Hope you enjoyed the XNA article series in our previous 11 issues of diGIT. From this issue onwards, we would focus on the different areas of game development. Having a plan is vital when creating solutions and it is no exception for creating games.
Game development even though a complex activity, if well planned and structured, it could be a joy to work. Lets take a look at the team of people that are normally required bringing together the different skillsets to the game:

First of all, there is the project manager (also referred to as the producer) who keeps track of the project schedule and costs associated. The project manager would take the tasks identified by the leads and put into an optimal schedule. He/she would handle the various interactions between all members of the team. The project manager would also liason with external groups such as publisher, any IP (Intellectual Property) holder and the games press. In larger projects, there may be more than 1 producer.

A lead designer is also a very important role in game development. We must not confuse this title with the traditional ‘design’ titles. The lead designer is not the one who will be doing the 3d models or the 2d artwork. The lead designer is assigned the responsibility of creating the games overall design. He/she is responsible for communicating the game vision across the whole project. Lead designer would create and maintain the game design document and would ensure that it is kept up-to-date at all times. He/she would serve as liaison with programming, art, music, sound, and management on all design issues.

Unless the project is very small, chances are that there will be the role of a designer. A designer designs the game content. The main role of the designer is to take on specific parts of the game design and create them. The designer would be involved in creating the game levels.
A lead artist will maintain the game’s visual style. Defining the art asserts is the responsibility of the lead artist. If the team has other artists, then allocating the arts tasks for them rests on the lead artist. A lead artist would normally be skilled in concept drawing, 3D modeling (character modeling), animation, texturing and environment art.
A lead programmer is another attractive role in game development. The functions for a lead programmer includes designing the overall game architecture, breaking down the game into schedulable tasks. If more than one programmer is involved (which is true in most cases), the lead programmer must oversee and allocate tasks that need to be carried out by other programmers. Ensuring that the programming style is consistent is also a role of the lead.
A programmer is generally allocated specific code modules for the duration of the project and is responsible for all aspects of that code, which includes ensuring that it blends well with the code from other programmers and that all bug fixes are carried out.
Programmers including the lead programmer may also be referred to as software engineers.
In next month’s issue, we shall dive into some more roles of game development.

Image sources:
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/785/Film%20and%20TV%20Images/IanLivingstone.jpg
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:tRxDh83KYqhY-M:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Peter-molyneux-at-university-of-southampton.jpg