With Andy as your mentor, you’ll work through the entire game production process from start to finish. You’ll learn how to think like a producer with hands-on practice from pre-production through to post-release support. This course will leave you equipped to harness the creativity of your team and navigate the ambiguities of game development in the real-world.
Learn and interact with other high-aiming gaming students and professionals in 10 live online lectures. This is a 5-week crash course that will leave you ready to take on the responsibilities and challenges of real-world game production confidently.
This course is more than a how-to. You’ll walk away from each class with insights into the industry and decision making, and into the thought process of successful game producers. And you’ll get hands-on experience every week as you simulate the game production process step by step with your own mock project.
We’ll kick off with a review of current Game Production. You’ll go past the hype to look at how the role has evolved, review soft and hard skills and understand what they mean when mapped against Producer job descriptions.
Assignment #1: What kind of producer are you?
Production isn’t a one-player game. In this lesson, we’ll learn the architecture of a development team. Then we’ll map out what goes into creating a game proposal that studios can’t wait to develop.
Assignment #2: Create team plan for a game proposal
Mapping your course well is an essential part of the game producer’s role. In this lesson, we’ll investigate how to build a roadmap to hit your release date.
Will your game idea be a hit? A lot of that depends on how well you keep it on track. In this lesson, we’ll talk about what should go into your budget, how to manage adaptive challenges and schedule requirements, and when to iterate.
Assignment #3: Build a project roadmap for your game
This week, we’ll get up close and personal with Agile and Scrum development. In the first lesson of the week, we’ll set the stage and map out the core elements of Agile game development.
Today, we’ll uncover real-world secrets of Agile and Scrum usage, and understand what’s useful and what isn’t in current game development.
Assignment #4: Build out backlog items for your project
Gaming is a business and, like any other, it comes with risk. Today, we’ll learn about the common risks and red flags to look out for in your planning and get a pragmatic framework for identifying them.
When curve balls hit your project, how can you pivot a team to stay on track? In this lesson, we’ll learn how to assess and mitigate risk throughout a project.
Assignment #5: Secret assignment
Throughout your project you’ll need to consume and translate data from multiple sources to keep your project on track - enter Data and Reporting! In this lesson, you’ll learn how to consume data and translate that into actionable next steps. We’ll also learn about setting KPIs, knowing when to pivot, and how to relay your findings to the top decision makers.
A producer is only as good as their last game, and a successful (or not) game release leaves an impression that lasts. In our last lesson, we’ll talk about finishing. You’ll learn how to work with QA and external groups, and how to do this as sustainably as possible. We’ll talk about the real reasons that lead to “crunch” and burn out and how to avoid these where possible. Then, you’ll assemble your own release and promotion plan, and get Andy’s direct feedback after the course finish.
Assignment #6: Create materials for your project release and a post release plan