Team Leadership in the Game Industry arms you with the information you need to face and meet the challenges of finding, supporting, and retaining a talented team of employees. Specifically addressing the unique needs of managers in the game industry, this book recognizes a common issue: game development teams consisting of talented specialists who lack interpersonal and leadership skills. Filled with tips and advice from industry pros, you'll learn how to solve problems such as selecting your team, defining roles and identifying team leaders, meeting deadlines, and handling underperformers. You'll examine classic leadership traits, and take a look at specific team roles and their daily responsibilities. Real-world case studies illustrate solutions to each problem and hands-on exercises will help you practice the techniques presented. Team Leadership in the Game Industry provides you with a valuable set of best practices and advice to help you achieve efficient, cohesive teams.
[...]... the 1 2 Chapter 1 n How We Got Here industry as a whole will experience a drain of talent as employees flee to other businesses Team Leadership in the Game Industry is an attempt to identify some tangible and proven practices and common traits that make great team leaders and in doing so present a template for improving team leadership across the industry What I do not intend here is a discussion of specific... and the input from each other as we faced the host of challenges endemic to small startup game developers One of the toughest problems we faced was finding, supporting, and retaining good team leaders as our project teams grew Indeed, the issue of team leadership follows directly out of the growth in scale of the teams who make games In the 1980s, one or two developers could construct an entire game By... historical transition in scale of the industry s development teams is an instructive place to begin Increased Graphical Depth Since the industry began, games have gradually taken more graphical depth and have consequently required more complex tools to develop those visuals Bringing a game to market with dated graphics will greatly hinder its ability to generate any sort of pre-release player interest and even... by adding staff, increasing development time, outsourcing, and implementing better tools—either custom coded or purchased as middleware from a burgeoning industry of specialized toolmakers This team scale increase has also created growing pressure on game- development team leaders Not only are their teams larger, but they are more diverse, with more areas of specialized expertise requiring more individuals... Facing the Game Industry Typically, team leaders have been promoted from the development teams, usually by virtue of their production quality and/or quantity, but are now called upon to transition to a different mindset and demonstrate new skills—frequently with little or no preparation time The game industry is not unique in facing this problem In the course of my research, many people in other industries... next level Expanded Game Requirements and Coding Complexities A second factor in the overall team- scale increase is found in the increase in programming staff requirements due to the explosion of complexity associated with 3D engine development, the expanded number and complexity of gaming platforms, and increasing performance expectations The 3D revolution came to gaming slowly in the early ’90s; by... almost directly to poor or inefficient communication capabilities Second, the project-cycle length—sometimes three years and longer—requires team leads to maintain the team s focus and morale for an extended time period and through all manner of trials Finally, the industry is in a state of constant transition, making it difficult to keep pace Growth in Scale The game industry, in the earliest form that... we divide leadership ‘‘hats’’ in three main categories: HR and recruitment, tasking and scheduling, and expertise and directing For instance, our art director is focused on applying his expertise and directing others in creative decisions, whereas the art team manager is a combination of HR and tasking Then I would say the most important concrete thing is to drop hands-on work, even if you think you... Denmark, and Finland S.S.: Do you have any training in leadership, either formal or unstructured (e.g., armed forces experience)? If relevant, in what ways do you feel you apply that to challenges in your job? L.S.: I did my mandatory military service in the Finnish Air Force in 1992–1993 and was trained to lead a small team It’s hard to pinpoint any particular useful item from there, but I still think it... as a game- industry advisor at Nokia, and served as the studio head at Sumea, the critically acclaimed ¨ mobile-games studio in Helsinki Since 2003, Seppanen has been an active contributor to one of the world’s most active IGDA branches, the Finland ¨ chapter, of which he is a founding member In 2006–2007, Seppanen planned and organized an evening and weekend further education course for game industry . Learning Australia . Brazil . Japan . Korea . Mexico . Singapore . Spain . United Kingdom . United States Team Leadership in the Game Industry Seth Spaulding II Publisher and General. finding, sup- porting, and retaining good team leaders as our project teams grew. Indeed, the issue of team leadership follows directly out of the growth in