Incubators 12

1.3.6 Grants 13

1.3.7 Early Access 14

1.3.8 Publishers 15

1.4 Revenue Models 16

1.4.1 One-Time Payment 16

1.4.2 Subscription 17

1.4.3 Downloadable Content (DLC) 17

1.4.4 Free-to-Play 18

1.5 Platforms 18

1.5.1 Personal Computer (PC) 19

1.5.2 Console 19

1.5.3 Mobile 19

1.5.4 Virtual and Augmented Reality 20

1.6 Distribution Options 20

1.6.1 Steam 21

1.6.2 Epic Games Store 21

1.6.3 Third-Party Storefronts 21

1.6.4 Humble Bundle 22

1.6.5 Self-Distribution 22

1.6.6 Boxed Product 22

1.7 Conclusion 23

Chapter 2 Developer and Publisher Overview 25

2.1 Introduction 25

2.2 Function of Developer 26

2.2.1 Art 26

2.2.2 Design 27

2.2.3 Engineering 28

2.2.4 Audio 29

2.2.5 User Experience (UX) 29

2.2.6 Quality Assurance (QA) 30

2.3 Function of Producer 30

2.3.1 Background and Training 31

2.3.2 Career Progression 33

2.3.3 Types of Producers 34

2.4 Function of Publisher 35

2.4.1 Financing 36

2.4.2 Distribution 36

2.4.3 Marketing and Public Relations (PR) 36

2.4.4 Production Support 37

2.4.5 Product Management 37

2.4.6 Live Operations 38

2.4.7 Community Management 38

2.4.8 Customer Support (CS) 38

2.5 Publishing Your Game 38

2.5.1 Self-Publishing 39

2.5.2 Publishing Partner 39

2.5.3 The Publishing Relationship 40

2.6 Conclusion 41

Chapter 3 Legal Overview 43

3.1 Introduction 43

3.2 IP Rights 44

3.2.1 Copyrights 44

3.2.2 Trademarks 45

3.2.3 Patents 46

3.2.4 Trade Secrets 46

3.2.5 Nondisclosure Agreements (NDAs) 46

3.3 Types of Agreements 47

3.3.1 Development Contracts 47

3.3.2 Work-for-Hire Agreements 50

3.3.3 Employment Agreements 51

3.3.4 End User License Agreement (EULA) 51

3.3.5 Terms of Service (TOS) 52

3.4 Working with Licensors 52

3.5 Conclusion 53

Part 2 Creating the Prototype

Chapter 4 Laying the Groundwork 57

4.1 Introduction 57

4.2 What Are the Goals? 58

4.3 Who Are the Stakeholders? 60

4.3.1 Stakeholder Mapping 61

4.3.2 Stakeholder Communication Plan 62

4.4 Third-Party Considerations 64

4.5 Milestones 66

4.5.1 Prototype 67

4.5.2 Vertical Slice 68

4.5.3 Alpha 68

4.5.4 Beta 68

4.5.5 Minimum Viable Product (MVP) 68

4.5.6 Release 69

4.5.7 Post-Release 69

4.5.8 Milestone Plan 70

4.6 Aligning Expectations 70

4.6.1 Approval Process 72

4.6.2 Change Requests 73

4.7 Project Management 75

4.7.1 The Iron Triangle 76

4.7.2 Project Management Professional (PMP) 77

4.7.3 Certified Scrum Master (CSM) 78

4.8 Conclusion 79

Chapter 5 Creating Concept 81

5.1 Introduction 81

5.2 Brainstorming 82

5.3 Initial Concept 84

5.3.1 Goals 84

5.3.2 The Hook 85

5.3.3 Core Game Loop 85

5.3.4 Genre 85

5.3.5 Platform 86

5.3.6 Target Audience 86

5.3.7 Revenue Model 87

5.4 Competitive Analysis 87

5.5 SWOT Analysis 88

5.6 Concept Treatment 90

5.6.1 Player Experience 90

5.6.2 The Three C's 90

5.6.3 Accessibility 91

5.6.4 Setting and Story 92

5.6.5 Concept Art 92

5.6.6 Audio Design 92

5.6.7 Technology 93

5.7 Assessing Risks 93

5.8 Conclusion 94

Chapter 6 Prototyping 95

6.1 Introduction 95

6.2 Why Prototype? 95

6.3 What Are Your Goals? 97

6.4 Who Is the Audience? 99

6.5 Feedback and Iteration 100

6.6 Conclusion 102

Part 3 Establishing Requirements

Chapter 7 Schedule 105

7.1 Introduction 105

7.2 Why Schedules Are Important 106

7.3 Creating a Schedule 107

7.4 Work Breakdown Structures 109

7.5 Estimates 111

7.6 Putting It All Together 114

7.7 Tracking Tasks 118

7.8 Conclusion 119

Chapter 8 Budget 121

8.1 Introduction 121

8.2 Budgets 122

8.2.1 Financial Forecasts 122

8.2.2 Creating a Budget 122

8.3 Cost Breakdowns 123

8.4 Tracking a Budget 126

8.5 Mitigating Budget Overages 127

8.6 Conclusion 128

Chapter 9 Pitching Your Game 129

9.1 Introduction 129

9.2 Your Goals 130

9.2.1 Request for Proposals 131

9.3 Your Audience 132

9.4 Preparing for the Pitch 132

9.4.1 Elevator Pitch 133

9.4.2 Executive Summary 134

9.4.3 Demo 135

9.4.4 Trailer 135

9.4.5 Developer Backgrounds 136

9.4.6 Market Research 136

9.4.7 Production Plan 137

9.5 Making the Pitch 138

9.6 Next Steps 141

9.6.1 Contract Negotiation 141

9.6.2 Vetting Process 142

9.7 Conclusion 143

Part 4 Assembling the Game Team

Chapter 10 Hiring Talent 147

10.1 Introduction 147

10.2 Job Descriptions 148

10.3 Finding Applicants 148

10.3.1 Working with Recruiters 149

10.3.2 Online Job Postings 149

10.3.3 Referrals 149

10.3.4 Job Fairs 150

10.3.5 Interns 150

10.4 Interview Process 150

10.4.1 Screening Resumes 150

10.4.2 Phone Assessment 151

10.4.3 Discipline Tests 152

10.4.4 Face-to-Face Assessment 152

10.4.5 Making an Offer 153

10.5 Onboarding New Employees 153

10.6 Training 154

10.7 Retention 154

10.8 Conclusion 155

Chapter 11 Team Organization 157

11.1 Introduction 157

11.2 Defining Roles and Responsibilities 157

11.3 Picking Leads 158

11.4 Organizing the Team 161

11.5 Strike Teams 161

11.6 Working with Remote Team Members 163

11.7 Conclusion 165

Chapter 12 Managing Your Team 167

12.1 Introduction 167

12.2 Team Leadership 168

12.3 Team Building 169

12.3.1 Establishing Trust 169

12.3.2 Motivation and Buy-In 170

12.3.3 Getting to Know Each Other 171

12.3.4 Establish Norms 172

12.3.5 Cross-Training 173

12.4 Team Communication 174

12.4.1 Written 174

12.4.2 Meetings 174

12.4.3 Seating Arrangements 176

12.4.4 Status Reports 177

12.4.5 Key Project Information 178

12.4.6 Performance Feedback 179

12.4.7 Resolving Conflict 180

12.5 Conclusion 182

Chapter 13 Outsourcing 183

13.1 Introduction 183

13.2 Outsourcing Overview 184

13.3 Pros and Cons of Outsourcing 184

13.4 Working Effectively with Outsourcers 185

13.5 Middleware 187

13.6 Conclusion 188

Part 5 Making the Game

Chapter 14 Executing the Plan 191

14.1 Introduction 191

14.2 Development Pipeline 192

14.3 Documentation 195

14.4 Measuring Progress 197

14.5 Managing Feature Creep 198

14.6 Postmortems 200

14.6.1 Lessons Learned 201

14.7 Build Process and Pipeline 201

14.8 Software Ratings 202

14.9 Conclusion 204

Chapter 15 User Experience (UX), UX: Written in Collaboration with Celia Hodent 205

15.1 Introduction 205

15.2 What Is UX? 206

15.3 Developer Misconceptions about UX 206

15.4 UX Misconceptions about the Development Team 207

15.5 Working Together 208

15.5.1 Establish Trust 209

15.5.2 Find Advocates 209

15.5.3 Start Small 209

15.5.4 Align Goals 210

15.6 UX Process 210

15.6.1 Hypotheses 210

15.6.2 Planning 211

15.6.3 Testing 211

15.6.4 Reporting 212

15.6.5 Iterating 212

15.6.6 Retesting 213

15.7 Conclusion 213

Chapter 16 Audio 215

16.1 Introduction 215

16.2 Voiceover 215

16.2.1 Design 216

16.2.2 Asset Management 217

16.2.3 Script Preparation 218

16.2.4 Voiceover Timeline 219

16.2.5 Choosing a Studio 220

16.2.6 Casting 222

16.2.7 Recording Session 224

16.2.8 Asset Delivery 225

16.3 Music 225

16.3.1 Design 226

16.3.2 Licensed Music 227

16.3.3 Original Music 228

16.3.4 Choosing a Composer 228

16.3.5 Music Timeline 229

16.4 Conclusion 230

Chapter 17 Localization 231

17.1 Introduction 231

17.2 Cultural Awareness 232

17.3 Localization-Friendly Development 233

17.3.1 Text 234

17.3.2 Art 234

17.3.3 Audio 234

17.3.4 Fonts 235

17.3.5 User Interface (UI) 235

17.3.6 Controllers 236

17.3.7 Subtitles 236

17.3.8 Lip-Syncing 236

17.4 Localization Approaches 237

17.5 Localization for China and Korea 237

17.6 Asset Translation 238

17.6.1 Organization 239

17.6.2 Integration 240

17.7 Testing Considerations 242

17.7.1 Linguistic 242

17.7.2 Functionality 242

17.8 Localization Timeline 242

17.9 Conclusion 244

Chapter 18 QA Testing 245

18.1 Introduction 245

18.2 Working with QA 246

18.3 Types of Testing 248

18.4 QA Outsourcing 249

18.5 Creating Test Plans 250

18.6 Reporting and Resolving Bugs 251

18.6.1 Bug Database 252

18.6.2 Bug Definitions 253

18.6.3 Bug Priority and Severity 253

18.6.4 Writing Bug Reports 254

18.6.5 Resolving Bugs 255

18.7 Conclusion 256

Part 6 Launching the Game

Chapter 19 Getting the Word Out 259

19.1 Introduction 259

19.2 Working with Marketing and PR 259

19.2.1 What's Needed 261

19.2.2 Focus Groups 261

19.3 Marketing Assets 262

19.4 PR Events 263

19.5 Conclusion 264

Chapter 20 Releasing to Players 265

20.1 Introduction 265

20.2 Is It Ready? 266

20.3 Release Notes 268

20.4 Monitoring Game Health 268

20.4.1 Customer Support 269

20.4.2 Community Management 270

20.4.3 Metrics and Analytics 270

20.4.4 Releasing Updates 271

20.5 Conclusion 273

Part 7 Appendices

Appendix A Acronyms 277

Appendix B Resources and Tools 279

Appendix C Biographies of Interviewees 285

References 289

Index 291