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August 21, 2006
So You Want To Be A Producer
Hello everyone. My name is Craig Derrick and I'm one of the bloggers for this site. Similar to Heather, I've been working in game production for over ten years and have had the opportunity to produce many games with a variety of different publishers (some still around, some not) and developers (most still around, a few not) over the years.
More recently, I've been involved in the development community by participating in the AIAS & IGDA, sitting on the advisory board for Full Sail and the Albany, NY IGDA chapter, speaking at GDC, and helping out wherever I can. If you want to know more go ahead and Google me. You'll find all the other sites where I talk more about myself. :-)
But not here. Here I get to talk about game production. Or at least what I think I know of it. I'm going to use this space to put up articles that I find of interest (and that I hope you will too!) rant a little, answer some of your questions, and maybe, just maybe, provide enough information to make your job just a little easier.
So, let's start at the very beginning. What does a game producer exactly do? If you're already a game producer you've no doubt answered that question before, but recently Gamasutra posted an article by Marc Mencher entitled "So You Want To Be A Producer" that briefly summarizes it.
This article is obviously intended for those looking to become a game producer, but it's also a nice summary of all the things that are generally expected in the role. It's good to have articles like this to reference so I can actually see if I'm doing the same job everyone else is doing.
You see, I've answered this question plenty of times myself, but only recently have I boiled it down to this one line:
"A producer's job is to set and meet expectations."
To me, that sums it all up. You set expectations with your publisher, your developer, and yourself. If you can't meet these expectations then essentially you're failing at your job. How you go about setting and meeting expectations falls upon your style and authority, but never forget that you're the person that everyone looks to understand what's best for the project.
Interestingly enough, I had this conversation with an industry friend the other day and he boiled down what a game producer does to one word: auditor. In his mind that's all we do. We examine, verify, and correct issues.
What are your thoughts? Is there a way to sum up what we do?
-Craig
Posted by CraigDerrick at August 21, 2006 01:50 AM
Comments
Hi, great article. Thanks for the link to that Gamasutra article, too.
I'm a project manager for an independent studio in Asia, and managing producer for our current game. My boss (the president of the company) summarized our jobs as producers once, and it's also what I tell students during talks or school tours:
"We do our job so the developers can do their job."
If that means making and enforcing schedules, talking with clients and publishers, acquiring tools and equipment, and giving teams free breakfast every morning, then so be it ;)
Posted by: Luna at August 31, 2006 03:03 AM
Craig, this is a great article. Thanks for posting.
Luna, I like how your boss sums up the producer's job. That is essentially how I explain my job. If people have not worked in the game industry before, they are often puzzled by what a producer does exactly. When you explain all the outside forces that can affect a team and the struggle to stay on shcedule, they get a better idea.
Of course, I'm sure there are some people out there on development teams who do wonder what their producer does all day. Hopefully, the producer is making their lives easier and not adding complications ;).
I am interested in ways we can formalize the game production process (ala Film in some ways) so new producers and other members of the team have a better understanding of what we do.
Posted by: Heather at September 7, 2006 10:06 AM