21 Differences Between Bad and Good Game Producer
February 11th, 2006 by Juuso
Posted in Game Producer, Leadership
What are differences between bad game producers and professional game producers?
There certainly are something that makes people hate others, and praise others - and in this article I will display some factors from my experience.
Here are 21 differences which I’ve read, seen, heard and experienced coming true among poor or good game producers.
Check out the list - poor versus good:
- Doesn’t play video games at all (or all the time) - is not interested.
- Is so “busy” that is never around when needed.
- Is the Dictator - the one who commands.
- Can’t remember team member names. Doesn’t care. Treats everybody the way he wants. Ignores everybody.
- Escapes problems - blames for “bad conditions”.
- Is totally clueless about the future.
- Tries to lead the team - fails miserably.
- Takes, never giving anything or contributing in an efficient way.
- Misses meetings, doesn’t respect other people’s time or schedules.
- Postpones decision making.
- Focuses only on profit.
- Foggy goals: vague objectives, never uses any deadlines. Cannot tell when goal is achieved.
- Has a great game idea - but no any skills to produce it. Thinks he can be the master-mind with the game idea.
- Hides things deliberately or accidentally. Loses documents. Is unorganized.
- Expects others to perform well all the time.
- Over promises, under delivers.
- Has never finished a title. No Pong nor Tetris clone yet wants to create the next revolutionary MMORPG.
- Has heard about ‘project management’.
- Poor communication skills. Thinks negotiations are something where you say, and the other agrees.
- Stays in the pool of other whiners. Thinks the project is going to fail. Has lots of negative energy.
- Changes plans all the time. Doesn’t listen to others in decision-making.
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- Plays different games for ideas, motivation and learns from playing.
- Is available anytime - or almost at anytime.
- Is the Leader - the one who leads by example.
- Knows all team members, including their style of working - their habits and treats them accordingly.
- Owns problems, even when they aren’t his mistakes.
- Has clear and focused vision.
- Has the respect of other team members.
- Gives, contributes and works harder than anyone in the team.
- Is reliable - is never late, informs early about possible delays.
- Is good at making decisions.
- Has passion for games.
- Absolutely clear goals: goals that are either DONE or NOT DONE. Nothing in the between.
- Wears different hats when needed: artist’s, designer’s, programmer’s, manager’s, marketer’s, leader’s - you name it.
- Keeps the project visible, makes sure all know what’s happening in the project.
- Performs well - and helps others to do the same.
- Under promises, over delivers.
- Has industry experience. Has participated in game productions - small or big. Is eager to get more experience.
- Excellent project and time management skills.
- Communicates well with programmers, artists, publishers, marketing team and others.
- Thinks big - knows that reaching the top is a matter of time and dedication.
- Makes proper planning - sticks with the plans, but is ready to be flexible.
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Of course these 21 qualities are only rough guidelines and examples, not rules written in stone. Not every producer have these qualities, and it’s not a necessary depending on the producer’s role. Generally speaking producers are expected to possess qualities from the right side of this list - the more the better.
August 31st, 2006 at 7:41 pm
[...] Similarly… it’s almost impossible to answer to question “How much games can sell” if you cannot tell what actions are you prepared to take to make your game sell. Are you prepared to work and polish your game over and over? Are you prepared to handle all the criticism? Are you willing to spend time on marketing your game? Are you going to have a distribution partner? Are you going to start acting like a professional game producer? Are you focusing on making your players and team members happy, rather than seeking profits only for yourself? Are you going to improve your product rather than hoping for the best? [...]
September 6th, 2006 at 1:45 am
[...] Hoje lendo alguns posts sobre produção indepentente de jogos, parei para refletir sobre os erros cometidos na CubaGames. [...]
September 18th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
This is an excellent list of differences, and extends far beyond game producers, to just plain LEADERS.
Thank you.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Yes… I completely agree.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
“Keeps the project visible, makes sure all know what’s happening in the project.”
not true if you know competition is sniffing your hard work and
has a team of much more experienced people that might steal
your ideas and end with game earlier than you …
“Has never finished a title. No Pong nor Tetris clone yet wants to create the next revolutionary MMORPG.”
everything is possible with hard work and dedication … and tetris / pong
has nothing to do with mmorg anyway ;o)
February 12th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Well, that might be true. I meant that he keeps project visible for the TEAM - so that everybody in the team knows what’s going on…
I was referring to the fact that many people (like I was ;) are eager to start making their first game as MMORPG… without realising how much work is involved. Finishing first a Tetris or pong (or whatever) helps one to understand that ‘finishing’ a game is not always as easy as it sounds.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
its ok if you limited that state for the team only … but even than it
might be smarter not to make every detail available to everyone …
i mean, what more info does the person that draw 2D graphics need than:
1. info about final resolution of graphics (complexity of details),
2. some examples for forms, shading, motion and atmosphere,
theres no need for that person to know exactly what is the goal of
the game, what are the mechanisms that will be used or how the
complete screenshot will look like … if designer needs way more info
than its written in 1. and 2. he is lacking the vision and could be
the source of info leakage later (if he decides to quit team) … i mean,
my brother is music producer and theres no need to tell him more
than 1. and 2. to make great music track (that might not end perfect
in the 1st try but thats where good communication skills of game
producers come very handy)
all im saying is to divide info on a matter of usefulness for each person
in the team … let everyone do their part of the work focused on really
important things for their work, no need to make their work harder by
flooding their brains with irrelevant data, right ???
February 12th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Maybe better wording could have been: “Makes sure the information is available”… Anyway, the negative point contradicts what I was trying to say. You are very right that not everybody wants to know everything. Sometimes overload of information can be bad.