"For a large scale game... say something like Fallout... how many people does the development team consist of, and what are their jobs? It would be helpful to know if you have say one lead graphics person and several under that person and whether this is done for the other facets of the game as well. Please don't hesitate to give a long answer, as more info is always great!"

Submitted by: Joe Hester

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

"Well, I'm glad that you are looking for a long answer because, believe me, this is probably going to be quite a long answer...

"First, we'll start with the direct development team. The direct development team is the main group of individuals that spend eternity (OK -- 1.5 to 3 years) on the project. The direct development team is brought on board once the project receives funding and continue to staff the project until it is released. The general standard at Sierra for development teams is to have a small core group of people responsible for and overseeing the four major components of development: Production, Design, Art, and Programming. As such, you generally have four (or more) people "at the helm", so to speak: the Producer (who takes care of all administrative functions, handles all budgeting and contract work, hires all employees, and makes sure all resources are available), the Designer (the person responsible for the technical design, story and plot, documentation of all interface and game play elements, and director of development mechanics), the Art Director (the main artist who is responsible for the visual direction of the game, coordinates the art schedule to the artists, and manages all artists and art contractors on the team), and the Lead Programmer (responsible for the Technical design and programming infrastructure, supervises all programmers and contract programmers on the team, and is in charge of "building" the product -- or, in other words, compiling a version of all game code and art resources which have been created by any given point so that the game can be tested).

"We move on to the members of the core team: the design group (writers or mission designers), artists (3D modelers, illustrators, 3D animators/animators, interface designers), programmers (system or engine creators, game mechanic engineers, tools developers), and direct contractors (sound engineers, composers). The number of core team members really depends on the budget and size of the project. For a true "AAA" title (a product that is supposed to become a mega-hit for the company), it is not uncommon to have as many as 15 core team members. On the Un-Named Game's team, we have four core programmers, and five core artists. If you were to include the Lead Programmer and the Art Director, we have five programmers and six artists. Often, the composer and sound engineer are one and the same, as is the case with our project. We also have a dedicated writer on this project (who just so happens to be kind enough to sponsor this site you are browsing -- and, yes, that WAS a blatant kiss-up, in case you were wondering... ;) because we need so much written content for this particular game.

"Even though the direct development team is really the core heart of developing a game, there are actually hundreds (yes, hundreds) of other people involved to get the project out on the shelves. Here is a breakdown of the other groups or individuals involved (at least at this company): Upper Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Sales, Web Development, Quality Assurance, Creative Services, Legal Department, Technical Support, Customer Service, Hardware Vendors, Software Tools Vendors, Voice Talent Directors, Actors/Actresses for voices (if voices are used in the game), Fulfillment and Distribution, Distributors, Retail Stores, and, of course, You, the customer. It's actually a pretty long list, but in some ways it really reflects how complex and competitive the creation and sale of a game have become.

"Upper Management is crucial to the project because they are the ones who control the purse strings. The Producer often requests (i.e. pleads for on hands and knees) funding to create the product and has to prove that a design idea is viable and will sell. Upper management is the group that approves all funding requests. But funding is not just a simple matter of asking for and getting it. They use complex economic and market financial information to predict the profitability of a project, then use these forecasts to determine if funding should be given to a project. They also carefully track the project's progress and make sure development is on schedule.

"A project would get nowhere without Marketing, Public Relations, and Sales. These groups all directly and indirectly make sure you hear about the game (whether through advertisements published in magazines, Websites, or TV, contests promoting the project, interviews in major game publications, newspapers, or television, and distributors and retail stores who are informed of a product so they will stock it on the shelves). Although there are certainly instances where a product can "sell itself", it is becoming increasingly hard to sell a product due to the countless number of new releases hitting store shelves every year. Thus, Marketing, Public Relations, and the Sales Group are essential for the product. At Sierra, each team is assigned a Brand Manager (our Marketing representative) and a Public Relations specialist at or near the beginning of the product. These two intrepid individuals help us promote and set up strategic release strategies for our products. The Web development group also helps in this capacity, promoting the product and making sure that everyone online knows it exists.

"Quality Assurance is also critical -- much more so than people think. We have a dedicated group of testers who are responsible for ripping, tearing, and stress testing every aspect of the game to make sure the product has as few bugs as possible. (Notice how I stated this last section, because there is a major misconception that most gamers have about a product -- Quality Assurance is NOT about making a product bug free -- it is about making sure that the likelihood of a bug appearing on a released game is extremely low!!! I guarantee you that every product ever released could have a problem appear eventually; rooted deep in all those ones and zeros exists a problem waiting to spring. Okay -- getting off this soap box now and moving on...) Quality Assurance also test on numerous computer systems in order to make sure the game is compatible with a large sample of computers. They obviously can't test on every system, but they do have a vast amount of systems available, in order to make sure that a program is compatible on most computer systems. We also use many volunteer Beta Testers (some of you folks may even participate in our program) where we send out as many as 500 evaluation copies to avid gamers and receive comments and additional testing which in turn helps us with our overall compatibility testing. We will even use outside testing companies who, for a fee, can help us to locate and fix bugs before a product is released.

"The Creative Services group is responsible for creating all the art you see on the box, and for creating the magazine advertisements, sales brochures, and promotional items that you may find in stores. By promotional items, I mean the "end cap" displays -- those cardboard cutouts you find at computer software stores which promote the games. We have an off-branch group that also writes articles for Sierra's own InterAction magazine. This group helps us make the product appealing on the shelf and create hype about an upcoming game.

"The Legal Department assists a development group in Trade Marking and Copyrighting a product. We will trademark-search a prospective game name to make sure that no one else has used it in the past, then trademark it so no one else will use it in the future. This way, there is no (or little... *cough, cough, nemesis, cough, cough*) confusion about a game title. They also protect all content and make sure the division who produces the product receives the legal credit for all characters and story elements.

"Technical Support and Customer Service help the customers in the (hopefully) unlikely event that a product has problems. Customer Service helps with any non-technical problems you may have with a game. Technical Support is set up to help resolve any technical problems you may encounter when trying to install or run a product. More often then not, these people will know the problems you are experiencing and can help you get the product up and running as soon as possible. This is another core group of people who do not receive the credit they deserve, and are your best friends to help with any problems or issues.

"Some people may be surprised to learn that we actually work quite closely with hardware and software tools vendors. Often, these vendors work with development teams to show us cutting-edge technology. After all, it is in their best interest to make sure games and other software packages can take advantage of their new hardware devices or software tools. We often work with them and cross promote their hardware with our software. Occasionally, we even receive programming assistance or can discuss technical hurdles directly with hardware engineers and software driver engineers for problems that we may encounter as well.

"Voice Talent directors and actors are a relatively new group to add services to the software development process, and really help add atmosphere to most games. We often capitalize on the direct experience of many professional Hollywood voice directors and SAG (Screen Actors' Guild) talent because they, after all, are professionals in this area.

"We also have the Fulfillment and Distribution Centers, Distributors, and Retail Stores which manufacturer, ship, and distribute our products so they appear on the shelves (and consequently allow you to buy the product). If it were not for these folks, you would not have product available for purchase.

"Then, of course, there is the customer. Ultimately, it is the customer who is the final judge of how effective a development team and its supporting groups have been in releasing a game. Spending your dollars on a product for whatever reason (great game play, pretty box, great hype, store recommendation, etc...) means that someone has done his or her job right. Hopefully the product sale also makes you want to come back for more.

"All totaled, I am estimating that there will be approximately 600-750 individuals who will directly or indirectly help in releasing this product. That is, 600-750 people will have conducted some sort of work on the project before any customer has an opportunity to play the game. Although not everyone is a direct team member, the indirect team is nonetheless extremely important.

"My fingers have cramped up now, so I am going to sign off. Take care and have fun!"

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