ABSTRACT
Computer games are big business - tens of billions of dollars are spent annually by the worldwide video games market. The cost of producing video games has ballooned to beyond $20 million dollars in many cases, and team sizes are quickly growing past 100 team members. At the center of this storm is the producer - one person who transforms the money, the hours spent by the team, and the latest technology into a work of art that millions of people will call fun. This book will dig deeply into the role of the producer and expose secrets of game production that stand the test of time: how to build a great team, how to plan a major game development project, and how to pull the development team toward the vision of a great game.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
section |61 pages
What is a Video Game Producer?
chapter |5 pages
Producer Primer
chapter |9 pages
Producing at a Developer
chapter |11 pages
Producing at a Publisher
chapter |11 pages
Producer Roles
chapter |6 pages
Size and Scope: Large vs. Small, Licensed vs. Original
chapter |8 pages
Producing Skills
chapter |5 pages
Tools of the Trade
section |31 pages
The Process in a Nutshell
chapter |3 pages
The History of Game Development
chapter |9 pages
Game Project Lifecycle Overview
chapter |5 pages
The Development Team
chapter |6 pages
The Publishing Team
chapter |3 pages
Publishers Selecting Developers
section |33 pages
Scheduling and Structure
chapter |10 pages
Scheduling and Structure
chapter |4 pages
Development Plan Management (Scheduling to Production)
chapter |7 pages
Budget Management
chapter |4 pages
The Milestone Schedule
chapter |5 pages
Pipelines
section |42 pages
Managing Your Project, Your Team, Your Time, and Yourself
chapter |6 pages
Being an Organized Producer
chapter |5 pages
Reviews and Approvals
chapter |5 pages
Meetings
chapter |4 pages
Managing and Supporting multiple Projects
chapter |7 pages
Staffing
chapter |6 pages
Technology: What Every Producer Should Know
chapter |4 pages
External Management (Publisher)
section |20 pages
Concept Phase
chapter |4 pages
What You Hope to Achieve at Concept
chapter |5 pages
The Producer's Role at the Concept Stage
chapter |5 pages
The Producer's Role at the Concept Stage
chapter |2 pages
Concept Risk Management
section |39 pages
Pre-Production
chapter |2 pages
Looking Ahead
chapter |4 pages
What You Hope to Achieve at Pre-Production
chapter |4 pages
The Producer's Role at Pre-Production
chapter |6 pages
The Game Design Doc
chapter |7 pages
Tech, Art, and Sound Design Docs
chapter |3 pages
The Tech Side at Pre-Production
chapter |6 pages
Proof of Concepts, Target Renders, and Prototypes
chapter |3 pages
Risk Management: What Can Go Wrong at Pre-Production
section |17 pages
The Production Phase
chapter |3 pages
What Are Your Goals for the Production Phase
chapter |2 pages
Builds and the Build Process
chapter |2 pages
The Quality Assurance (QA) Process
chapter |2 pages
Localization
chapter |5 pages
Risk Management During Production
section |17 pages
Crunch Mode
chapter |4 pages
What Is the Goal at the End of Production?
chapter |5 pages
Game Ratings: The ESRB and You
chapter |5 pages
First-Party Submissions
section |8 pages
Post-Production