The Game Production Toolbox

The Game Production Toolbox focuses on the nuts and bolts of producing interactive content and how you can organize and support the creative, technical, and business efforts that are all part of interactive game development. This book isn?t going to tell you how to design a game or what technologies to use. Instead it provides techniques for and insights into managing, from concept to release, all the pieces that must come together in order to get a game into the hands of a player.

Readers will learn about each phase of game production: prototyping, defining the requirements, assembling the team, making the game, and releasing to the players. Interviews from professional game developers give a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make a game.

Key Features

• A framework for how to get an interactive game from concept to release, including information on financing and pitching to publishers and investors.
• Techniques for working with the game development team to get effective prototypes and documentation to prove out game concept and mechanics.
• Concrete information on how to plan and execute the different aspects of game production, such as audio, localization, testing, and software ratings.
• Advice from industry experts on managing teams, project management, communicating effectively, and keeping everyone happy.
• Information about working effectively with marketing, PR, and other people that are involved with the publishing and release process.

Part 1 Overview

Chapter 1: Game Industry Overview 3

Chapter 2: Developer and Publisher Overview 25

Chapter 3: Legal Overview 43

Part 2 Creating the Prototype

Chapter 4: Laying the Groundwork 57

Chapter 5: Creating Concept 81

Chapter 6: Prototyping 95

Part 3 Establishing Requirements

Chapter 7: Schedule 105

Chapter 8: Budget 121

Chapter 9: Pitching Your Game 129

Part 4 Assembling the Game Team

Chapter 10: Hiring Talent . 147

Chapter 11: Team Organization . 157

Chapter 12: Managing Your Team . 167

Chapter 13: Outsourcing . 183

Part 5 Making the Game

Chapter 14: Executing the Plan . 191

Chapter 15: User Experience (UX), UX: Written in Collaboration with Celia Hodent . 205

Chapter 16: Audio 215

Chapter 17: Localization 231

Chapter 18: QA Testing . 245

Part 6 Launching the Game

Chapter 19: Getting the Word Out 259

Chapter 20: Releasing to Players . 265

Part 7 Appendices

Heather Maxwell Chandler is a multimedia producer with over 20 years of experience in the video game industry. She's worked in production at Epic Games, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Activision. She was most recently a Senior Producer on Fortnite.Heather has contributed to over 35 games, including Fortnite, Never Alone, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Sid Meier's Railroads, Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, Vigilante 8, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Shanghai: Second Dynasty, and Apocalypse. She also worked on every title in the Ghost Recon series, including Ghost Recon 2 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. In 2005, Heather founded Media Sunshine, Inc., a company that provides consulting services to game developers and publishers. She is the author of The Game Production Handbook, The Game Localization Handbook, and several other articles on game development and localization. Her articles have been published in Secrets of the Game Business and The Project Manager's Desk Reference, 3rd Ed. Heather has lectured on game production and development at North Carolina State University, the Game Developers Conference, IGDA Leadership Forum, and at several other conferences and educational institutions. She served as the chairperson of the IGDA Production SIG from 2006 - 2010. Heather graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University and received an M.A. from the USC School of Cinema-Television.