In this day and age of modern technology, gaming isn’t just a side business for developers but is rather a full-fledged industry. Most of the game developers these days have a broad company structure consisting of not only developers but also artists, programmers, designers and animators. Each of the teams within a gaming company have their own management staff, operational staff and executive staff to ensure smooth functioning of the company.
Let’s take a sneak peek into the hierarchy structure of a gaming company:
A) Game Designers
Game designers create the blueprint of idea of the game and pitch this idea to the programmers and artists. Their task is to design the goal of the same, its mission, mechanics of the play and the storyline. To make a game appealing to gamers, game designers come up with creative ideas. Some positions in the game designer department or league are:
- Designing expert
- Visual designers
- Designing managers
- Team leaders
- Senior game designers
- Junior game designers
B) Artists
Artists are those employees of a gaming company who are responsible for its success to a large degree. They are the ones who make the game visually appealing and convert the design or idea of the game designers into something which attracts in terms of its visual images. Gaming companies have art direction departments consisting of artists and other administrative positions which manage a group of artists to work towards the creation of a game. The following are some artist job positions:
- Concept artists
- Character artists
- Background modelers
- Texture artists
- Artist managers
- IT support executive
- Assistant artists
- Senior artists
C) Programmers
Programmers play a vital role in handling the technical aspect of game development. These are the computer wizards who put together the design, the artist’s creations as well as the sound the music of the game to produce the final product. Basically programmers write the codes of the game and make them a technical reality for gamers to enjoy. Without programmers, a gaming company cannot function. Some positions within the department of programming are given as follows:
- Lead programmers
- Engine programmers
- Tool programmers
- Testers
- Programming assistant
- Programming secretary
- Senior programmers
- Coders
- Senior coding experts
- Program troubleshooting executive
D) Testers
Testers are those individuals or employees of a gaming company whose job is to find out whether the game is feasible and worthy enough to be sold in the market. They check for typos, crashers, standard violations and check for bug fixes. They create detailed bug reports and help the company in fixing any possible errors. For bigger companies, there are full- fledged testing departments consisting of many testers.
E) Producers
Producers are basically the administrators who handle and coordinate the activities of each of the departments to ensure smooth functioning and management of the company. They make sure deadlines are met and help in marketing and production of the final gaming products. Producers basically work in close collaboration with artists, programmers and designers.
- Office managers
- Administrative managers
- Marketing managers
- Sales managers
- Publicity manager
- Coordinators
- Assistant manager
- Business manager