In the previous issue of diGIT (http://digit.lk/10_jan_game) we discussed 6 roles when it comes to game development. In this article, lets identify the remaining basic roles of game development.

We concluded the last article with the role of programmer. Now lets look at a game where music would be needed.

Music is an important component in a game and having a good musician in the team will only help the game title. However, most of the time, music is often outsourced since it is not viable for a development company to house a music studio dedicated for producing music. Outsourcing to a reliable and experience musician gives quality to the music and may also be a selling point. So the role of the musician would be to produce the music for the game. However it is worth noting that if outsourced, it is vital that the interactive nature of games is clearly indicated to the musician else the music might not sync with the game and may then lead to problems and a failed game title.

In addition to a musician, an Audio Engineer would be required in the team. The audio engineer would be responsible for background sounds, sounds for weapons and other items. The audio engineer would create these sounds based on information given by the lead designer. The audio engineer would need to work with the rest of the team to ensure that the sounds created are appropriate for the game. For example, he/she needs to understand the duration of the sound effect, the nature that it will be used etc.. so that the sound will be used at its optimal level to increase the entertainment effect of the game.

With these roles, it is possible to create a very sellable widely used game title. However, it is necessary to thoroughly test the game so that no (or minimum) bugs are reported after the game is released. Hence a QA Lead is required.

The role of the QA lead would be to devise and implement a testing plan for the game, allocate tasks for the team, ensure that the game is fully tested and meets the game specification. The QA lead is also in charge of coordinating testing to be given to external parties and for approval. For games that will be localized, it is the responsibility of the QA lead to ensure that it is handled well.

With the QA lead are the QA Testers. They test the game against the test plan created by the QA lead. A bug report is then created for the programming team so that the errors will be fixed. The QA testers also give feedback and suggestions to designer on game play.

This basically covers the usual roles in a game development team. There are many other specialized roles that do not necessarily exist in every project. Motion capture is one good example where not all games use this feature. Depending on the nature of specific games, there could be many roles that are needed in game development. One good example is a project which we are working on where we have used the expertise of a national athletic coach to oversee a track game title.

In next month’s issue, we shall dive into project scheduling in game development.

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