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[PATV] Extra Credits: S.3 ep.11 - So You Want to Be a Producer
Rankenphile
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator mod
Passersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator mod
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A lot of what was said can be applied to the producer job in just about any industry. It only really got video game specific when the focus was on making sure the product ships and cutting features. Pretty much my favorite part was describing the role as a facilitator. As soon as that word was said I knew where the whole thing was going. :^:
Also I need to catch up on all the back episodes myself. I've only seen Extra Credits for the first time fairly recently, a couple scattered episodes, and to be as not-creepy as possible the show gives me a hard-on. I mean, I like it. A lot.
Agreed. As someone who's done game production in the past, and is effectively still doing the same thing under a different title in other software development, it's good to see a clear yet concise description of what producers do.
I've never had a producing job but I consider going for it from time to time.
Good episode, though. Some great perspective on a producer's role and perceptions of their role.
Ka-Chung!
Ka-Chung!
your = belonging to you
their = belonging to them
there = not here
they're = they are
My oldest brother had a production job for Dreamworks. I had an inkling it wasn't too far off from it.
Hey so if anyone reading the forum is a producer in the VG industry, or has been, or knows any, what sort of background and experience could put someone into the position?
To quote Howard Stern speaking to his producer, Gary, "Why don't you go produce me a cup of coffee?"
As for the producer role, I wasn't too clued in on it either, but now it makes perfect sense, nice work.
This may be a bit harsh, but I'd say in my years of industry experience 90% of producers are useless. They might imagine themselves to be masters of scheduling, but they are no more useful than an excel sheet. Unless you have real background in a discipline, you can be certain that, yes, people are lying to you. What's scheduled to take a month might only really take a week (and the rest is spent on youtube), or it might take 6 months due to unexpected issue. The producer would have no idea and the schedule they produce is bunk.
The example quoted in the episode (coder fixing an artist's problem in minutes, thank to a producer) is pretty much the wet dream of producers, often used to justify their existence. No, the problem is that the artist should've talked to the damn coders themselves. The producer is an unnecessary middle man in this case and often, in attempts to power-grab, would actually institute policies such as "no one gets to talk to coders except through producers".
That being said, I have actually had producers that were helpful and integral to the team. Most of them came from a background in coding or art, and can produce realistic schedule; they are also smart enough to stay out of the way. Even then, a sure sign of a mismanaged team is having too many producers. If your team is falling behind schedule and you think hiring more producers would solve the problem...something is terribly wrong.
I have been really fortunate to work with some AMAZING producers, and though I was skeptical when my first one came up to me, holyshit I could not imagine finishing some of the projects I have without them to take the burden of stress off of me and just letting me work. The best are the ones who at least have a vague concept of what you're doing or are very willing to take a few moments to try and understand, and sometimes just act like they completely know what you're talking about, which gives you confidence that you can completely trust them to take care of you.
The, No one gets to talk to coders/artists/whatever except through producers is sometimes implemented because when you're trying to work and you have someone coming up to you and making nonsense requests, it is a lot easier to go, no sorry you'll have to ask my producer! Especially when it's higher ups in the company making requests over your shoulder (or behind someone elses back) you normally can't refuse.
I
Love
Producers
and I really love that they did an episode about this!
Some of the teams I've been on, though. My god, I would've taken a trade in a heart beat. Give me more coders, modelers, animators, and world builders and take all the producers you want. Hell I would've paid you for it. In my experience, it's better to deal with what might be unreasonable requests head on, rather than through a filter. Assuming everyone wants what's best for the game, it's much better to talk it out with people who are intimately familiar with the issues. As long as it's given in the interest of the game, people can beat on my ideas and my work all they want, and I'll do the same in return.
Still, though, everyone works differently and I don't doubt what works best for you, Kochikens. All I know is, having been through several styles, my relatively producer-free team is the best one I've been on, and the most rewarding creatively.
We have this rule at my work. No client, no matter how loudly you yell, gets to talk to an engineer. In fact, none of our engineer even have office lines. You need dev work scheduled? You want to bitch about something that is clearly user error? Talk to me, I set it up. They are busy