"Does the producer choose who to be on a development team? And does the game designer choose who to be the producer?"

Submitted by: Alan

Answered by: Gary Brown (producer/designer, Sierra On-Line)

"As a general rule, the Producer is responsible for hiring everyone on a development team. The Producer's main role is to make sure that every aspect of a project's development is scheduled, budgeted, and completed (in addition to making sure there is enough Mountain Dew, pizza, and Star Wars action figures on everyone's desk). This includes examining a design proposal from one of the designers and figuring out how many programmers, artists, writers, musicians, sound engineers, and other key people are required to make the product.

"When a team pitches a design concept to Sierra management, the Producer has already established a core group of people that will be part of the team. In the design concept "pitch" stage, a Designer, key Engineer, key Artist, and a Producer create a prototype (or working model) of a game to convey a game concept or story. If the game concept receives approval from Sierra (with much pleading, crying, and brown-nosing on the development team's part), these four key people will form the foundation for a much larger team. Often (though not always), these four individuals know each other or have worked with each other on a previous project, and already have a coheseve team bond. The Producer must then take on the task of hiring the remaining team members.

"Although the Producer is RESPONSIBLE for hiring the team, he or she is not the only one who selects team members. Most Producers will have potential team candidates interview with existing team members. This feedback is valuable to a Producer because it allows the "experts" in each discipline (programmers, artists, musicians, etc...) to help determine the skillsets of each candidate and determine if the candidate will work well on the team. In addition, a Producer may have these candidates interview with members of a different development team to receive as much feedback concerning a candidate as possible. It is not uncommon for a potential candidate to meet with as many as 12 people in one day of interviewing!

"Development teams are not only looking for qualified candidates; they also look for people who can work well as a team. Developing a game is great fun, but also requires a great deal of work and time. It is quite common for some teams to work 7 days a week, 18 hours a day to try and meet deadlines. It is critical that the Producer make sure that everyone can work together (and not kill each other in the process). Thus, the answer to the second question "Does the game designer choose who the producer is?", there is a mutual agreement between a producer and a designer in determining if they would like to work with each other. It tends to be more of an understanding rather than a "selection" process."

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