Game Production Process - Creating Games with Unity and Maya - page 2

of these are important for a profitable game, the focus of this topic is learning
the technology, so the production of the game will be the focus.
Generally most game production teams (or development teams) contain
people in the following roles:
Designer: The Game Designer is the head of the creative vision. He or she
must be artistically able and technically proficient. He is able to straddle
the aesthetic and programming ends of the spectrum. More importantly,
he understands and often has authored the goals of the game, the genre
of the game, the game play, the rules and structure of the game, and any
other game mechanics. The game designer typically communicates these
goals through a document called a Game Design Document.
The Game Design Document is often predicated by a Game Proposal
Document before it can be created. Usually, a game designer has
substantial writing skills to be able to communicate the vision of a game.
This Game Design Document becomes the bible upon which the other
designers reference as the game production goes on.
The structure of this document is out of the scope of what we are
covering here, but there are multiple references and examples online of
such documents. Further, Game Design Documents should be specific
to an organization, financial structure, and even work culture. However,
although we might not cover the details of what this document is , what it
does is relevant.
Now a Game Design Document is rarely set in stone. The scope of a game
and the features of a game often have to be adjusted due to time, talent,
or budget reasons. However, as the production cycle grinds on, effective
management and distribution of this document becomes important to
keeping the team on task. I have personally witnessed many times where
days and even weeks of labor were wasted because team members
failed to reference—and managers failed to confirm—that they were
referencing a Game Design Document.
Even if you are working as an expansive team of one, developing an
internal Game Design Document (even if it is a bulleted list, or a flowchart
sketch on your whiteboard, or a list on the back of a napkin) can help you
keep an eye on the prize and avoid pitfalls like feature creep, where new
options forever find their way into a game and keeps it from ever being
released.
Mechanics Engineer: Games have mechanics. Mechanics are the rules
by which the game functions, including things like balance in power,
physics illustrations, interaction between player and game, and interplayer
interactions. Game mechanics are part of every game from checkers to
the most sophisticated of PC first-person shooters to training modules for
nuclear inspectors. The mechanics engineer (or Game Mechanics Designer
as he or she is sometimes called), works through the details of how the
vision outlined by the lead Game Designer can be implemented best. Often
this team member comes from a programming or scripting background.