作者：Ben Bascom

我是NinjaBee的制作人。现在我正致力于《Nutjitsu》，这款即将在8月5日面向Xbox One发行的游戏。之前我曾参与过编程和设计等工作。我已经成为制作人好多年了，并经常被问到这份工作到底意味着什么以及我一整天都在做些什么。这是一个很难用几句话就概括的问题。我真的的觉得应该让这些人看看我一整天的工作状况，如此他们便能够清楚到底制作人是干什么的。为此我决定花些时间在此与你们分享我的一整天。首先我想强调的是每一天其实都是不同的。但是以下内容还是能够提供一些有效的信息帮助你们了解制作人的工作。

早上8:50

闹钟响起，我继续赖床。但不幸的是我的女儿已经坐在床头准备叫醒我。所以我只能慢慢脱离这个三岁大的“袭击者”并逃向浴室冲澡。为了冲散疲倦感（游戏邦注：因为前天晚上玩电子游戏玩太晚）我会在浴室花较长的时间。

淋浴后我会拿手机检查电子邮件。我可能会立即回复一些比较紧急的电子邮件，但我通常都会先思考下自己到达办公室时需要面对什么。

今天早上没有任何紧急电子邮件。所以我喝了杯橙汁并快速完成了准备工作。

早上9:40

我坐上车并朝办公室驶去。我喜欢在上下班的时候思考游戏理念。今天，我考虑了一个尚未明朗的Xbox One理念的细节。我知道核心体验是非常独特的，但单凭这点还不足够。除此之外还需要更多辅助游戏玩法和奖励。所以我是应该抛弃这一理念还是将其与其它内容整合在一起呢？我们需要好好想清楚。

早上10:00

我到达办公室并直接打开电子邮件。最近我们刚发送了《Nutjitsu》去进行Xbox One的认证，而微软也向我提出了一些问题。我们与ID@Xbox进行合作。他们真的提供了很大的帮助，但因为这一切都是全新尝试，我们刚刚开始接触这样的编程，所以前方还存在许多未知的障碍。

我提供给外部合作者更多的细节信息，并到楼下拿了些苏打水。我想在这里工作最棒的一件事便是有免费的苏打水喝。

prodcans(from gamecareerguide)

 早上10:30

我在办公室走了一圈与工作团队进行交谈去了解事情的进展。我们拥有一个内部交流服务能够促进个人与团队间的沟通，但我还是坚信面对面的交流更有效。

我同样也在寻找机会去亲自赞善表现突出的员工。因为我是与一些很出色的人一起工作，所以我总是能够找到赞赏对象。

早上11:30

这是团队开会时间。我们每天都拥有一次站立式会议—-之所以是站立式是因为这能避免成员们松懈下来或不小心犯困。我刚好能够利用这一机会观察每一个人的状态并与所有团队成员一起制定行动计划。这同样也是我们分析反馈，公告并提醒成员截止期限的有效时机。

这次的团队会议是关于我们所致力的原型。现在几乎到了原型阶段的尾声，所有的一切开始变得明朗。我们想要分享更多细节，但不幸的是这些都还需要保密。

早上11:45

我们对所有的雇员进行年度评审。现在我和Steve正在与Paul进行交谈。他是我的评审对象列表中的最后一个。

我享受于这样的评审。自从大多数雇员都是与至少一个人分享一间办公室以来我们便很难拥有这样的私密交谈机会。所以趁此机会我们能够更深入地探讨是否存在任何方法去完善工作经验。

中午12:45

差不多是午餐时间了，所以我会确保自己可以脱离这大半天的工作状态。我先回答了雇员在我们的聊天程序中所提出的问题，并在离开位置前浏览了收到的电子邮件。

下午1:00

午餐时间。作为一个管理团队，我们每天都一起去吃午餐，并讨论工作室中的一些问题。今天我们所讨论的是ID@Xbox。这对于我们来说非常重要，因为现在的《Nutjitsu》正处于认证阶段。我们谈论了优劣以及ID@Xbox在未来的作用。自然地我们也将其与我们在Xbox 360上的Xbox Live Arcade体验进行了比较。这两个程序都有其自身的优点。其他现在也在运行该程序的独立开发者便联系了我们，我们分享了各自的体验并希望能够在认真过程中更加顺利。

下午2:00

这是我每天的例行巡视时间。我将这一行程列入日程表中，并尝试着围绕着它去计划会议。而当下，我尝试着确保能够与自己所管理的每个员工见面。如果情况不允许的话，我至少会选择与一些关键人物进行交谈。

在巡视过程中我们不仅能够保持良好的沟通，同时我还能够察觉到工作室的进展。当我绕着办公室行走时，我走过了一张放着各种小道具的桌子。带着假胡子进行巡视工作会很奇怪吗？

下午2:45

我们的《Nutjitsu》提交缺少了一份文件。我前往QA部门去修改这一问题。Jason也一起。

当我们在等待结果时，来自另外一间工作室的人咨询我是否能够处理他们其中一款游戏所带有的相同问题。我与Paul和Peter进行交谈并给与了答复。

我还发送了一些电子邮件给外部合作者。

下午3:30

我递交了之前遗漏的文件，但现在它需要进行打包与上传。我需要将这一文件与剩下需要重新上传的程序包进行压缩。在程序包上传的时候，我花了些时间去检查我们的一个团队所负责的原型。我玩了一会并在以下问题区域进行标注。有时候我会让QA成员去审查我匆匆作出的标记是否具有漏洞。这能够帮助我节省时间，并创造出更棒且更有效的漏洞报告。然而，因为这是一个原型，所以QA团队并未参与其中。如此就需要我亲自去解决这一问题。

Lane发送了一封电子邮件告诉所有人下周将会来个女按摩师，大家将能在楼下进行免费按摩。我们大概每隔几周就会有这样的福利。尽管我并不是特别想做按摩，但我可能会去那边溜达下顺便喝些苏打水。

下午4:30

我的团队拥有一些实习程序员，并且他们即将结束自己的实习阶段。我花了一些时间去编写关于他们的反馈信息（准备发给学校）。他们都是非常棒的合作搭档。所以对于写下这些反馈并不困难。

当我在写这些反馈的时候，我还将《Nutjitsu》早期的结构备份到了我们的网络驱动器。放在那里比放在我的计算机上合适，因为网络驱动器拥有自动备份功能，能够有效预防硬件故障。

下午5:30

我开始总结一天的工作。这意味着回顾会议上的要点，回想各种对话并浏览电子邮件以确保自己处理了所有需要处理的事宜。根据过去的经验我知道这一阶段需要花费大概30至45分钟的时间，有时候更能会更长。

在完成总结工作后，我想了下明天需要做的一些事。似乎我需要开一整天的会，但是我也需要完成剩下的员工评审工作。所以为了确保拥有足够的时间，我留出了一些时间去完成评审。

我同样需要将我们团队的原型架构分发给原型团队以外的一些员工，以确保能够收集到一些反馈。在我将架构交到他们的手上前，我还需要修改某些内容。我在便利贴上写下了一些注释，并将其贴在显示器上。我希望隔天一进来就能想起它们。

下午6:00

我坐在回家的车上并再次开始思考游戏设计。我仍然在想着早上开车时想的那个理念。我将花好几天的时间去搞清楚这个理念。之后我会将该理念暂时“储存”起来并在几天或几周后带着不同的角度将其再次开封—-也许我会进一步去开发它，但也有可能彻底将其抛弃。

下午6:20后

我将与妻子和女儿共同度过剩下的时间。在晚上的时候我会断断续续收到一些电子邮件。大多数邮件都是可以在隔天上班时候再回复的。然而我仍会留意着它们，以防收到一些需要立即作出回复的邮件。曾经有段时间我总是会即时回复每一封邮件，但随着时间的发展，我更好地区分了什么是需要立即回复而什么则可以稍后再回复。尽管这并不总是最有效的平衡，但这却对我的家庭生活更有帮助。

在我的妻子和女儿上床睡觉后，我便开始玩电子游戏。说实话我与许多游戏玩家一样都是个夜猫子。我会玩几个小时的游戏再去睡觉。通常睡个6，7小时后便会开始迎接新一天的工作。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

A Day in the Life: Producer

Ben Bascom

I’m Ben Bascom (@ben_bascom) and I’m a producer at NinjaBee. I’m currently working on Nutjitsu which releases 5/8/14 on Xbox One. My previous capacities include programming and design. I’ve been a producer for several years now and I’m frequently asked what that means. What is it that I do all day? Well, it’s hard to do it justice in a few words. I really feel like I should walk people through my entire workday so they can get a clear picture of what it means to be a producer. That is what prompted me to document one of my days and share it. I will preface this by highlighting that every day is different. This should, however, provide some useful insight to all the aspiring producers out there.

8:50am

My alarm goes off and I hit the snooze. No such luck for me. My daughter spies movement from where she’s been sitting at the foot of the bed and tackles me. So, I slowly disengage from my 3 year old assailant and make my way to the shower.
I spend a little longer in the shower this morning because I’m tired – I stayed up later than usual playing video games last night.

With the shower out of the way, I take a look at my phone to check my emails. I’ll probably only reply to any urgent emails right now but I want to get an idea of what I’ll be facing once I get to the office.

No urgent emails this morning. So, I grab a glass of OJ and quickly finish getting ready.

9:40am

I hop in the car and start making my way to the office. I like taking the time during my commute to think over game ideas. Today, I’m running through the details of an Xbox One concept that hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. I know the core experience is incredibly unique but it isn’t enough by itself. There needs to be more peripheral gameplay, more rewards. Should I toss this idea or should I incorporate it into something else? We’ll see.

10:00am

I arrive at work and jump straight to my emails. Nutjitsu has recently been sent off to certification on the Xbox One and Microsoft has some questions for me. We’re working with the ID@Xbox guys. They’re really helpful but this is all new still and, since we’re one of the first to go to cert with this program, there are going to be plenty of unforeseen hurdles.

I shoot off some more emails to external partners and I hike downstairs to grab some soda. One of the many cool things about working here is the free soda.

No Diet Mt. Dew in the fridge and I forgo my standard backup Diet Dr. Pepper and Vanilla Coke Zero cocktail in favor of the Lime Diet Coke that catches my eye. As I grab my soda, I tell myself that I should drink less of it – but it tastes so good!

10:30am

I walk around the studio to talk with my various teams to see how things are going. We have an internal chat service that works great at facilitating communication between individuals and groups but I’m a strong believer that face-to-face communication still supersedes that.

I also look for opportunities to praise the employees in-person for their work. I work with some great people so it’s not hard to find things to compliment.

11:30am

It’s team meeting time. We have a daily standup meeting – standup because it does a good job at discouraging people from getting relaxed and shooting the breeze. This is where I have the opportunity to get a snapshot of where everyone is at that exact moment and to formulate plans of action with all the team members present. It’s also a good time to share feedback, announcements and remind people of pending deadlines.

The team meeting is for a prototype that we are working on. It’s nearing the end of the prototype phase and things are really starting to look cool. I want to share details but, unfortunately, it’s still a secret at this time!

11:45am

We do yearly reviews with all of our employees. Steve and I are reviewing Paul now. He’s one of the last that I have on my list.

I enjoy doing these reviews. It’s not always easy to have a personal conversation with someone since most employees share an office space with at least one other here. This is an opportunity to really dig down and see if there’s any way to improve on the workplace experience.

12:45pm

It’s nearly lunch time so I make sure I round up any loose ends from the work day so far. I answer the lingering questions that employees have posed me in our chat program and I run through the emails I have received since I’ve been away from my desk.

1:00pm

It’s time for lunch. As a management team, we go to lunch together each day to sync on issues around the studio.
Today, the hot topic is ID@Xbox. It’s very prominent in our minds because Nutjitsu is in certification. We talk about the pros and cons and what ID@Xbox could mean for the future. Naturally, we compare it to our experiences with Xbox LIVE Arcade on the Xbox 360. Both programs have their good points. Other indies who are running through the program right now have been contacting us and we’ve been sharing our experiences in the hopes that they can make smoother progress through the certification process.

2:00pm

It’s time for what I call my daily walkaround. I have this scheduled on my calendar and try to plan meetings around it wherever I can. At this time, I try to make sure I get face time with each employee currently under my supervision. If that’s not possible, due to time constraints, I will at least talk to key people.

As I walk, or rather, shamble (my foot is currently in a brace) around the office, I have to avoid people doing reps of the stairs. We have a five-week wellness competition going on at the office right now and one way to tally up points in it is to climb stairs. I think we’re going to need to replace the carpet on the stairs once this thing is over!
While I’m walking around, I remedy my soda discrepancy of earlier this morning and, while there’s still no diet Dew, I pick up the next best – my Diet Vanilla Coketorpepper Zero cocktail. I’m so creative, aren’t I?

The walkaround time is also a great way to stay in touch and get a feel for what is going on in the studio. As I move around the office, I walk past a table with all sorts of props lying on it. Would it be weird to do my walkaround wearing a fake moustache and beard?

2:45pm

Our Nutjitsu submission is missing a file. I shamble down to the QA department and get the gears moving to remedy the issue. Jason is on it.

While I wait for that, someone from another studio asked me if we had addressed a similar issue to one their game is having. I go talk to Paul and Peter to see what they say and shoot a reply back to the inquirer.

I also have a few other emails to send out to external partners.

3:30pm

I have the missing file to deliver but now it needs to be packaged and uploaded. I need to zip up this file with the rest of the very large package that needs to be re-uploaded.
While the package uploads, I take the time to review the prototype one of my teams has been working on. I play it for a while and make some notes on problem areas. Sometimes, I will have the QA staff enter bugs from my hastily scribbled notes. This saves me time and, generally, produces better, more useful bug reports. However, since this is a prototype, the QA team hasn’t been involved. It makes more sense for me to personally enter the issues in our bug tracker.

Lane sent an email letting everyone know a masseuse is coming in next week and there’s a sign-up sheet downstairs for free massages. This comes around every few weeks. I’m not normally one for massages but I may have to wander over to the sheet and put my name down – and grab some more soda while I’m at it…

4:30pm

I have some intern programmers on my team who are coming to the end of their internship. I spend a while preparing feedback to send to their school. They’ve been great to work with. This round of feedback isn’t too burdensome to write out!

While I write this feedback, I backup the Nutjitsu build from earlier to our network drive. It’s good to have it there rather than on my computer because the network drive has automatic backups in case of a hardware failure.

5:30pm

I begin rounding up my work for the day. What this means is reviewing notes from meetings, mentally reviewing conversations I’ve had and scouring through emails to make sure I’ve addressed everything that needs to be addressed. I know from past experience that this phase of the work day will take anywhere from 30-45 minutes on average but, on occasion, it can take much longer.

After the roundup work is done, I review what needs to be done during the next workday. It looks like I have a day full of meetings lined up but I know I need to finish the remaining employee reviews that are assigned to me. So, to make sure I have time, I set aside some time in the day to do a review.

I also need to distribute a build of my team’s prototype to some employees outside of the prototype team in order to gather feedback. Before I can put a build in their hands, there are some things that need to be fixed. I scribble down a note on a post-it and stick it on my monitor. I want to make sure that’s the first thing I see when I come in.

6:00pm

I get in the car and once again put time into thinking about game design. I am still struggling with the same concept as I was during the morning drive. I will grind out ideas for this concept over many days and document what I came up with. I then leave the concept in “storage” for a while and will come back to it after a few days or weeks with a different perspective – maybe to develop it more or maybe to throw it out.

6:20pm onwards

I spend the rest of the evening with my wife and daughter. I receive emails intermittently throughout the evening. Most I don’t need to respond to until I’m back at work. However, I keep my eye on them in case there’s an email that needs a faster response. There was a time where I would have responded to every email but, over time, I have developed a better understanding for what needs to be addressed immediately versus what can wait. While it’s not always a perfect balance, it certainly works out better for my family now than it has in the past.

After my wife and daughter have gone to bed, I play video games to round out the night. I’m a night owl, like many gamers. I play for a few hours and then go to sleep – normally getting 6-7 hours of rest before waking for the next day. (source:gamecareerguide)