Unit 12: Understanding The Computer Games Industry ...

Unit 12: Understanding The Computer Games Industry
Assignment 1 – ResearchUnderstanding Organisational Structures And Job Roles Within The Games Industry

1. In the game industry there are two types of companies. They are Development Companies and Publishing Companies. However Development Companies are divided again into three different types of development companies. They consist of Third Party Developers, In-House Developers and Independent Developers.

All Development Companies have the same aim to design and create the games customers will play. Most video game publishers, such as Electronic Arts, Activision and Sony, maintain development studios. However, as publishing is still their primary activity, they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Independent Development Companies are small software developers that are not owned by or beholden to a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. An in-house development team that works for a console hardware manufacturer is also known as a first-party developer. A company that is closely tied to a console manufacturer (or occasionally a publisher) is known as a second-party developer.

The other half of the games industry are the Publishers, as I said above Most video game publishers, such as Electronic Arts, Activision and Sony, do have development studios but are more focused on publishing so are classed as publishers rather than developers. Publishers take control of every advertisement aspect, test, and license the game to be sold on. They usually finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer and sometimes by paying an internal staff of developers called a studio. The large video game publishers also distribute the games they publish, while some smaller publishers instead hire distribution companies to distribute the games they publish.
2. Making a game is an extremely complex process, in order to successfully create good titles and
next-generation game play ideas, a wide range of expertise is needed. Because the design process is so large the job is usually shared between many different people who each have the responsibility for a section of the game or level.

The first section of the game will be shared between games designers. Games Designers decide what a game consists of and how it plays, and they are often the people who come up with the idea in the first place. Game design is a complex activity requiring a combination of skills - design, management, scheduling, research etc. The jobs in this area will include;

Lead Designer – A Lead Designer leads the design team, providing day-to-day and long-term direction, goals, mentoring, and guidance. They also work with the Producer to define design goals, scheduling, and milestones.

Script Writer – A script Writer ...