week+6+notes

Treatments Also sometimes called 3pagers or 2pagers Or game concept documents Or game pitches – though sometimes a game pitch is just one page and may be called a sell sheet __Bug Explorer__ A friend actually created this game treatment as part of an interview process (I helped him write it) He got the job Video Game Production Pitch document or sell sheet Treatment or 3pager Playable Demo with full Game Design Document Prototyping Test rooms for core gameplay mechanics Grey box levels Story outline and first draft of main script Paper __level design__ and __game flow__ Rough models, animations, art assets, effects, etc. Concept art Video Game Production Full Production: Art assets produced: environments, character models, animations, effects, cinemas, etc. Code written to support gameplay and engine modifications Gameplay and levels designed, refined, balanced Scripts finished, dialogue recorded, story delivery integrated into levels Sound produced: music, dialogue, effects and background Playtesting, iteration, adjustments Scope concerns, budget and time concerns, cuts Video Game Production Polish: Alpha: assets, design, code production locked down; optimizing code, playtesting, QA, balancing gameplay, improving visuals and performance (hopefully) Beta: bug-testing, balancing, QA, wider playtesting audience Gold Master: game shipped, everyone gets drunk, sleeps for a week – bonuses given, extra vacation days given (to make up for weekends worked), or staff laid off, studio perhaps even shut down (can go either way – and this is before sales are known) A Production Pipeline Studio Organization Departments: Design Gameplay Designers System Designers Level Designers Narrative Designers Also sometimes Content Designer, Mission Designer or Scripter, Quest Designer, Writer QA (often its own department) Studio Organization Art Animators Concept Artists or Illustrators Character Modelers and/or Riggers Environment or Background Artists FX Artists Lighting Artists Camera Directors (in-game and cinematic) Technical Artists: UI, bridge between code and art Cinematics (sometimes its own department): often contains its own team of animators, lighters, cameras, etc. Studio Organization Art Cont. Sound or Audio Designers (sometimes its own department: music, dialogue, cinemas, atmosphere/background, effects/foley

Code System Programmers: terrain, physics (water, hair, fire, etc.), cameras, sound, lighting, streaming, UI, etc. Gameplay Programmers: animation, boss fights, effects, gameplay needs, AI, pathing, etc.

Studio Organization Management and Admin Producers (Executive, Senior, Associate, Line, etc.) Execs, Investors, Owners Accountants Marketing Admin Assistants Editors and Translators I.T. Office Managers HR Legal, Agents, Publicists Studio Organization Within every department: Directors: Creative Director, Art Director, Design Director, Project Director, etc. Leads (i.e. Lead Character Artist, Lead Animator) Assistant Leads Senior (i.e. Senior Designer) Junior or just regular Designer, Concept Artist, etc. Intern Studio Organization Group Exercise: Form into groups (by table or combine tables to make groups of at least 4 or 5) Develop a budget and schedule for an indie game idea Use white boards or write down/type up your plan Budget is $250,000 Choose a platform – X-Box Live, PSN, Mobile (iOS or Android), online flash game, Facebook, etc. What is the make up of your dev team? How many coders, artists, designers on your team, and which type of each? What are their salaries? Everyone must be paid What about equipment, office rent, utilities, etc.? What is your development schedule? How much time is allocated for concepting, production, polish? Studio Organization Follow up for group exercise Share your development budgets and schedules Did you pay everyone a realistic salary? Did you try to find team members with multiple skills and share roles? How long did the budget last? Was the schedule squeezed? If so did you reduce concepting, production, or polishing time? Big studios vs. __Indie studios__: what are the pros and cons of working for either?