What types of jobs can we find in video game development?
The roles we can find are very diverse depending on the genre and the content of the video game we are playing. For example, games like Super Mario Bros, don’t have a very complex story, they just use it as an excuse to play the game directly. So the role of writer does not exist here.
We can find works from the artistic section to other more technical ones such as programming. So I will mention the ones that seem most important to me.
Designers
I want to start with this role since it is the root of the whole project, where ideas arise and are tried to be implemented. This is an an important role as they have the responsibility to create an immersive experience.
Director
There is usually one per development team, it is the one who has the creative idea and consolidates them. He makes all the final decisions and adjusts the video game in all its aspects.
Their involvement with the development team is important, as is their ability to manage the feedback they receive from them.
Design Lead
Manages the design team and transforms designers ideas into documents for the development team. They create prototypes, use game balancing techniques and redesign features when they don’t work.
Other types of specific designers
There are other types of designers as:
- Game designers: Who are in charge of the general design.
- Level designers: They are in charge of the evolution of the game and its difficulty curve.
- UI designers: are in charge of the flow of screens.
- System designers: They are there for issues such as the combat system.
- Environment designers: They add elements to the environment (NPC, vegetation, buildings, etc).
- Effect designers: They are in charge of the visual effects seen on screen, from hits, sword strokes, flames, lights, etc.
Programmers
Computers are usually very uncooperative, so this job requires patience and flexibility to get a clean code. They are in charge of finalizing all the assets of the rest of the team members.
Technical director
Is in charge of deciding the best and most advanced technology for the project.
Programming Lead
Manage the programming team, meet with the design or art team to see what ideas can be implemented.
Other types of specific programmers
There are other types of programmers as:
- Graphic programmer: Works with the technical artist to develop the graphic tools.
- Tools programmer: Develops tools to facilitate the work of other team members with less technical profiles.
- Gameplay Programmer: They work with designers to detect game behaviors. They develop the game mechanics.
- HUD Programmer: In charge of the behavior of the game menus.
- Audio programmer: He may or may not be a musician by profession, but his main role is sound management.
- Network programmer: His main job is to provide stability to the servers.
Artists
It is important that the whole team shares the same vision of the game and that includes the artists as well.
Sometimes they are even required to know some technical aspects about engines such as Unreal or Unity.
Art Director
It is an experienced person who guides and transmits the vision of the art of the game to the team and approves the quality of the assets.
Art Lead
Manage the artist team and works with the director to ensure the artistic vision of a project, so that the director focuses on the creative side.
Other types of specific artists
- Concept Artist: They create 2D artwork such as character or stage illustrations.
- 3D Modeling artist: They use graphic tools to create 3D objects, from characters, scenery, enemies, items, etc.
- Animator: They create animations for the 3D models or 2D drawings to move, the animations usually need exaggerations, variety and some clever poses so that the style serves the purpose of the game.
- Tecnical artist: He is in charge of the technical part such as collisions, exporting assets to the engine, physics, lighting, etc. He is between a programmer and an artist.
Audio
Music is a very important feature in video games, so in this role they are in charge of creating not only the soundtrack but also the sound effects and voices of the characters.
Sound designer
He is in charge of the effects, dialogues and music, but he does not compose it. He makes sure it is launched using scripting tools.
Composer
It can be an external element to the studio, it composes the music adapting it to the vision of the game. There are 3 types:
- Music composers: Create different songs that we hear during the gameplay
- Sound effect composers: Create impact sounds, footsteps and environmental noises as we play the game.
- Voice supervisors: Manage sessions with voice actors for later processing to the game.
Testers
Testing is part of the end of development and is of vital importance. A good testing team is a guarantee that the game arrives in a stable and polished form.
Lead QA
They have the function of organizing the testing team by establishing which areas of the game are to be tested and for how long. It is important that they have a thorough knowledge of the content.
QA Tester
They play many hours focusing on finding bugs in the game. They write a report on how to reproduce the bug and send it to the team.
Play Tester
They also play the game for many hours and indicate which problems or areas of the game need to be reviewed. Then the planning team collects their feedback for review. They need to be good players in order to understand the mechanics.
Other Roles
Other roles on game Development.
Technical support
They run servers and maintain the development environment. They usually take care of technical problems that other teams may have.
They manage backup storage and any communication between development machines and company servers.
Marketing
Are responsible for bringing the game to the market the market and being present in the media. They try to give ideas to make the game more marketable.
Administration and human resources
Although they are not part of the development team, they play an important role in the company, keeping the accounts, managing payroll, etc.
How do they all work together?
Many of these roles come together to produce a single game element. For example when developing a character, programmers, 3D modelers, artists, animators, effects and sound designers, etc. may be needed.
All these roles work together and it is necessary to understand each other in order to make progress with the proposed objectives and move forward.
Source: Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, wikipedia, Title picture from Game Dev Story.