Building a successful mobile game requires multiple different skills to combine effectively. In smaller organisations one person may have to carry out multiple roles within the game development pipeline, whereas larger organisations tend to set up specialised teams to carry out specific tasks within the game development pipeline.
Seamless collaboration between these roles is paramount to a smooth game development operation — so one must make sure you are hiring the right people for the job. These decisions could define the success of your mobile game and hence it is important to gain an understanding of what these roles entail. Below are some of the roles that would be needed in building any mobile game project. Identify which skills you already have and which skills you would need to bring onboard to make your vision a reality.
Game Producer/ Game Project Manager
A successful mobile game requires all the different cogs to work together and be on the same page. The vision of the game should never be compromised and this is where a Game Producer or a Project Manager becomes vital. In fact, one could say this is the most important of all the roles, as without this the team would be operating in a disjointed manner.
Hence, it is essential to onboard a game producer with the experience of handling complex projects, as well as one who fully understands your game vision. This will allow the integrity of the vision to be maintained, timelines to be met, and all components of the process working together in tandem.
2. Game Designer
Before you go about developing a game idea, your idea needs to be fleshed out by game designers. What is the story you are trying to tell? What characters and mechanics are going to be used in order to tell this story effectively? Is the quality of art work consistent with the game genre and vision.
Game designers fulfill multiple crucial roles in the game development process. In addition to building the general design of the game, they also specialise in certain areas. Some of these are game economy designers, game mechanics designers, and level designers.
Game mechanics designers are experts in developing rule systems that suit the game, as well as ensuring the balance of the game is maintained. Level designers go a step further and ensure that these rule systems do not get repetitive for the player over time. They make sure interesting content is always present for the player and also manage the difficulty curve of the game.
You can build the most spectacular looking game but still not be able to generate revenue effectively from it. This is where a game economy designer comes into play. Building game economic models that encourage players to make purchases, as well as to continue playing is crucial to any business model revolving around games.
3. Game Programmers and QA Team
Vision, game design and great art needs to be brought to life. This is where game developers step in. They take the concepts, drawings and rules worked on by designers and write them to code. This creates the playable game with visuals and sound.
QA teams are also important in order to find bugs and generate feedback at every stage of the process. This allows the team to test rigorously, identify issues early and improve the mobile game being created.
The mobile game market is challenging. Expectations of quality from users is so high nowadays that a game which is buggy or not visually appealing, will not be able to make it. Hence having a quality assurance team becomes all the more critical for any business.
4. Technical Artist
Technical Artists are the bridge between artists and developers. They focus on optimising the integration of art within the game that is being developed. Making sure the game vision and game art assets are not compromised when being integrated into the game is the key role of a technical artist. A good technical artist has both artistic skills and technical knowhow, be able to ensure smooth art production and understand the platform level limitations when integrating art into the project.
5. 2D/3D Artists
Game Artists gives expression to the storyboard by creating 2D or 3D art for the game depending on the use case. Populating the game world with the correct visual elements — objects, characters, environments, props, weapons, vehicles etc is the primary focus of a game artist.
Game Artists may specialise in various areas such as character design, architecture and landscapes, lighting, modeling, and texturing. Overall the general look and feel of your game, and its personality are heavily dependent on the game art assets that you use.
Finding the right talent to bring your project to life
Putting together a team with all these skill sets can be challenging. At Dirtcube Interactive, we offer services at all phases of the game development life cycle — from quick prototyping to game art, development, design and post-release support. We also can help you if there are certain challenges your team faces with building complex mechanics.
Core strengths of Dirtcube Interactive
We believe that the best talent is essential in order to produce world-class games. We want to be able to add tremendous value to our clients, without becoming a huge cost burden to them. Some of our core competencies are listed below.
End-to-End Mobile Game Development
Game Design
Level Design
2D/3D Art
QA Testing
Game Economy Design
Mobile Video Ads
Game Viability and Marketability Testing
Let us help you make your gaming dream come to life.
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