Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Leads
There may be a team of artists with a lead creating the art and assets for one
level of the game, while another team and its lead are tasked with creating art
and assets for other sections of the game, including cinematics, advertising,
introductory panels, and so on. The larger a project is, the more likely it is that
dozens of people will be brought on board to complete the work; these mini-
teams for animation, audio, programming, art, and so on may have their own
leads who take direction from the art director to keep everything on track time-
wise and style-wise.
audio Director
As described in Chapter 8, “Sound,” the audio director (or producer) oversees
work on the ambient sounds, scores, recorded dialogue, sound effects, and
interactive sound elements for the game. Their role is quite large; they come
on board at the outset when the concept work is created, because unique audio
needs to be created for each original project.
Often, the audio director also works with the programmers to come up with
ways to use sounds to help drive the gameplay. Remember that gameplay is par-
amount. It has to work; and being able to develop the right amount of layered
sound to introduce key moments in the game, or devise a fun and unique sound
for buttons on the interface, or write the opening score for the game can help
create a signature for that project.
animation Director
This person needs to have a solid understanding of the principles of animation.
They're often selected for a project depending on their specialty in 2D or 3D anima-
tion, although in this day and age, most have knowledge and skill in both areas,
including motion capture. This person works with a tasks-and-needs analysis for
all moving elements in the game and determines the best way to produce them. A
tasks-and-needs analysis
is essentially another way to list assets that are required
so they can be examined logically. For example, a tasks-and-needs analysis of a
character might look like this:
Needs:
walk
swim
fly
cast five different types of spells
