Game Designer
A game designer devises what a game will consist of and how it will play as well as define all the core elements, they will then communicate this to the rest of the development team who create the artwork assets and computer coding. The elements a game designer must define are the setting; structure; rules; storyline/storyflow; characters; objects/ props; vehicles and devices available to the character such as weapons. Game designers are employed by development studios and can be both independent or publisher owned studios. The design process is commonly shared between defferent people, overseen by a lead designer. An example of a game design company is 2K Czech. This company is responsible for the creation of games like Mafia 2.
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Level Editor
A level editor creates interactive architecture for a section of a game including the landscape; buildings and objects. They also develop the game play for the level which involves challanges which the player must face and actions they must take to overcome them, the architecture helps to define the challenges by presenting obstacles; areas to hide; test of skill and other game elements to explore and interact with. The setting and atmosphere created by the level editor may also give the player hints about different way to progress through the level and the game.
The lead artist is responsible for the overall look of the game, concept art; the style of the characters; and environment. They must devise the game's visual style and direct the production of all visual material throughout the game's development as well as manage the art and animation team. the lead artist also know as art director or creative manager works with the game designer and lead programmer. They produce a large portion of the initial artwork themselves which sets creative and technical standards as well as determining the best tools and techniques to use.
A lead artist must ensure that the art and animation team work to schedule and within the budget, they also work closely with the programming team to ensure that all art and animation assets produced are able to easily be imported into the game engine.
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Technical Artist
The technical artist acts as a bridge between the artists and programmers when working on a game, they must also make sure that the art assets can be easily integrated into the game without removing any of the artistic vision or going past the platform's technical limits as well as investigating new techniques, applying them and and training the team in these techniques.
The role of technical artist is fairly new to the games industry as consoles and PC hardware becomes more complex. The technical artist works as a part of the art team, working closely with the lead artist; creative director and lead programmers. The technical artist is not directly associated with the creation of the game's art assets, instead of this they act more in the way of advice. They also also set up the systems of production and also deal with problems which occur during the process.
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Artist
The role of artist comes in three forms. The concept artist which uses traditional materials like pen and paper instead of computer software. A concept artist must draw ideas for the game, things such as worlds; characters; vehicles; objects; clothing and so on. They also suggest level design and colour schemes as well as the mood of the game, although not involved in the creating of the game art, their concept art is what shapes the look of the game.
The art department is split into separate specialisms such as 3D object modelling; textures; character design and environments. Each artist has responsibilities for specific art assets if a game although there is a lot of movement between the roles. All artists work under supervision of the Lead artist. They create the art assets to the specification and are responsible for managing those assets.
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Animator
An animator's role is to create the movement and behavior of non-player characters and sometimes other things like vegetation and scenery. Game animation may sometimes be a complicated mixture of multiple types of movement, which is why animators are required to make large libraries of reusable animations for each game character. An animator is commonly responsible for rigging and skinning the characters which includes making underlying structures like bones and attaching the appropriate body parts to each separate bone, making the animation process much more efficient.
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Audio Engineer
An audio engineer required to make the soundtrack for a game as well as the music; sound effects; voices for the characters; spoken instructions and ambient effects.An audio engineer will sometimes audition and record any actors that are needed in other languages if the game is being re-version-ed which may include lip syncing to the character animations. They are responsible for sourcing sound effects which are needed and improving/creating them where required. The sounds can be real or imaginary varying on the type of game, he/she must then edit; mix and master the music and souinds to produce a soundtrack for the game.
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Game Programmer
Game programmer is one of the most important roles as they design and write the computer code which runs and controls the game as well as incorporating and adapting any pre-made code libraries and writing as required. They also test the code and fix any bugs which arise along with develop customized tools to be used by other members of the development team. Different platforms like the Xbox or Playstation have particular programming requirements and there are also different specializations in programming like a physics programmer; and AI (artificial intelligence) programmer; 3D engine development and also interface and control systems. Programmers are employed by development whether they are publisher owned or independent. they also work for middle-ware producers which is an increasingly important sector that provides cross-platform graphics rendering, game physics; sound management ; AI as well as other specialist tools.
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Lead Game Programmer
The lead programmer leads the programming team responsible for creating all computer code which is used to run and control the game along with producing the technological specification of the game and managing the overall code development process. The lead programmer manages the software engineering of a game from the beginning to the end just like other team leaders such as the game designer or lead artist. They commonly compile the technical documentation for the software created by the programming team and ensure the overall quality; effectiveness and appropriateness of the game code.
Project Manager/ Producer
The project manager/ producer must ensure the successful delivery of the game, on time and within their budget. and oversees every aspect of a game's development and delivery. A producer controls the finances and other resources required for a project along with co-ordinating the work done by the production team and making sure that the quality is maintained, whatever problems appear. During the development of a game, the project manager/ producer monitors the progress against the schedule. They may also have to oversee any on-going maintenance issues even after the game is launched such as updates, downloadable content and customer support.
Assistant Producer
The assistant producer a.k.a the junior producer works with a game's production staff to ensure the timely delivery of the best quality product. They will usually work on certain areas of the development process. This can involve handling communications between the publisher and developer or co-ordininating work on some key processes like managing the outsourcing of the art assets. In a publisher environment the assistant producers focus on liaising between sales and marketing departments and the developer as well as supporting the work the publisher's external producer. Another part of the role is handling any outsourcing and will often act as the main point of contact for outsourcing companies.
External Producer
The external producer is responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of a game whilst working away from the development team. An external producer is nearly always employed by a game publisher, working out of the publisher's head office. They liaise between the publisher's sales and marketing departments and the game developer, which can be located hundreds of miles away.
Creative Director
The creative director is responsible for the overall look and feel of a computer game, and oversees any high-level decisions that affect how the game plays; looks or sounds. a creative director must ensure the quality and style of the gameplay; artwork; music and audio assets. At the beginning of a project a creative director works with a small team defining the framework of the game with a lot of attention paid to the artistic styling and any technical obstacles that will need to be overcome.
QA Tester
A QA tester must test; tune and debug a game along with suggesting refinements that ensure its quality and playability, they must also assure quality in a game and find all its flaws before it goes to the public.The job role of a QA tester is a highly disciplined role, they work in teams, sometimes they play together on a multi-player game or a team may own part of a game.
Testing a game involves playing a game over and over again; testing different builds. Their wok can be repetitive and tedious and must test long after the novelty and fun factor have worn off.
Public Relations Manager
A public relations manager is responsible for managing an organisation's image and reputation. A public relations manager will develop good relationships with the media; arrange advertising or promotional films to be produced as well as public speaking at presentations; conferences or radio and TV interviews.
Marketing Executive
A marketing executive promotes their employer's product, servicing their ideas. They must plan product launches; market research and public relations events. They also market their employer's product via TV; radio and the press. A marketing executive does things like looking at competitor's marketing strategies; arranging sponsorship and placing adverts in newspapers; magazines; trade press and on TV and radio.
Marketing Manager
A marketing manager's job is to plan the best ways to promote their employer's product. They plan campaigns and manage budgets; manage a team of marketing executives and assistants and make sure that campaigns run to deadline and are on budget. A marketing manager plans the direction of all marketing activity on a campaign. They would be in charge of a number of campaigns and manage and motivate people in the marketing team to ensure that each campaign is successful.
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