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Sunday, January 28, 2007

Producer + Designer + Programmer = Developer

The Gaming Division of the company I work for has four (4) classifications for employees: Game Producers, Game Designers, Game Programmers, and Game Developers. I will try, to the best of my understanding and knowledge, give you a general scope of the responsibilities of each position.

  • Game Producers - Game Producers are the people who conceptualize a game. They are the guys who tell you what type of games to make. They would mostly try to think of a new game concept, or at times browse the web for existing games and find ways of improving them. If you see a game and find it cool, or crappy, then these guys are the ones who'll receive the praises or the criticisms. They also delegate the work to the designers, as well as programmers.
  • Game Designers - Game Designers are also known as the Graphic Artists. They are responsible for making the graphics, and layout of the games we play. And at times, they also provide the music, and sound effects for the game.
  • Game Programmers - The people who make the games come to life. Producers work closely with the programmers to make sure that all aspects of the game are followed, and the game plans are enforced.
  • Game Developers - Producers may be designers, and programmers may be producers... but if you put all three together, then you have a Game Developer. A game developer conceptualizes a game, then makes the graphics, then programs the game.
I would say that most, if not all, game developers are freelancing. It would be quite a rare catch to find a developer in a game development company because these companies usually have producers, designers, who take care of the pre-production process of the game. Game Developers have an easy way out since they don't need to make everything, and as such, are "demoted" to either designers, or programmers.

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