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如何成为一名优秀且明智的电子游戏制作人

发布时间:2014-10-24 16:50:56 Tags:,,,,

作者:Harvard Bonin

Trip Hawkins不仅是我们的电子游戏业务的先驱,将会受到接下来几代人的尊敬,同时也是赋予我们“制作人”这一头衔的重要角色之一。让我们回到1982年,那时候作为艺电创始人的Hawkins开始带着我们是“创意美工的管理者”的理念而使用这一词,就像电影或音乐的制作人那样。这并没错。我们管理着一些非常具有创造性的人。然而,制作人学科需要考虑更多内容。当你询问一位真正的游戏制作人成为一名游戏制作人意味着什么时,你经常会获得一些带着各种手势的回答,说着“指导”,“预防”,以及“完成某些事”等内容。我认为这种关于我们在做什么的模棱两可的理解将导致制作过程中一些未知,甚至是不存在的实践和方法。说实话,这都是一些过时的定义。缺少训练的制作人可能未拥有一些正规的方法论。他们没有已建立起且得到证实的最佳实践。他们只是凭直觉前进并使用他们随着时间的发展而独立创造的一些实践。有些人甚至会嘲笑这样的训练,而未能理解教育所提供的好处。在如今的AAA级数百万游戏预算中,缺少正规训练的制作人是不会被认可的。

当然了这里也存在一些障碍。我们该如何让制作人理解他们不只局限于制作人学科要求他们相信的自己?如果制作人不知道自己到底是怎样的身份,那么团队中充满才能且经过良好训练的创意美工,设计师和程序员又有何了解自己身份的必要呢?

本文是基于我自身的经历以及过去所犯的一些错误而写下的。我完全理解并接受那些不能认可我的人。我也欢迎所有不同的看法和讨论。在不同的公司,制作人的工作也有可能是不同的。尽管我对这一主题充满激情,但是我并不知道关于这一主题的一切内容。只有通过合作我才能够完善自己的发现。

producer(from show)

producer(from show)

所以你是否想要成为一名优秀的制作人?

我经常被游戏玩家,毕业生以及QA分析者等等问到“我该如何成为一名制作人?”但是对于这样的问题,他们往往只能接收到一些糟糕的引导。同时这也是一个错误的问题。你总是想成为一名优秀且见多识广的制作人(简称GIP)。这其实非常简单。存在许多方法能够帮你成为这样的人,在此我将介绍一种适合我的方法:

第1–4年:去上大学。主修商业或计算机科学。花1年时间致力于游戏QA学科,然后完成学业。毕业。

第5–7年:获得一份关于制作助理的工作。然后花3年时间致力于这份工作,按照你的方式获得更多提升。在晚上去上项目管理课程,同时继续你的制作工作。你也可以接受项目管理学院的项目管理专业测试,并通过测试。(游戏邦注:PMP认证并不需要花费与制作人一样长的时间,是学习项目管理实践和方法论的一种好方法。PMP专注于非常传统的项目管理,是非常好的学习基础,但它必须与敏捷实践等其它训练相结合。)

第8年:现在你准备好成为一名明智的制作人了。也许还不是很优秀,但至少了解这一角色。

这是将未来制作人带向成功的一种方式。实际上我并未完全遵循这一指标,但是在回忆的时候我真的希望自己能够遵循它。还存在其它帮助你成为一名明智的制作人的方法,但上述方法是最直接的。我推荐基于各种能力的训练,但根据我的经验,我相信按步骤行事。创建并运行一家公司也非常有效。没有什么方法能够比运行自己的公司让人们了解我们业务各个方面更快的方式。这能够带领你成为一名真正优秀的领导者,而不是一名明智的制作人。你可以抄近路,但如果只依赖于“经验”,你有可能走上错误的方向。你可能会拥有自己的意志,能够从导师,经验等等地方获得学习,这可能能够帮助你成为一名优秀的领导人,但是如果未接受训练,你便不可能成为一名明智的制作人,并且你会缺少一些基本的工具去帮助自己变得更出色。优秀的制作人会具有领导能力,奉献精神,韧性,专业性和伦理观等品质,但只拥有这些品质是远远不够的。制作经验本身并不能帮助你成为明智的制作人,尽管这对你是有益的。最后,你应该将成为明智且优秀的制作人当成目标。“优秀”是主观的。“明智”是现实的。

需要指出的是,我并不是在提倡制作人将成为项目管理者。在我们的产业中,大多数项目管理者所涉及的工作都是进度和管理。制作人经常拥有项目管理者所不具有的其它重要职责,即负责像团队,赞助商和外部利益相关者传达游戏愿景。制作人可能不会提出自己的愿景,但制作人却是不惜任何代价保护这些愿景的人之一。项目管理者(有时候被当成开发经理/总监)并不负责传达愿景,相反地他们只专注于进度,风险分析,进程和计划。让制作人拥有同样的知识并训练他们去扩展他们所拥有的愿景的执行真的很重要,即使项目管理者的唯一焦点只是自己的角色。在不同公司里制作人的角色也会不同。在某些公司里,他们可能会更像项目管理者,而在其它公司,他们也有可能只是记录人员。不管怎样,制作人都必须往团队添加更多价值,而训练便是做到这点的重要步骤。就像我的朋友Patrick Gilmore(游戏邦注:Double Helix的工作室负责人)所说的:“开发总监是负责一些表面上的权衡—-团队规模,组织和发展速度,进度,预算,时间表,追踪,工作分解,结构框架,流水线和技巧等。而制作人经常负责一些无形的权衡—-质量,范围,优先次序,丰富性和深度,优化,步调,强制力,叙述,观点和综合性,竞争产品,功能相关性,独特的卖点和游戏的‘整体’感。”

项目管理并非制作?

如果你在谷歌上搜索关于制作的书籍,你会发现搜索结果并不是很多。就像我个人喜欢Quincy Jones的《Q on Producing》。他所传达的核心内容是:制作人应该从创意人员身上带出最棒的内容。这是一个让人钦佩的哲理,但是他却未清楚地告诉制作人该如何做到这点。音乐也是一个完全不同的业务。工程师,美术人员和设计师并不是音乐师。从核心看来他们也不是游戏制作人;他们只能说是软件开发者。游戏只是他们有幸创造的软件类型之一。软件开发是复杂的,经常是由一些大型团队所完成的。制作人需要清楚如何组织并汇聚创造性,并同时管理好软件项目。另一方面,在项目管理训练方面存在许多有用的数据。存在一些任何人都能上的课程,存在一些任何人都能够获得的证书,也存在一些任何人都能通过的测试。但却只有一些是与制作人角色相关的。这便是问题的核心。这其实是一个模糊的研究领域。

成为一个GIP

在我看来,成为一名优秀且明智的制作人具有基于主题的核心组件。它们分别是:

交流,然后再重复:在项目事后反思中,交流经常被当成是团队应该注意的首要问题。这是一个非常广的类别,因为存在许多必须交流的内容,所以许多人不仅需要接收信息,同时也需要理解这些信息。项目愿景,工作,范围,目标,日期,功能,流水线,追踪,进度等等都需要基于各种方向进行交流。这些还远远不够,还存在许多其它需要交流的主题。而最佳交流方式便是面对面。如果你从未离开自己的位置并只依赖于电子邮件,你便犯了大忌。电子邮件只是起到帮助作用,面对面交流才是最重要的。面对面交流也是最快的方式,因为来回的对话最直接,且能够当场作出回应。有可能你发送电子邮件的对象迟迟未阅读邮件。据说55%的交流是非文字的。面对面交流,甚至是使用Skype是收集意见最有效的方式。我认为主要存在两种类型的交流:1)直接和2)渗透式的。直接交流就像文字所传达的那样,具有直接性。这要求人们要采取行动。作为一名制作人,我会让你做某事。面对面讨论,使用电子邮件,每日的站立式会议,进行日程安排,决定重要内容和截止日期都属于直接交流。渗透式交流是具有辅助作用的,并且总是围绕着团队成员。它将通过环境元素或隔墙交流渗透到成员的意识中。(这也是我为何从未坐在一间独立办公室的原因。因为团队间的讨论将成为我收集信息的有效方式。)张贴在墙上的时间表,概念艺术,概括了团队价值的海报,总结了冲刺目标的视频监视器等等都属于环境元素。这一理念便是让游戏的创造性观点以及团队成员需要按时执行的重要信息始终围绕着他们。这具有强大的沉浸感。项目中糟糕的交流始终都是制作成员的问题。制作人有责任确保交流的顺利进行。交流也是一种双向沟通方式。制作人必须积极提问,参与甚至与团队成员进行面谈,以收集项目发展状况的信息,特别是在计划阶段。制作人不需要知道所有答案,但是他们必须找到适当的方法去帮助团队和利益相关者获得答案。

拥有并制定项目计划愿景。换句话说便是,计划,计划再计划。然后期待着它能够每天,或者更频繁地发生改变。你的团队需要制作人清楚即将发生什么,如此才能缓解,最小化,避免或接受风险。制作人需要明确游戏的目标从而与团队专家和利益相关者保持有效的协作。在适当的项目管理中的工具能够起到帮助作用。包括范围管理计划,德尔菲分析,工作分解结构,活动进度,预算,分析记录等等。所有的这些工具都适用于经过适度训练的人。这也是为何制作人应该接受项目管理训练的合理原因。缺少训练的制作人将不会知道那些他们本该知道的内容。许多缺少训练的制作人依赖于自己创造的工具和过程。也许有些是可行的,但大多都不是最佳选择。或者更糟糕的是,他们会缺少工具和过程,而只能依赖于强烈的意志去完成工作。需要注意的是在一开始便计划好游戏项目是不可能的事。游戏其实是包含许多较小且可完成的项目,随着新信息的出现,之后的阶段可能还会经过更深入的分解。而敏捷开发便整合了这些改变并尝试着管理不确定性。

追踪,信任与核实:确保团队始终对他们共同制定的目标负责是制作人的重要职责之一。制作人必须帮助团队创建诚实且迭代的计划。制作人同样也需要确保团队成员能够旅行他们的计划。频繁地检查并监督发展状况非常重要,如此才能在前进过程中评估变更请求并调整项目过程。游戏项目非常复杂。它们拥有无数聚集于单一输出内容中的不同输入内容。制作人必须理解项目的整体问题,如此他们才能在需要的时候做出适当的修改。他们需要不断地收集数据。

就以往来看,我们的产业总是会通过更努力的团队运行而对项目范围改变做出反应。通常情况下游戏之所以达不到标准便是因为糟糕的资源,决策制定以及不成熟的功能。正如俗话说的那样,我们需要更聪明地工作,而不是更努力。尽管我不相信艰苦付出会被创造性努力所淘汰,但我相信我们可以进行更有效的计划于管理。游戏开发者是这个星球上最努力工作的人之一,从这些如此专注的人种再挤压出额外的10%并不是最佳答案。并不存在制作IQ能够告诉人们需要在周末也投入工作。制作人需要不断追踪,监督,收集参数并控制在项目过程中出现的不可避免的改变。如果缺少这些数据,他们便不可能做出明确的决定,而整个团队(以及项目)也将为此付出代价。

工具和过程:就像之前所提到的,项目管理研究及其标准化工具能够帮助GIP理解,管理范围,改变,利益相关者的买进,项目目标和成功标准等的。我并不是在说像软件这样的工具。Hansoft,Project,Jira等等都是非常棒的工具,但是在这种情况下,我所说的是项目管理工具,如Risk Registers,Scope Statements和Project Charters。我同样也在指代像Scrum,Dynamic Software Development Method,Kanban以及Waterfall等项目管理方法论。制作人需要熟悉各种方法论,因为不同方法论可能适用于不同项目阶段。这些工具是不依赖于用于追踪项目的软件,如Hansoft或Greenhopper便是针对于敏捷方法论。

了解你的流水线:制作人必须了解项目的工作过程。制作人必须熟知项目的整体路线,也就是作为核心的工作流水线。最终制作人将帮助移动资产和理念以确保它们能够尽快执行。流水线是关于这些工作如何从一个人身上转移到下一个人并最终作用于游戏中。如果不理解这一过程,制作人便不可能解决或优化流水线。

鼓励频繁的失败:我是原型创建的忠实粉丝。简单地说,原型创建意味着尽快创造一个能够论证核心理念的小型功能(在投入更多时间之前)。通常情况下这并不是运行软件的一部分。这可以是一个文件或一部电影。这也可以是一个文件或一部电影。创建原型允许试验与失败。制作人必须接受迭代的现实。只有经历失败,团队才能够学到并作出正确的行动,从而制定有效的决策。

制定规则:当团队清楚游戏愿景以及规则时,他们便能够有效地工作。操作规则就像是“每个人都必须一天两次去回复电子邮件,”“每个人必须在10:30参加站立式会议”或者“每个人必须在站立式会议开始前更新他们的任务列表。”它们也可以是“我们将尝试新的过程和方法”或“我们重视交流透明度”等价值标准。你的规则设置应该与团队成员一起进行。

承诺然后履行:(再次是源自Patrick Gilmore的观点。)“制作人的工作是向组织或利益相关者做出承诺,然后与团队一起去履行这些承诺。成功是取决于了解团队的能力,理解如何帮助团队集中注意力,同时管理并与利益相关者进行交流。没有经验的制作人可能会在某一面遭遇失败—-他们可能夸大了承诺,或者不清楚如何提高质量,所以当下一次利益相关者听到他们的承诺时也不会再相信他们了。

现在执行:我们可以用一个词去描述GIP的心态:紧迫性。所有工作都必须尽快完成,如此制作人才有时间去应对一定会在项目中出现的未知事件。任何事都不应该拖到明天。如果所面临的问题很大,制作人应该计划如何将其分解成较小且可解决的问题,然后引导团队去解决问题。不应该延迟任何问题,尽管有时候因为资源分配优先顺序,制作人需要进行等待。排列待解决问题的先后,制定计划,然后便落实行动。

道德的灯塔:在提到基于道德方式执行项目时,制作人应该扮演灯塔的角色。他们可以通过开放且诚实的交流做到这点。如果团队成员知道制作人能够直接与自己沟通,这便能够有效加强他们彼此间的信任。

落实创造性愿景:制作人需要完全理解游戏的创造性愿景。游戏将带给玩家什么?在创造性方面游戏想要尝试获得什么?我使用的是“落实”而不是“创造”(愿景)。任何人都能够创造项目愿景,尽管这通常是创意总监或设计总监的工作。如果情况是这样的,制作人应该支持,守护并传达愿景,而不管是谁创造了它。制作人就像是骑士,而创造性愿景则是王冠。骑士必须保护并拥戴王冠。我同样也未使用“拥有”(愿景)这一次。因为通常不是创意总监或设计总监最初着手于愿景中。而是创意愿景的所有者告知团队该从哪里开始。承运人将确保将目标毫无泄漏地带给需要之人。

注意不当的措辞“但我一直都是这样做的”:这是我们的业务中最危险的措辞。学习早前的技巧将把制作人领向一个黑洞,并且不会意识到该如何改善。制作人必须能够适应并愿意为了团队和项目的改善而改变。没有什么比成功能够更快地塑造一名糟糕的制作人。制作人可能在早前便养成了一个糟糕的习惯,但是他们可能根本找不到纠正行动的动机。更糟糕的是,他们甚至不清楚该采取怎样的正确行动。

做终身的学习者:我认为制作人必须终身学习自己的技巧。阅读书籍,报班学习,访问其他制作人,询问团队成员他们眼中的制作人是怎样的等等。我经常发现制作人很容易满足于工作上的学习。问题就出在基于这种方式不能帮助他们吸取更多教训。

甘愿为团队服务:在游戏制作中,团队是绝对重要的元素。尽管制作人是领导者,但是他们通常是在服务或提供团队的所有需求。我之前的一个老板边说过:“游戏便是团队的反射。”基于糟糕运行且不快乐的团队可能会创造出糟糕且让人不快的游戏。制作人必须尽所能去保护团队并让他们执行创造性工作。

保持谦虚态度且积极聆听:制作人通常都不是最聪明的人。我们总是与一些专家一起共事。所以必须保持谦虚态度并尊敬专家们。同时带着热情去聆听他们所说的一切。

结论

不可否认的是,本文的确有点唠叨了,请接受我诚挚的歉意。这是我们最近的业务中所看到的一些趋势,我非常关心我们的技巧以及我们团队的完善。我们身处的产业并不是一场儿戏。我想我们了解这一切,但却还不够成熟。不过最后,也只有我们自己才能够做到这一切。

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

The Future of Being a Video Game Producer

by Harvard Bonin

Trip Hawkins may have done our craft an unintentional disservice. While he’s a pioneer in our business of video games and will be admired for generations to come, he’s also the one that gave us the title “producer.” Back in 1982 Hawkins, a founder of Electronic Arts, began using the term with the idea that we were “managers of creative artists”, just like movie or music producers. There is truth to that. We do manage very creative people. However, the producer discipline can and should be considered so much more. When you ask what it means to be a Games Producer to an actual Games Producer you’ll often get some hand wavy answer that speaks of “sheparding,” “firefighting,” and to “by God, get things done.” I believe, however, that this ambiguous understanding about what we do leads to practices and methods within production that are simply uninformed and sometimes non-existent. Quite frankly, these are old school definitions and we’re beyond that. Producers with no training likely have no formal methodologies. They have no real established and verified best practices. They operate mostly on instinct and apply practices they’ve created themselves over time. Some even scoff at training without understanding the benefits education offers. This lack of formal training is simply not acceptable in these days of AAA multi-million dollar game budgets.

And there’s the rub. How do we make producers understand that they are much more than what their own discipline has led them to believe? And if producers don’t know what they are, why would a team of talented creative artists, designers and programmers, often well trained in their own craft, know what they are either?

This article is based on my own experiences and past mistakes. I completely understand and accept that some people will disagree with me. I welcome all opinions and discussion. The job of producer can vary widely from company to company. While I’m passionate about this topic I certainly don’t profess to know everything there is to know. Only through collaboration will I be able to formulate and improve on my findings. Your thoughts are appreciated so please share them with me directly at harvard_bonin@yahoo.com

SO YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD PRODUCER?

I am often asked “How do I become a producer?” by game players, college graduates, QA analysts, etc. It’s a question that, sadly, they have often received poor guidance on. Also, it’s the wrong question. You want to be a Good, Informed Producer. A “GIP”, if you will allow the indulgence. It’s actually pretty simple. There are plenty of other ways to be one but here’s a path that worked for me:

Year 1 – 4: Go to college. Major in Business or Computer Science. Work in a gaming QA department for 1 year while finishing school. Graduate.

Years 5 – 7: Get a job in a Production Assistant role. Do that for 3 years and work your way into more responsibility or even get promoted. Take project management courses at night while still maintaining your production job. Maybe even take the Project Management Professional test conducted by the Project Management Institute and pass. (The PMP? certification isn’t absolutely required so long as the producer is well educated in project management practices and methodologies. PMP focuses on very traditional project management and is a good foundation but it must be augmented with other training such as Agile practices.)

Year 8: You are now ready to be an Informed Producer. Maybe not Good…but at least informed.

This roadmap is one way to set prospective producers up for success. I actually didn’t follow this exactly but in retrospect I wish I would have. There are other ways to become an informed producer however this is pretty straightforward. I recommend training in a variety of capacities but based on my experience I believe in the ascribed steps. Being an entrepreneur that starts and runs a company can work beautifully too, if not better in many cases. Nothing makes a person truly understand the many facets of our business more quickly than running his or her own company. This takes you down the road of hopefully being a good leader, but not necessarily an informed producer. You can cut corners but relying only on “learning from experience” will set you down the wrong road. You may have force of will, learned from mentors, experience, charisma, etc. which may make you a good leader, but you’ll always be an uninformed producer without training and you’ll lack some basic tools to make you better. A good producer exhibits qualities like leadership, dedication, tenacity, professionalism, ethics, etc., but these alone aren’t enough and are too vague to be relied upon alone. Production experience by itself will not make you an informed producer, though it may make you good. In the end, being an informed and good producer is the goal. “Good” is subjective. “Informed” is fact.

It should be noted, however, that I am not advocating that producers become project managers. Most project managers in our industry are all about the schedule and its management. Producers usually have another key responsibility that the project manager generally doesn’t have and that’s to communicate and champion the vision of the game to the team, sponsors and outside stakeholders. The producer may not come up with the vision, but the producer is the one that must protect it at all costs. The project manager (sometimes known as development manager/director) does not generally carry the vision and, instead focuses solely on schedules, risk analysis, processes and planning. It’s imperative for a producer to be armed with this same knowledge and training to help augment the execution of the vision he or she holds, even if the project manager’s sole focus is solely this role. The role of producer can vary from company to company. In some they are more like project managers and in others they are little more than note takers. Either way, the producer must add value to the team and training is a vital step to do so. Put in another way by my friend Patrick Gilmore, Studio Head at Double Helix, “Development Directors are in charge of the literal tradeoffs—team size, organization and cadence, schedule, budget, milestones, tracking, work breakdowns, construction frameworks, pipelines and techniques. Producers are often in charge of the blind tradeoffs—quality, scope, priority, richness and depth, polish, pacing, compulsions, narrative, vision and cohesiveness, competitive product, feature relevance, unique selling points and the feeling of “wholeness” of the game.”

PROJECT MANAGEMENT, NOT PRODUCTION?

If you do a Google search for books on producing you’ll find some, but not many. Personally, I like the book by Quincy Jones called “Q on Producing.” http://www.amazon.com/The-Quincy-Jones-Legacy-Series/dp/1423459768 His core message: producers should bring the best out of creative people. While this is an admirable philosophy he tells producers little about how to actually do it. Music is also a drastically different business. Engineers, artists and designers aren’t musicians. At the core they are not even game makers; they are software developers. Games are just the type of software they are lucky enough to create. Software development is complex, often made up of large teams and larger personalities. The producer needs to know how to harness and focus that creativity while managing a software project at the same time. On the other hand there’s an enormous amount of data available on project management training. There are classes anyone can take, there are certificates anyone can earn and there are tests anyone can pass. There are only a few related to the role of producer, however, and this is at the core of the problem. It’s a murky, undefined field of study.

BEING A GIP

In my humble view, there are thematic core components to being a good, informed producer. In no specific order they are…

Communicate, then Repeat: Communication is often noted in project post mortems as the #1 problem teams run into. It’s also a very broad category since there are so many things that must be communicated and so many people that must not only receive the message but understand it too. Project vision, work, scope, goals, dates, features, pipelines, tracking, schedule, etc., etc. all need to be communicated in all directions. That’s a very short list and there are a myriad of other topics. The best way to communicate most subject matter is almost always face to face. If you never leave your seat and ONLY rely on email you’re simply doing it wrong. Email is supportive, face to face is critical. Face to face is also faster since the back and forth conversation iteration is immediate and can be reacted to on the spot. A person may not even read an email till the end of the day, if at all. It’s been said that 55% of communication is nonverbal. Face to face, even over Skype is the only way to collect this. I believe there are generally two types of overall communication: 1) Direct and 2) Osmotic. Direct communication is just as it sounds, directive. It’s a request for someone to take action. As a producer I’m asking you to do “X”. Face to face discussion, supported by email, daily stand ups, scheduling, milestone content and deadlines can all be examples of directive communication. Osmotic communication is supportive and all around a team members. It drifts into their consciousness through environmental factors or even overheard conversations. (Incidentally, this is exactly why I will never sit in an office. The buzz of the team around me can be an excellent way to collect information.) Milestones posted on walls, concept art, posters outlining the team values, video monitors summarizing the sprint goals, Scrum boards, etc. are all environmental. The idea is to surround a team with the creative vision of the title as well as all the key, high level info they need to do good work on time. It’s immersive. Poor communication on a project is always the fault of the production staff. It’s the producer’s responsibility to make sure it happens. Communication is also a two way street. Producers must actively question, engage and even interview team members to collect data on the project health and status, especially in the planning phase. The producer doesn’t have to know all the answers but he or she must find ways to engage the team and stakeholders to find them.

Own and Plan the Project Plan Vision. To put this another way, plan, plan, plan…and then plan some more. Then expect it all to change daily or even more frequently. Your team requires producers to know what’s on the horizon so that risk can be mitigated, minimized, removed or accepted. Producers need healthy participation and collaboration from the team experts and stakeholders with the goal of clearing the road for the title. The tools available in proper project management can aid this effort. Scope Management Plans, Delphi Analysis, Work Breakdown Structures, activity scheduling, budgeting, Risk Registers, etc. All these tools are available to anyone with the proper training. This is a good reason why producers should be trained in project management. Producers without training don’t know what they don’t know. Many producers without training rely on their own crafted tools and processes. Some may work but many others may not be optimal. Or, worse, they have no tools and processes and instead rely on brute force of will to get the job done. It should be noted that it is impossible to plan game projects out at the start. Games are actually full of smaller, achievable little projects and the subsequent phases should be broken down as new information is discovered. Agile development expects and embraces these changes and attempts to manage uncertainty.

Track, Trust and Verify: Holding the team accountable for the goals they collaboratively set with production is a key responsibility of the producer. The producer must engage the team to help build the honest, iterative plans. The producer must also make sure team members are delivering on their plan. Frequent checking and monitoring of status is crucial so that change requests can be evaluated and the project course adjusted as it progresses toward the finish. Game projects are complex. They have millions of different inputs that must converge on a single output. A producer must have a great understanding of the entire problem space of a project so that he or she may make course corrections when required. They must perform the ABCDs…Always Be Collecting Data.

Historically our industry generally reacts to project scope change by simply working the team harder. This has led to many neglected children and marriages and often games that are subpar due to poor resourcing, bad decision making and underdone features. As the adage goes, we need to work smarter, not harder. While I don’t believe crunch can be removed from a creative endeavor I do think it can be planned for and managed better. Game developers are some of the hardest working people on the planet and squeezing an extra 10% from these dedicated people isn’t always the best answer; it’s usually just the easiest. It takes no production IQ to tell people to work the weekend. Producers need to track, monitor, gather metrics and control the inevitable changes that occur during a project lifecycle. Without this data clear decision making is impossible and the team (and project) will pay the price.

Tools & Processes: As mentioned previously the study of project management comes with it standardized tools to help the GIP understand and manage scope, changes, stakeholder buy in, project goals and success criteria, among others. I’m not referring to tools like software. Hansoft, Project, Jira, etc. are all fine tools but in this case I’m referring to project management tools such as Risk Registers, Scope Statements and Project Charters. I’m also referring to project management methodologies like Scrum, Dynamic Software Development Method, Kanban and even Waterfall. A producer needs to be familiar or even an expert in various methodologies since different ones might be more applicable to different phases of the project. These tools are independent of the software used to track the project, though some, such as Hansoft or Greenhopper are designed specifically for Agile methodologies.

Know your Pipelines: The work flow process in a project must be intimately known by the producer. The producer must know the overall roadmap for a project and the work flow pipelines are at the core. At the end of the day the producer is helping move around assets and ideas so that they may be executed as fast as possible to the assigned quality bar. The pipelines are how this work moves from person to person and ultimately into the game. Without understanding them the producer will be unable to fix or even optimize workflows.

Encourage Frequent Failure: I’m a big fan of prototyping. In a nutshell prototyping simply means creating a demonstrable feature as quickly and as small as possible that proves the core idea before investing a lot of people’s time only to watch it fail. Often this may not even be a piece of running software. It can also be a document or a movie. Whatever proves the feature and minimizes the risk that the feature or idea will not work. Prototyping allows experimentation and the team to fail quickly. He or she MUST accept iteration as a reality. Only through failure will the team learn and make corrective action and come to the right decisions.

Set the Rules: Teams work best when they are clear on the title vision and the rules for working that are expected of them. The rules of operation are things like “everyone must respond to their email at least twice a day”, “everyone must attend the standup at 10:30” or “everyone must update their task list before the standup.” They can also be values such as “we are committed to trying new processes and methods” or “we value communication transparency”. Your rules should be set in collaboration with the team.

Commit, then Deliver: (This one is again from Patrick Gilmore, Studio Head of Double Helix). “The producer’s job is to make commitments to an organization or group of stakeholders, then work with the team to deliver on those commitments. Success is dependent upon knowing what the team is capable of, understanding how to help the team focus, and also on managing and communicating with stakeholders. Junior producers fail on one side or the other—they overcommit and grind their teams, or don’t know how to build quality and so can’t be trusted the next time they need to commit to stakeholders.”

Execute now: The mindset of a GIP can be described with one word: Urgency. Everything must be done as soon as possible so the producer can have time to navigate the unknown unknowns that are sure to pop up in the project. Nothing can wait till tomorrow. If a problem is large the producer must have a plan on how to break down the issue into smaller, consumable and attackable issues…and then focus the team toward doing so, all the while juggling the other immediate issues on facing the team. No problem can be delayed, even though a Producer must sometimes wait due to resourcing priorities. Stack rank the issues, come up with plan and then “do”.

Beacon of Ethics: The Producer should be the guiding light when it comes to executing a project in an ethical and moral way. Most of this can simply be achieved through open and honest communication. This can build trust with the team when they know the producer is being straight with them on what’s expected of them.

Carry the Creative Vision: The Producer needs to fully understand the title’s creative vision. What will the title “do” for gamers? Creatively what is it trying to attain? To be clear, I used the word “carry”, not “create” the vision. Anyone can create the project vision, though it usually comes down to the Creative or Design Director. If that’s the case the producer should support, defend and communicate that vision, regardless of who creates it. Consider the producer something like a knight and the creative vision is the crown. It must be protected and championed. I also didn’t use the word “own” the vision. Again, this usually falls to the Creative or Design Director. The owner of the creative vision tells the team where to dig the well. The carrier does whatever is necessary to make sure the water gets to the thirsty folks without spilling.

Beware the Dirty Phrase “But We’ve Always Done it this way…”: This has been called the most dangerous phrase in our business. Leaning on old techniques will lead a producer down a black hole without a conscious effort to improve. The producer MUST be adaptable and willing to change for the betterment of the team and project. Nothing creates a bad producer faster than success. If a producer picks up bad habits early but happens to deliver a great title despite these habits there’s no motivation for corrective action. Worse, he or she won’t even know corrective action should be taken.

Be a Lifelong Learner: I believe producers MUST commit to lifelong learning about their craft. Read books, take classes, interview other producers, interview team members about what they think a producer should be, etc. Too often I’ve found that producers are content with on the job learning. The problem is that habits picked up this way are a small microcosm of lessons outside their sphere. Also, they are sometimes simply wrong!

Be a Servant of the Team: In game making, the team is the absolute most important thing. While a producer is a leader he or she often should lead by servicing and providing for all the needs of the team. One of my old bosses used to say “The game is a reflection of the team.” A poorly run, unhappy team will probably deliver a poor, unhappy game. The producer must do everything to protect the team and allow them to do the great, creative work required. I’ve heard it said producers should be a “S–t Umbrella.” There’s a lot of truth in that.

Be Humble and Actively Listen: The producer usually isn’t the smartest person in the room. We work with experts in their craft. Always be humble and treat them with respect. Above all, listen to them with enthusiasm.

IN SUMMATION

Granted, this article comes off slightly preachy…and for that please accept my apologies. It’s a trend I’ve been seeing in our business lately and I care very much that we improve our craft and the teams around us. We are in an industry that is not unlike a teenager. We think we know it all but we’re still immature. Only by pointing at the elephant will we all acknowledge that it’s in the room. In the end we’re the only ones that can make it so. I welcome competing theories so please feel free to offer them. In the end only collaboration and discussion about this topic will progress our discipline.(source:gamasutra)

 


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