本文原作者:James Batchelor

Develop网站记者同来自大大小小游戏工作室的制作人聊了聊他们以前很少聊到过的——他们在游戏开发中主要扮演的角色是什么？

来自UK游戏工作室Chilled Mouse的Lana Zgombic提到当她被家人很朋友们问到关于工作内容的时候，她总是无法给出很明确的答案。大部分的Develop网站读者都对游戏联合制作人有一个大概的了解，不过除了那以外的工作内容呢？

她说“我就告诉他们我主要是做管理的。不过事实上我做的可不止这么简单，但这样说他们好理解。毕竟比起列举出你要管的所有细微之事，直接说你在做管理就简明多了。他们会想象你可能就是都在做Excel电子表格——虽然说有时确实要做，不过我们的工作可比这复杂得多了。”

Zgombic是在Develop网站和Testronic公司的邀请下来到布莱顿的七名制作人之一，他们受邀来聊聊他们工作中扮演的做角色内容。他们对该职业的描述达成了共识，尽管这种高度概括听起来特别冷：制作人就是来确保项目能达到质量标准并按时完成。

Jagex Seniro给了一个更令人满意的定义：“如果游戏的开发过程是一条河，那我们的工作就是确保这条河流能源源不断地流向正确的方向。假设河流里面有卵石，我们就要在还没有人撞到它之前把这块卵石移开。我们不仅要了解现在发生的事情，还要对将来要发生的事有所预判。”

Auroch Digital制作人Peter Willington补充道：“我们的工作就是让有才之士能在工作上将本领发挥得淋漓尽致。一个好的游戏制作人就是满足人才需求，让他们有最佳的工作状态，由此给公司带去所需价值。”

Dave Cox曾经在Metal Gear firm Konami担任过制作人，现在是Mercury Steam的高级游戏制作人，他将游戏制作人在描述作协调者和沟通者。

“游戏制作人就是为开发团队服务的人，不要弄反。这是属于人事的工作范畴：股东、年轻的美术人员、工作室负责人等等，你需要一个一个地来处理他们之间的关系。所以善于与人打交道也是人的一个很重要的属性啊。”

“有时我担心的是制作人会被高看作项目管理人员——甚至游戏工作室本身都会这样误会——但是事实上制作人做的可比那多多了。但要想把这些工作内容表述给别人有时还挺困难的。”

Gobo工作室的制作人Andy Walker描述游戏制作人就像交流“蜘蛛网”的网心：“你需要在管理层、交付成果层、客户层和游戏团队层之间的起到调节作用。你需要让团队知道他们该做的事，保护他们免除一切不好影响——甚至要考虑到工作室人员的雇佣和解雇问题。

Curve Digital制作管理人Sophie Rossetti强调了该职业在人际方面技巧的要求很高：“能够找到人们身上的闪光点并加以重用是再重要不过的了。并且你的管理风格得根据你合作的对象做出调整。”

制定解决方案

这个职业的角色主要是为了解决问题的。当游戏出现重大问题的时候，团队都会向制作人寻求帮助和指引。Crowley说作为制作人有一个诀窍——就是横向思考那些问题。

他说“很多人带着问题来找你，那问题对于他们来说就好像世界末日了，一切都要分崩离析了，有一种天都要塌了的感觉。不过要能够看出问题到底出在哪，然后给出没人想到的可选方案，这对整个项目的顺利运行有着至关重要的作用。”

Walker补充说：“一个项目管理的反馈就是一个解决方案，而一个制作人的反馈则更倾向是在降低质量、增加用人以及做出改动之前，给你提供了500个可深入探寻的选项。这就像是在给难题找到好出路的感觉。”

所有的专家们对压力管理都表示很关键——不只是团队的压力，还有制作人自己的。保持清醒的头脑对保持团队的冷静有深远影响，这能提醒整个团队把眼光放得更远。

Willington还说“冷静的现实主义绝对是非常关键的。没错我们是在做艺术——不过这种艺术是一种商业化艺术，有截止日期的艺术，这种艺术可能会涉及到很多金钱因素。我们共识的艺术家们都想要尽可能多的时间进行创作——但我们必须保持一种现实主义的态度。”

Cox还补充道：“游戏制作人能在项目开发中保持一颗商业头脑、在商业现实下驱动项目的运转真的很重要。因为有时团队最后可能会在某个他们特别热爱的游戏特点上僵持特别久，而你这时就要催促他们移步向前继续完成项目剩下的部分。”

尽管这看上去好像整个团队特别依赖游戏制作人，事实上是反过来的——制作人需要确保他们跟合作团队能建立起紧密的关系，而这对项目问题的解决也是有所帮助的。Creative Assembly开发管理人Mark Sutherns这样告诉我们：“你必须确保你最后不是住在象牙塔里，天真地觉得你可以脱离团队存在于他们之上。团队的成员们是最能提供有效帮助的人，所以如果你理解他们，知道他们能力所在，那有了问题也就很好解决了。”

“要保持积极的心态。如果你看到屏幕上显示的东西很棒，指出来让大家一起观赏。我喜欢这么做——这能帮助鼓舞团队士气，让他们知道彼此的工作成效。其实就是试着在你走过某人桌子前面的时候对他做个展示就是了。”

Rossetti说：要想定期跟团队来解决问题需要的不只是人际方面的技巧，还要能有个“对话存储空间”，这可是大有益处。

她解释道：“记住某人两周前不经意说的话在不久之后会有大用处，特别是当一个程序员说‘我可没说过这话’你就可以笃定地反驳说：‘不，你说过。’”

对一切了如指掌

在这个承包商以及遍布世界的远程工作室合作时代，游戏制作的管理变得非常复杂。所以作为游戏制作人，能跟团队在同一栋屋檐同一个房间里，交流会变得容易许多，也正因此，远程员工的事务处理需要一个效率极高的游戏制作人来办才行。

“面对承包商最让人头疼的是必须让他们得自己管理时间——如果他们说没法在一个星期内做到某件事，你就必须催促他们把时间安排得更紧凑些。也因此给他们的时间期限要提前。在跟承包商的合作上我们能做到的也就这些了。”

而对于跟远程成员沟通方面，Crowley指出现在有工具可以解决沟通问题的了——多亏了像Slack、Skype和Google Docs这样的软件，我们再也不用花几天的时间来传真游戏代码或者坐飞机绕上大半个地球进行会面了。

“现在可以通过视频通话进行面对面交流并能够跟进他们正合作的在线文档之类的文件，这是意义非凡的一件事。那些工具改变了我们对一些事物的看法。”

Walker还补充说，太遥远的距离会导致更多的问题:“如果你有员工在澳大利亚，美国等等，你就对会议时间的安排有诸多限制，不然有时你醒着的时候，你的团队有一半的人都还在地球的另一端睡着呢。”

这样的距离也会让游戏制作人对每个团队的进度跟进变得更困难——这次来的每个专家都认同了进度跟进的必要性。仅仅有个大概的了解对于制作人来说是远远不够的，他们必须熟悉地了解自己的产品以及产品状况。幸运的是，有些人会很自然地驱使自己去做这样的了解。
Zgombic承认说“我其实非常爱管闲事，喜欢去看看每个人都在干什么。不过这样做真的很重要，因为这意味着我可以根据他们现在所做提前做规划。我认为我不会喜欢和其他制作人合作，因为我没法及时了解他们的每个团队手头正在工作的内容。我喜欢让一切尽在掌握之中。”

Crowley补充说要在较大型工作室做到这点虽然会比较困难，但仍旧重要：“当手下运作的是一个80到100人的大型团队，我得知道这层楼的每个人都在做什么。你也许会觉得如果公司再大点的话我扮演的角色不一样了，那你就错了。我还是得了解每一件事——随着你的成长，问题规模会扩大，而你仍要保持对一切事物的掌控。”

Willington指出，制作人对这些信息的掌握就是他们对工作室履行的责任。“你还要和终端用户和媒体就游戏内容进行交流，很多情况下你就是工作室的代言人，因为对于人们想提出的问题，你是最佳回答者。制作人是记者采访的最佳人选。”

变化越来越大

在很多方面，游戏制作人的角色在过去几十年游戏行业的发展中变化非常显著。Sutherns回想起来，曾几何时他在前往预发行的里程碑的路上，除了E3表现和demo可玩性，别的什么都不用担心。

他说“如今，随着直播show展媒体平台的发展，游戏在可玩阶段上提前了很多，因此那些里程碑就不同以往了。我们要保证游戏在早期阶段就具备好可玩性、稳定性以及可展示性。对玩家群众来说这是件好事，而游戏开发者因为要尽可能快地将游戏的稳定性和质量展示出来，所以我们也能沾光提早很多玩到自己的游戏。”

Walker相信数码革命将会让里程碑完全消失：“很多游戏公司都会向数码发行和实时操作转型——而这是完全不同的两种情况，因为你所发行的东西必须是一周又一周地留在那里的。”

游戏制作人是一个时刻保持灵活性的角色，并且这个角色要根据团队开发面向平台的不同而时刻进行调整。

根据Zgombic所述我们了解到——社区和开发者之间的障碍一直是个僵持不下的问题，这给游戏制作人带来了新的挑战。

“有那么多的抢先体验游戏，有那么多的开放式游戏开发，而我们的工作就是尽可能地去联系上那些社区来得到他们的反馈。这些反馈非常宝贵：因为终究我们是在为他们做游戏，这样一来他们也能得到游戏开发的参与感。”

放眼未来，Sutherns指出虽然游戏制作人已经看到了游戏行业的巨大变化，也知道这种变化随着游戏业的发展只会愈演愈烈，但没有什么产品问题是专家们无法解决的。游戏的开发总是需要有那么一个人来保护这条游戏之河畅不受卵石阻碍自如流淌。

Sutherns这样说道“我们已经在技术上和商务模式上做过相应的改变了，作为我们这个角色，在未来要时刻保持灵活性，还要能够时刻调整自身来应对任意不同的开发平台。”

“这就是这个角色的有趣之处：总有那么一类人会被这种瞬息万变的行业吸引着，想要站到这个领域的至高视点来感受看看。”

你可以成为一个制作人吗？

我们还问了诸位专家对于想要入行当游戏制作人的人有没有什么建议。

Mark Suthrns(Creative Assembly):“进入到游戏工作室中尽可能快地学习经验，无论是什么那个等级的内容都要学——甚至从传统的QA等级内容开始都可以。这样你很快就会知道制作人这个角色是否吸引你了，因为你将会想知道其他的团队手头正在做的是什么以及到时候要如何把它们组成这个完整的游戏。总之就要多管管闲事，这是一个人能不能做制作人的很标志性特征。”

Peter Willington(Auroch Digital)：“永远别自大。保持谦逊，让专业人士带领项目。当你处在这个项目蜘蛛网的中心时真的很容易就自我膨胀起来，但是事实上这个项目里的每个人都跟你一样重要。”

Dave Cox(Mercury Steam):“该听时听，该说时说。要信任自己的团队让他们了解问题该怎么解决，也要对他们坦诚让他们知道问题出在哪。如果你自认主管老大，那事情不会顺利的，因为团队会让你的生活处于水深火热之中，还是跟他们一起找问题吧。通常解决方法都是团队成员找到的，因为他们比我们更了解自己有什么问题。”

Sophie Rossetti(Cruve Digital)：“永远别抢着第一个给出回答。你身边的成员在不同方面有着各自的经验。你不可能每个方面都懂都知道，所以试着多问些问题，把答案留给专业人士来回答。”

Conor Crowley(Jagex):“你必须做好心理准备接受自己对项目的贡献可能永远衡量不出来。从技术方面来说，你什么也没做——尽管没有你在那的话，谁也做不出任何东西。如果你想要的是个人荣耀感，那这个角色肯定不适合你。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Develop sat down with producers from studios of all sizes to discuss their central – but seldom discussed – role in a game’s development, and ask what’s next for their ever-changing responsibilities

When Lana Zgombic of UK studio Chilled Mouse is asked by friends or family what her job is, the answer isn’t as simple as she would hope. The majority of Develop readers will have a general understanding of what an associate producer does, but beyond that?

“I tell them it’s mostly a manager position,” she says. “It’s so much more but for them to understand, it’s simpler to say you’re in charge of things rather than listing all the little ways you help. They think all you do is Excel spreadsheets – which sometimes, yes, I do, but there’s so much more.”

Zgombic is one of seven producers Develop and Testronic invited to Brighton last month to discuss their role. The consensus was a fair summary, albeit a cold one: the producer ensures a project gets done, on time and to a standard of quality.

Jagex senior producer Conor Crowley offers a far more pleasant definition: “If development was a river, you’re making sure it’s constantly flowing in the right direction. If there’s a boulder, you’re moving it out of the way before anyone hits it. There’s an element of understanding what’s going to happen in the future rather than just what’s happening now.”

Auroch Digital producer Peter Willington adds: “It’s about helping talented people do their very best work. A good producer gets to know what those people actually need to be the very best and bring the value required to the company.”

As a producer, there’s an element of understanding what’s going to happen in the future rather than just what’s happening now.

Dave Cox, currently senior games producer at Mercury Steam and formerly a producer at Metal Gear firm Konami, describes producers as facilitators and communicators.

“The producer is someone that serves the team, not the team serving the producer. It’s about dealing with people: stakeholders, junior artists, studio heads and more – and you need to be able to manage those relationships one-to-one. So being a people person is one of the most important attributes.

“What worries me is sometimes producers are looked upon as project managers – even by their studios – but they’re so much more than that. Getting that across to some people is a bit of a challenge sometimes.”

Studio Gobo producer Andy Walker describes the role as being at the centre of a “spider’s web” of communication: “You’re the intermediary between management, deliverables, clients and the team.
You need to let the team get on with what they need to do and protect them from everything else – even to the extent of studio concerns like hirings and firings.”

Curve Digital production manager Sophie Rossetti emphasises the need for strong interpersonal skills: “Finding where people can shine and bringing out their best skills is really important. You have to adapt your management style depending on the people you work with.”

 

PRODUCE A SOLUTION

Central to the role is problem solving. When larger issues with the game arise, it is the producer that the team turns to for guidance. The trick, says Crowley, is thinking about those problems laterally.

“So many people come to you with an issue that, to them, seems like the end of the world, everything’s falling apart, the sky is actually going to crash down around us,” he says. “But being able to look at that and think about how things actually work, then offer an option that nobody thought of, is vital to keeping everything running.”

Walker adds: “A project management response is one solution, whereas a producer response is more to offer 500 other options that can be explored before you start cutting quality, adding more people on or changing things. It’s about finding smart solutions to hard problems.”

All of our experts agree that it’s vital to manage stress – not just the team’s but also your own. Keeping a cool head can go a long way to calming your team, and reminding them of the bigger picture.

“Level-headed realism is absolutely key,” says Willington. “Yes, we’re making art – but it’s commercial art, art to a deadline. There may be a more monetary factor involved. The creative people you work with may want to make the best thing you can – we’ve all worked with artists who want ten days, not five – but you need to have a realistic attitude.”

Cox adds: “Having a commercial mindset and keeping the team focused on the commercial reality of shipping something is really important. Because sometimes teams can end up naval-gazing about a feature they really love and you have to urge them to move forwards with the rest of the project.”

Sometimes teams can end up naval-gazing about a feature they really love and you have to urge them to move forwards with the rest of the project.

While it may seem like the team relies heavily on the producer, the reverse is just as true. As a result, producers need to ensure they have established strong relationships with the teams they work with. This also helps with problem solving, says Creative Assembly development manager Mark Sutherns.

“You’ve got to make sure you don’t end up in an ivory tower where you think you exist above them,” he says. “These are the people that are going to help the most, so if you understand them and what they’re capable of, often the solution you need is right there.

“Being positive helps. If you see something great on a screen, make a point of it and gather people around. I love doing that – it helps the morale of the team, they know what each other’s working on. Just try doing a show and tell at someone’s desk as you walk around the floor.”

Dealing with teams on a regular basis to solve problems requires more than people skills. Rossetti says there are advantages to having a “conversational memory”.

“Remembering what someone said two weeks ago about something off-hand can be so useful later on,” she explains. “Especially when a programmer says ‘I never said that’. And I can say: ‘Yes, you did.’”

ON TOP OF THINGS

Managing production becomes far more complicated in an age of contractors and even full studios working remotely. It’s naturally easier to communicate with teams in the same room or building as you, so it takes a particularly efficient producer to handle staff working further afield.

“The most difficult thing with contractors is they have to handle their own time,” says Zgombic. “If they say they can’t do something in a week, you have to urge them to manage their time better. They had the deadlines in advance. We can only do so much when working with contractors.”

When it comes to communicating with remote workers, Crowley observes there are tools that solve this problem. Thanks to the likes of Slack, Skype and Google Docs, the days of faxing code around the world or jumping on a long-haul flight are long gone.

“Being able to speak to people face-to-face through video chat and make sure they’re collaborating on things like online documentation is invaluable,” he says. “Those tools have changed how we look at some things.”

Walker adds that greater distances cause more issues: “If you have a guy in Australia, the US and so on, you’re limited on when you can have meetings because otherwise half the team’s asleep.”

This also makes it harder for producers to keep track of how each team is progressing – something our experts all agree is essential. An overview is not enough as producers need to know their product, and its condition, intimately. Fortunately, some people have a natural inclination to do just that.

“I’m quite nosy and like to see what everyone’s doing,” admits Zgombic. “But that’s very important because it means I can plan ahead. I don’t think I’d like to work with other producers and not know what every other team is doing. I like to be on top of things.”

Crowley adds that this can be tougher at larger studios, but it’s still vital: “When you’re running a team of 80 to 100 people, I know what every single person on the floor is doing. You would think that as your company gets bigger your role would start changing, but it doesn’t. You still have to be involved in everything – the problem just scales as you grow, and you need to keep on top of it.”

Willington observes that this knowledge takes producers’ responsibility out of the studio. “You also communicate what your game is to the end audience and to the press,” he says. “You are often the face of your studio, because producers are best placed to have those answers to any questions people might have. We’re the best people for journalists to talk to.”

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE

In many ways, the role of the producer has changed considerably over the past few decades as the industry has evolved around it. Sutherns recalls a time when the only pre-launch milestones he had to worry about were E3 appearances and a playable demo.

“Nowadays, with livestreaming and showing the game in a playable state much earlier, those milestones have changed,” he says. “The game has to be playable, stable and demonstrable really early on. It’s a great thing for the gaming public, and for devs, because it means we’re driven to show that stability and quality as soon as possible. It also means we can play our own game much earlier.”

Walker believes the digital revolution has removed milestones completely: “A lot of companies are moving towards digital distribution and live operations – and that’s completely different because once you’ve released something, it’s got to be maintained week after week.”

A producer is a role that will always remain flexible, and will always adjust to the platforms the teams are developing for.

The barriers between community and developer have also never been lower – this brings with it new challenges, according to Zgombic.

“There are so many Early Access games, so many open developments, and our job is to talk to the community as much as possible and get their feedback,” she says. “That’s very valuable: after all, we’re making games for them and they get to feel like they’re involved.”

Looking ahead, Sutherns observes that while producers have already seen drastic changes and there’s more to come as gaming continues to evolve, it’s nothing production experts won’t be able to handle. Someone will always be needed to ensure the development river keeps on flowing, boulder-free.

“We’ve reacted to changes in technology and business models before,” he says. “It’s a role that will always remain flexible, and will always adjust to the platforms the teams are developing for.

“That’s what makes this role so interesting: it attracts the type of person who wants to be involved in an ever-changing industry and see it at a top level.”

 

COULD YOU BE A PRODUCER?

We asked our experts what advice they have for any would-be producers considering the role

Mark Sutherns, Creative Assembly:
“Get experience in the studios as quick as you can, at whatever level – even starting at the traditional QA level. You’ll know pretty early whether the producer role appeals to you, because you’ll want to know what other teams are up to and how the game’s coming together. Just being nosy is a sure sign someone has what it takes to be a producer.”

Peter Willington, Auroch Digital:
“Always leave your ego at the door. Be humble and let the experts guide the projects. It’s easy when you’re at the centre of the web to feel like you’re super-important, but actually everyone else around you is on exactly the same level.”

Dave Cox, Mercury Steam:
“Listen as well as talk. Trust your team to know what the answers are to the problems, and be honest with them about what the problems are. If you think you’re in charge, that’s not going to work. The team will make your life hell. Find solutions together. Usually it’ll come from a team member because they know their shit better than we do.”

Sophie Rossetti, Curve Digital:
“Never be the first one to give an answer. The people around you have a lifetime of experience in each discipline. You couldn’t possibly know all that, so try to ask more questions and get the experts to give the answers.”

Conor Crowley, Jagex:
“Get ready to never be able to measure your own contribution to the game. Technically, you do nothing – although when you’re not there, nobody else does anything either. If you’re looking for personal glory, you’re in the wrong role.”（source：develop online）