ABSTRACT
Welcome to the team! This chapter will take a look at the various audio roles within a development studio, as well as the other departments that audio personnel work with. Artists and animators, programmers, designers, producers, writers, and quality assurance (QA) testers may interface with audio folks in one capacity or another at different points in the life cycle of the project. The audio production pipeline will also be introduced, examining many key aspects: typical workflows, planning and categorizing audio assets, creating and maintaining asset lists, assessing the scope of audio work, milestones and sprints (passion aside, there is no greater motivator than a deadline!), task tracking and estimates, bottlenecks, contingency plans, management, and crunch time concerns. After the game has shipped, there will be a look back at its development cycle – what went right versus wrong – via what industry folks like to call the “postmortem.” Audio is no small part of this examination, and this chapter will conclude with how to keep track of progress, even during the chaotic moments of production (including a few “live and learn” experiences here as well).
