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Teaching interactive production

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Teaching interactive production

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Teaching Interactive Production

Laird Mitchell Malamed

School of Cinematic Arts / Cinema-Television Production Division
Master of Arts
University of Southern California

May 13, 2016
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production i
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ____________________________________________________________ ii
Introduction: The Landscape ____________________________________________________ 1
My Background ______________________________________________________________ 4
What Are the Production and the Producer Roles? ___________________________________ 6
Before Game Education Programs _______________________________________________ 10
What Are the Producer Roles? __________________________________________________ 16
Game Programs and Teaching Production _________________________________________ 20
Charles Egenbacher Interview __________________________________________________ 25
Observations of Student Producers _______________________________________________ 34
Comparison: Teaching Production in USC’s Production Division ______________________ 35
Recommendations for Teaching Game Production __________________________________ 38
Next Steps and Areas for Further Study ___________________________________________ 44
Conclusion _________________________________________________________________ 45
References _________________________________________________________________ 46

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production ii
Acknowledgements
I have benefited from amazing help along this thirty-four-year journey to writing this
paper about teaching interactive production. The insights I have gained from learning how to be
a producer, observing and emulating the best I saw in my co-workers and managers, and
teaching students and then hearing their feedback have been invaluable in formulating this thesis.
A number of people stand out along this journey.
First, I must thank some of my mentors in the video game industry from whom I learned
so much: Scott Lahman, Mark Lamia, Cecilia Barajas, Margie Stohl, Dave Stohl, Kathy
Vrabeck, Ron Doornink, Bobby Kotick, and Brian Kelly.
The very first producer with whom I ever worked and one of my thesis advisors,
Elizabeth Storz Stringer, provided immediate help in 1997 when she arrived at Activision, and
she has continued to be a wonderful supporter of my work in games and education and above all
friendship.
Genevieve Conley assisted in her first semester at USC by researching competing game
programs. Her summaries and excerpts provided me with a basis to continue that research as this
paper took shape.
Brenda Goodman had no idea she was taking on a multiyear project from a somewhat
crazy part-time instructor (me), and she provided invaluable guidance on the work she did in
redefining how to teach film producers.
I also wish to thank my peers at USC and SMU with whom I have had the honor to work,
and in particular those with whom I had the privilege to lead classes: Dennis Wixon, Mark Bolas,
Jeff Watson, Tracy Fullerton, Scott Easley, Chantal Summers, Danny Bilson, Matt Whiting,
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production iii
Jesse Vigil, and Sam Roberts. Above all, I want to thank Dean Elizabeth Daley for all the years
of friendship and support.
To my students over the past nearly five years: You never ceased to surprise, challenge,
and inspire me to do better in anything I pursued. My joy at seeing your successes is the reward
for trying to provide the right guidance in the ways each of you needed it.
Thank you to Adrienne Capirchio for helping restart my degree progress so many
decades after I had left for the industry.
I want to thank my parents, Sandra and Kenneth, who funded my initial work at USC and
never complained that I did not finish on time. (The fact that I was hired for a paying job
probably soothed their angst.)
Thank you to my wife Rebecca for indulging my various whims when it came to pursing
my career in video games, start-ups, and teaching at USC. She nearly collapsed when I told her I
had finished my first draft of this paper. For so many other reasons, I am deeply grateful.
Finally, I want to thank my friend, boss, thesis advisor, and classmate, Professor Tracy
Fullerton, for believing that I could make a contribution to the students of USC and for helping
inspire me to become part of the academic world. I am just one of the many thousands of lives
you have touched.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 1
I think what USC really prepared both Jenova [Chen] and I with was a strong
vocabulary and confidence in presenting and talking about our projects…
Something that they did not prepare us for, and I know this has changed since, was
collaboration—how to manage a team, how to collaborate between disciplines, and
really manage those communications. Those skills are just so, so important unless
you’re working by yourself, but even the most independent developers, at some
point they collaborate with others.
—Kellee Santiago, USC 2006 MFA graduate, as interviewed for
GetinMedia.com
1

The role of producer is often overlooked, not just in the game press but even,
sometimes, within the game industry itself. The stars of the video game industry are
its lead programmers, lead artists, and lead designers – certainly not its producers.
After all, who is the producer but the person who leads and manages the project?
And how boring is that? When a project succeeds, resulting in a highly successful
product, it’s the team or the star who gets the glory. When a project fails, though,
it’s the producer who gets the blame.
—From the forward of The Game Production Handbook
2

Introduction: The Landscape
Over the past decade, the instruction and study of game creation expanded from a handful
of institutions to a broad range of universities and colleges. Beyond sheer numbers of courses
offered, schools now market and compete for students in this field. Even the Princeton Review
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 2
began publishing a ranking of universities for undergraduate and graduate studies in 2010.
3
The
2015 report listed early players, such as the University of Southern California (USC) and
DigiPen, and recent entrants, such as New York University (NYU).
1 University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
2 University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
3 DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
4 Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
5 The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Table 1: Top Five Undergraduate Game Design Programs
1 University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
2 University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL)
3 Southern Methodist University (Plano, TX)
4 University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
5 DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
Table 2: Top Five Graduate Game Design Programs
Also over the past decade, changes in the game industry have expanded the number of
gaming platforms for which content may be created. Mobile platforms (smartphones and tablets)
have led this growth, but the expansion has included both new consoles from old participants
(Microsoft’s Xbox One, Sony’s PlayStation 4, Nintendo’s Wii U) and entirely new media, such
as virtual reality led by Oculus and a continued explosion of products played entirely in web
browsers. Call of Duty, Threes, Candy Crush, EVE Valkyrie VR—the types and scales of projects
continue expanding even as console game sales flatten.
4
Team sizes correspondingly vary from
one to one thousand depending on complexity and budget.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 3
Additionally, games themselves have shifted from monolithic code releases to games
(software) as services with downloadable content, micro-transactions, frequent patches, and fresh
features. Once reserved only for the massively multiplayer genres, most games of any scope now
require continuous development—at least until the sequel launches.
Yet despite the differences among the scope, price tag, and audience, no project is
assured success. An interactive product achieves its product goals only if players agree that a
game meets the players’ needs—creating enjoyment, maintaining challenge, demanding
replayability—and if consumers will pay for it (even if “paying” means consuming
advertisements). Regardless of investment size, points of failure such as quality issues, late
delivery, and buggy code, often in combination, will sink a project and dishearten even the most
veteran development team. When projects fail, companies go out of business or, at best, make
significant changes. Investors lose confidence.
The film industry has long known these facts and lived with the risks to create
entertainment. In that field, the producer is often the person most tasked with delivering a project
on time, within budget, and at the desired quality. This responsibility can involve coordinating
the efforts of any number of teams, from small to large.
The same role exists in the game production realm. This role has continued to expand in
importance as the field has matured from the early Atari console titles of one or two developers.
When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-created Breakout, Jobs was the producer/engineer and
Wozniak the designer. But back then, Jobs likely would not have called himself a producer. The
“team” was too small. Yet, he famously drove Wozniak to complete the title in just four days,
something Wozniak estimated should take most engineers a few months.
5
Today, a modern
game such as Call of Duty employs dozens of producers—a production team—who cover a
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 4
range of sub-projects and portions of projects that use over 400 workers at one time. The
production team is required deliver the project and to solve problems that arise along the way.
This paper will investigate the role of universities in readying producers for the industry.
What should a school do so matriculating students have the best possible chances for success in
their new roles? The paper will review various facets of employers’ expectations, the roles
available to production students and, comparatively, how film producers are instructed.

My Background
I entered the video game business from the film industry in 1995. Starting as an associate
producer and later a technical director on Zork: Nemesis, my career focused mainly on
production and, to a lesser extent, design. When Cecilia Barajas and I wrote the credits for
Nemesis, we debated whether I was the producer or whether she was (as her employment
agreement stated). Ultimately, we decided to list her as Director and Producer, and me as
Technical Director and Assistant Designer.
Even as technical director, I managed the programming team rather than directing the
technology choices. Those details were left to our lead programmer. However, because I had a
programming background, I was conversant on such decisions and was able to manage two
technical teams: the core engine team creating the game engine and its capabilities, and the
scripting team actually implementing the puzzles and navigation. This background in technology
and design served me well for the fifty-plus titles I managed or produced and influenced my
beliefs about what a producer should be able to accomplish.
After Nemesis, I held various roles at Activision for nearly seventeen years. These roles
included creatively directing my own game (Zork Grand Inquisitor), co-creating the Call of Duty
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 5
franchise, overseeing Guitar Hero, and successfully launching a genre combining games and
toys (Skylanders). At any one time, I managed ten to fifteen games in various stages of
development.
In 2007, I began working with Tracy Fullerton, Associate Professor (now full professor)
at the Interactive Media Division of my graduate school, the University of Southern California
(USC). I advised her and a number of students on research projects and thesis defenses. After I
resigned from Activision in 2011, I enquired with Tracy and Scott Fisher, director of the
division, about increasing my involvement at USC. As it happened, another instructor was
leaving regular teaching duties for the 2011–‘12 academic year. That instructor co-taught a class,
Advance Games, with professors from the Viterbi Computer Science Games department. The
class thus needed someone from Interactive Media to fill the instructor’s position. Tracy
described the role as “executive producing” a number of student projects, akin to my work at
Activision. I decided to take on the role, and I commenced my USC career in August 2011. In
January 2012, I added the graduate thesis class to my teaching roster.
In the spring of 2012, I was invited to help launch a new production tract at Southern
Methodist University’s (SMU’s) Guildhall graduate video game program. I taught this inaugural
ten-week program in the summer of 2012 with just four students and a deep focus on the
producer role.
Overall, I have co-led eight advance games courses, seven thesis classes, and one
producer tract class. The observations and recommendations of this paper are based on those
experiences, surveys of industry professionals, conversations with fellow professors, and
feedback from students.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 6

What Are the Production and the Producer Roles?
An “interactive production” is any project with a defined start and end where the goal is
to produce an experience in which users interact, typically using computer-based devices
(including PCs, smartphones, and consoles). As Heather Maxwell Chandler defines production
writing, “The production process begins with defining the initial game concept and ends with
creating a gold master of the final game code, with everything else happening in between.”
6

A related definition by D.S. Cohen and Sergio Bustamante focuses on three big
production elements and the producer: “The role of a producer will always be, at its core, to
schedule, budget, manage and oversee a game project.”
7
The authors go on to note that
producing is about leading more than doing.
Often when a producer has a strong flair for design and creativity, they will also
be in charge of directing those areas as well. While this is an important role for
the producer, it is essential that they still allow the designers, artists, and writers
to do their jobs, with the producer guiding the vision and not shutting out the
voices of the other creative team members.
8

Gage Gallinger, COO of Playful Corp, thinks about producers and what they must do to
be successful members and leaders of a development team.
Have a roadmap to guide the project to completion. Generally obtained by being
the force that collects the stakeholders together and forces them to arrive at
decisions; allocate development resources in a schedule, and resolve resource
conflicts…generally by prioritization or triage; optimize use of resources (avoid
waste). Identify waste and get the stakeholders together to come up with a more
efficient process; communicate to the dev[elopment] team and management. The
producer should be able to give a clear view of the project, its status, its risks; and
in general, run the dev processes. Most times, process needs a policeman.
Producers are well suited to that role.
9

From these three views on production and producing, themes begin to emerge.
Production is closely linked to project management, communication among team members, and
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 7
creative ownership—but not necessarily at a micro level. A producer conducts the orchestra,
taking the work of the composer (i.e., the game director in interactive production) and leading a
group of talented people (designers, programmers, artists, sound people in the development
studio) to create a cohesive experience for the audience/players.
Gallinger outlined key traits a producer must develop. In terms of subject area
knowledge, a producer should have an “[i]ntroduction to game dev skills. The more a producer
knows about code, art, QA [(quality assurance)], and game design, the better they will be able to
make decisions, communicate, and identify risks.” Gallinger also defined what I will label here
“soft” production skills. “Communication: Humans don’t do this well, on the whole. Seriously,
it’s all about getting what’s in Person A’s head into Person C’s head, via Person B…and vice-
versa, without warping it along the journey.”
10

In addition, Gallinger identified “Engineering Ethics” as a required trait for producers.
I had a college course on this, which focused mostly on how to avoid injuring or killing
users and bystanders when designing or building something physical (usually vehicles or
heavy equipment). This delved into a lot of great topics, such as how to avoid group
think, when you should go around your boss, when you should be a whistle blower, and
most important, the value of knowing the end user. Although game production usually
doesn’t involve life and death, I found the lessons from this class very relevant to day-to-
day decision making and communication.
11

In other words, a producer must do good to do his or her job successfully.
Gallinger holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M
University and worked as a software engineer early in his career before moving to production.
He defines the producer as someone who is constantly thinking about how others process the
world. His communication example is about producers needing to be conscious of how everyone
on the team is thinking. His ethics example focuses more on the end user. In my communications
with producers, developers, executives and educators, this theme of a producer knowing how to
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 8
work with people (soft skills) and knowing how a game is made (hard skills and actual technical
knowledge) emerged from many people.
For example, Aaron Davies, Developer Relations Manager for Oculus, wrote that
producers need to have the following skills:
People management (communicating expectations, listening, performance
management, hiring/firing);
Consumer management (the public facing voice for the team, both in [business-to-
business] and [business-to-consumer] engagements - whether ad hoc, planned PR,
trade shows, marketing events, etc.);
Schedule and budget management (whether agile/scrum or waterfall - or a mix of
both which ends up being the case most of the time)
Quality management (eye for good gameplay, general [quality assurance], good
art, design, good code base for gameplay element design and fundamental
interactions).
12

The first two traits Davies lists are soft skills; the rest are hard skills. These hard skills are the
core of experience. A producer’s ability to manage schedules and budgets improves over time, as
the producer gains experience from previous games. Knowing a good game from a poor one
might seem easy to players and critics, but a producer must know what levers to pull to push a
title from poor to good to better to great.
Lisa Roth, the publishing executive producer of numerous music-based titles such as
Harmonix Games’ Dance Central, listed communication and people management skill as
crucial.
13
Nahil Sharkasi of Microsoft, a 2008 graduate of USC, said a producer should have
great “communication acumen, listening skills, the ability to listen and be able to build trust.”
14

Finally, Carey Chico, a long-time game creator, art director, and composer told me he expects a
producer to “[m]anage people and be able to problem solve issues across multiple disciplines as
[the various team members] work together to create the product.” He listed hard skills, too,
saying that it is important for a producer to “[u]nderstand what makes a game (technically: i.e.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 9
compulsion loops) and then learn[] how to prioritize these elements over a team structure during
production.”
15

Ernst ten Bosch, a veteran World of Warcraft producer from Blizzard Entertainment, has
thought about traits a producer must not possess:
1. Fear of asking questions
2. Tendency to create unnecessary or busy work
3. Traits that make people not want to work with [sic] him/her
4. Tendency to be a bottleneck
5. Lack of follow up or follow through
16

This list can be translated into positive attributes:
1. Inclination to ask questions
2. Tendency to assign and do only work that is useful
3. Traits that make people want to work with and for him/her
4. Tendency to always push forward
5. Inclination to follow up quickly and regularly
Professionals across the game industry at various levels of experience paint the same picture. A
producer must have a combination of hard and soft skills. Table 3 shows traits that over forty
respondents indicated were key for producers.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 10

Table 3: Hard and Soft Skills

However we list these skills, the bottom line resonates: Communicate, be proactive, and
manage the project to successful completion.

Before Game Education Programs
Before the launch of educational programs dedicated to teaching game production,
producers’ training took a very different form. This older style of career development gives us
metrics for successful instruction of producers today.
When I entered the game industry in 1985, the notion of producers was still relatively
new. Games in the Atari-era (1970s) and even those from the late 1980s had very few team
members. Someone, often the creative director, served as producer or task manager in
Hard Skills Soft Skills
Schedule planning Communication (particularly with team members)
Schedule management Communication externally
Creative perspective Setting the team vision and context
Budget management Understanding of people
Analytical skills (problem solving) Active listening
Management of external groups (e.g., QA) Understanding of the game’s consumer
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 11
conjunction with other duties. In fact, game magazines from the mid-1990s such as Computer
Gaming World assumed that most games would ship later than planned. As games became more
complex and more expensive, the need for producers became clear.
I began my game career as an associate producer (AP), but I found my role initially was
actually much more of an assistant designer. The game director, Cecilia Barajas, served as
producer as well as director (and the final credits reflect that). In my first few months working on
the game as an AP, I helped write puzzles and game design documents. This work was sent to
our external programming and art teams to implement. Seven months later, we fired those teams,
and I became Technical Director of our newly formed internal programming team. In fact,
because my programming skills were almost entirely self-taught, our lead programmer did most
of the technical production. I ended up becoming the de-facto producer while Cecilia focused on
our film shoot, art direction, and sound design. Our final team had less than thirty people, so
again, titles and job responsibilities bent easily to the needs of each day.
In 2008, R.J. Mical, a veteran of the game industry and a serial entrepreneur, spoke to the
growth of team sizes:
On the Amiga and Lynx, one person could develop a whole game. It’s still possible for
one person to do a whole title on the [PlayStation 3 (PS3)]; it’s just that it would take
you, like, 60 years! Seriously, to create a popular “A” title on the Amiga, you could
create a game with two to three people, on the Lynx with one to four, on the 3DO with
four to fifteen, and on the PS3 with twenty to sixty.
17

Today, Mical might easily add a range of forty to four-hundred developers for Xbox One and
PlayStation 4 titles.
On my following project, Zork Grand Inquisitor, management and I felt the game needed
a dedicated producer. Nemesis shipped four months later than scheduled, and the budget of Zork
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 12
Grand Inquisitor could not tolerate a slip past October 1997. I was the game director on this title,
and I hired Elizabeth Storz, an established game producer.
Elizabeth’s education preceded any video game programs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts
degree in communications from USC and a Master of Education degree from SMU. She started
as a Production Assistant at Xatrix as a temporary employee; three months later, she was hired as
a full-time Assistant Producer; and she was promoted to Producer after Xatrix shipped its first
game. After her experience as producer on the Zork sequel, she was ultimately promoted to
Senior Producer and Executive Producer during her tenure at Activision. She continued the latter
role at Cavedog and was promoted to Director of Development for Humongous. Elizabeth is now
Deputy Director, Academics at SMU’s Guildhall Academy.
This step-by-step ladder approach to production in video games is very common. In fact,
Elizabeth and I both skipped a step that many producers used to gain a foothold, that of quality
assurance (QA) tester. This ladder climbing is akin to starting in the mail room. The process of
gradual promotion almost follows an apprentice model, and it continues to work well.
A QA tester’s role is very basic. The entry tester plays incomplete game titles hunting for
defects. When a QA tester encounters such bugs, the tester prepares written descriptions and
supporting materials such as screenshots and video captures. A good tester must have great
communication skills because he or she is responsible for ensuring that the programmers and
designers have clear information to recreate the bug and fix it. Many people think a QA tester
has the best job in the world; after all, a tester is paid to play games all day. However, the reality
is more intense and less enjoyable. Testers often have to follow very specific checklists to ensure
a game is entirely bug free. They often traverse the same sections many, many times. QA testers
must defend their bugs to the teams of producers wanting to ship a game with as few defects as
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 13
possible. Because a tester sees a game in its worst state and interacts with so many different team
members, a tester gains valuable skills in how to make games. This experience makes testers
ideal production candidates.
Production students at universities, however, feel that after graduation they should enter
the industry well above a quality tester position. The purpose of focusing one’s education,
particularly at the graduate level, is to develop a set of skills and experiences that allow for
higher entry into the ranks. Most productions students start as associate producers, with some
starting at the coordinator level and others moving directly from school into producer slots.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 14
Figure 1: Career Paths in the Video Game Industry
To fulfill this expectation that they will leap over two to three apprentice roles, students
must gain experience through their classes and projects. Crucially, they must work on projects
that develop the same tools and learning that industry positions teach through osmosis and direct
mentorship. As producers, students must also be fluent in all other aspects of game production:
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 15
design, programming, art, animation, audio, and writing. Stephanie O’Malley Deming, owner of
Xloc, explains this need:
Someone who wants to be a producer should start at the bottom, either as a
production coordinator, assistant designer, or QA tester, and [work] their way up.
Gain as much hands-on experience as you can, because experience counts for an
incredible amount. Being in the trenches helps you understand how and why
decisions are made and allows you to foresee potential issues in the production
schedule. It also gives you the ability to knowledgeably converse with and lead
the developers on your team and ensure that the best decisions are made for the
design, engineering, and art aspects of the game. After you become a producer,
you have many different experiences to pull from and can understand which
processes will work best.
18

In fact, Cohen and Bustamante feel that this apprentice model serves two purposes: first,
learning how to speak to other departments and, second, exposing a tester to different future
roles in the industry. As they explain,
The typical entry into production is to start as a tester. Although the tester position is the
lowest paid position in game development… it is also one of the key positions. Testers
are the ones who play the game builds and find all the bugs. Without them there would be
no way or time for the development team to find every little issue or problem with the
game and still have time to fix them. A tester is often young and just breaking into the
business, but has the chance to get thrown right into the mix of development and learn all
the different aspects of it. Because of this, testers get a taste for which elements of the
gaming business they want to work in, and if they pursue it, can go in any number of
directions.
19

Dan Irish, producer of Myst III Exile, equates training in school with industry experience
when he states what is needed to become an associate producer. That is, he believes that training
may substitute for actual experience: “One-to-two year’s video game industry-related experience
or equivalent in educational and training; sometimes, two years in a lead tester role is
advantageous.”
20

The bar is high for video game educational programs. In helping shape future production
employees, students must work on a variety of projects, gain experience in a number of areas,
and hone their production skills in a manner similar to working as an entry-level QA employee.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 16

What Are the Producer Roles?
To better understand the early production roles, it is instructive to consider definitions of
key production and related jobs. I asked Laura Fryer, a former Microsoft program manager who
launched the Xbox console and then the General Manager at both Monolith and Epic Games, to
provide the definitions she uses when evaluating talent.
Production Coordinator (or Production Assistant)
This role typically reports to the producer at a game company and is responsible
for logistical and clerical tasks within the office. This role will often be
responsible for everything from on-boarding new hires and ensuring they have
what they need to keeping schedules up to date, scheduling meetings and tracking
budgets/purchases for the team. They also will pick up those tasks that fall
between the cracks like getting builds loaded on machines for demos or ensuring
meeting rooms are clean and have the appropriate information. They may also be
updating communications around the office.

Associate Producer
The associate producer is expected to be able to do everything a production
coordinator can do and take on higher level tasks that the Producer may need to
hand off. For example, they may be updating the backlog, keeping schedules and
specs up to date, running daily triage or stand-ups and sending communications
and reminders to team members to keep them on track and moving forward. In
some cases they can resolve conflicts on the team and help facilitate solutions to
project problems by getting the right people into the room. They also look for
problems on the project and escalate those to the Producer as needed. Sometimes
the AP will be responsible for releasing the product either as updates or to the
manufacturer and depending on experience can even handle bigger projects like
expansion packs or downloadable content.

Producer
The Producer of a title manages the triangle by balancing the schedule, features
and costs. They develop schedules and specs or run stand-ups/backlog (in the case
of agile) when needed. In general, they are there to serve and support the team for
any needs they have regarding communication, tracking, budget, and risk
mitigation. The Producer often owns final decisions in bug triage and the day to
day issues that come up that don’t require escalation to the [Executive Producer
(EP)]. They also will handle external communications with publishers or other
stakeholders like console manufacturers, collaborators, external outsourcers[,]
etc.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 17
Executive Producer
The EP, like the producer, manages the triangle but typically at a higher level.
Their role is similar except they are weighing in on the problems and issues that
have a bigger impact on the bottom line of the project. For instance, if the team is
missing their dates by several months, the EP will work with management and/or
the publisher to figure out cuts to bring the date in or funding to continue the
work. The EP is also in charge of making sure things like marketing, messaging
about the game, community, test, localization, legal and all of the other functional
support areas are aligned and work with those groups to get more support and
resolve issues as needed. In some companies the Producer or EP will also manage
the game team and all functional areas so leads will often be their directs with the
rest of the studio falling under those leads. They are also heavily involved or own
budgeting, contracts and reviewing/approving milestones and payments.
21

Laura’s definitions show gradual steps from role to role as skills develop and
responsibilities increase. If a graduate of a video game program is going to enter at the associate
producer level instead of as a tester, the graduate must be ready to tackle that role. John Hight
and Jeannie Novak state, “In large projects, there may be… associate producers (APs) to oversee
specific areas of production. Typical areas of specialization include art production, level design,
localization, online multiplayer, interface, cinematics, audio, and licensor / publisher
communications.”
22
Graduates should have knowledge of almost all of these areas. No matter the
level of production, the inherent skills are the same; the difference is the level of experience and
responsibilities.
Employer expectations
In 2014, I sent out a brief survey exploring the needs of employers. I engaged over two
hundred industry professionals and asked them their expectations of students graduating from
game programs. Respondents provided freeform responses, which I sorted across nine categories,
based on content. Table 4 provides the top six areas that employers identified, evenly split
between hard and soft skills.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 18
Category # of responses Skill Type
Proactive schedule planning, management, and
optimization
36 Hard

Team support and communication 23 Soft

Creative perspective, including making creative
choices
18 Soft
Business/budget management 15 Hard
Context, framework, and vision setting 12 Soft
Analytical skills and problem solving 11 Hard

Table 4: 2014 Employer Expectations Survey Results (n=44)
Eighty percent of respondents listed the project manager function of a producer (36 of
44). The next two most-listed skills were soft in nature: communication and creativity. Although
very real hard skills are needed to achieve proficiency in these areas, production is more art than
science. Hard skills won out in total number of answers (63 versus 53), but this result does not
negate the overall thesis of this paper: properly readying a producer requires teaching both sets
of skills. Employers review candidates based on these skills, so the skills must be learned within
a game program.
A recent Senior Producer job listing from Runic Games emphasizes this balance:
Runic Games, the creators behind Torchlight and Torchlight II, is seeking a seasoned
producer to join us in our next adventure: Hob, our upcoming action adventure game for
PC and Console. We are seeking a dedicated teammate who is passionate about inspiring
others to collaborate, eliminate obstacles and deliver [sic] the best experience to players.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 19
The ideal candidate accomplishes goals without getting bogged down in processes,
quickly adapts to changes, and motivates others to outperform and succeed. Extra points
for hands on dev experience shipping a game.
23

The posting goes on to emphasize hard and soft skills:
Qualifications
• 5+ years in the industry in a project management role. [hard]
• Have shipped at least two games. [hard]
• A team player without ego. [soft]
• Have a positive attitude and a constant drive to succeed. [soft]
• Solving problems and helping others is a way of life. [soft]
• Love games and know the creation process inside out. [soft and hard]
24

Sony Santa Monica’s listing for a producer specifically lists hard skills and
communication (soft skills) separately in a job posting:
Skills:
• Ability to create and maintain project schedules and milestone documentation,
monitoring the progress of department milestones and individual tasks against those
schedules
• Proven experience producing cross-functional, creative development teams and
resources to quality and schedule goals
• Familiarity with Agile techniques, including SCRUM, Kanban or Crystal. (CI-
ACP, CSP, PMP or equivalent certification) a plus
• Familiarity with traditional production management techniques
• Excellent organizational & prioritization skills, attention to detail, process
knowledge and ability to multi-task
• Experience with Microsoft Office (emphasis on Excel), Hansoft, and Bug tracking
database (TestTrackPro, DevTrack)

Communication:
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to communicate
effectively across Product Development and Management teams
• Interpersonal and facilitation skills
• Implementing projects in partnership with co-workers, developers and other
SCEA business units
• Ability to identify other business units with necessary technical knowledge and
cultivate relationships
• Ability to adapt quickly in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
25

Employers hire producers who can act and communicate. Both skills are required to land
a coveted job and to thrive in it.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 20

Game Programs and Teaching Production
Since USC pioneered the teaching of game design and programming, a number of
institutions have emulated the USC program. Schools design and run their programs in unique
ways. Generally, the design and production aspects sit within a liberal or media arts department,
and the programming aspect sits within the computer science department.
For example, the umbrella program “USC Games” is comprised primarily of classes from
the School of Cinematic Arts and the Viterbi School of Engineering. At the University of Utah,
the number one graduate program in game design and programming in 2015, games are taught in
the departments of Film & Media Arts and Computer Science. Rochester Institute of Technology
has classes in Computer Design and Interactive Games and Media. The game design and
programming courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) fall within
Comparative Media, a School of Humanities major, but with computer science prerequisites.
DigiPen, a university entirely dedicated to media education, offers a variety of degrees, with
programming degrees categorized as Bachelors/Masters of Science and design degrees
categorized as Bachelors/Masters of Fine Arts.
A list of syllabi from courses at top-ten programs in which production or project
management is a detailed part of the course description shows that very few such courses were
dedicated to learning how to be a producer. MIT’s course “CMS.611J/6.073J Creating Video
Games” lists this course goal:
This course is about learning the proper processes and procedures for working as a team
on a complex, multifunctional project. While successfully delivering the project is
important, the focus is on teaching students to practice and improve project management
and group teamwork skills. Grading includes the methods, tools, and processes that
students use to develop their games, as well as the justification and explanation of the
choices made in team organization and game development.
26

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 21
The course description lists project management as a key goal. Yet in reviewing the
actual lectures from the course, only two of the twenty-six discuss production topics: lectures
four and five teach agile project management.
27
No other course in this major references game
production in its title.
DigiPen teaches MGT 451 Project Management. The course description promises that
This course provides in-depth examination of theories, techniques, and issues in project
management. It covers various aspects of project management including team leadership,
marketing, budgeting, long-range project planning, contract negotiations, and intellectual
property considerations. The course includes exercises that give students insight into
dealing with product conceptualization, team effectiveness and performance issues.
28

However, project management is only mentioned in this course and the term producer is not
mentioned anywhere. On DigiPen’s career page, a list of potential post-graduation jobs include
Game Designer, Level Designer, System Designer, Encounter Designer, and Technical Designer.
Producer is not found here, either.
Similarly, USC’s Interactive Media & Games program does not mention production or
producers:
In the Interactive Media & Games Division (IMGD), you’ll explore the full
potential of game design and interactive experiences. You’ll learn about the depth
and diversity of the form-from AAA development processes to indie and
experimental genres of play, from virtual and alternate realities to expressive and
meaningful games designed to enrich, educate, and influence a wide audience.
You’ll explore how game design intersects with emerging interactive experiences
like networked environments and social media, theme park design, environmental
media, interactive cinema, as well as experimental and art games. You’ll work
with faculty and students from across the University to design and develop
sophisticated experiences and test them in our state-of-the-art user testing rooms
with public release as a very real goal. You’ll learn the art, technology, and
business behind this fast-growing field. And you’ll take classes across the
School’s other divisions that will expose you to key cinematic and storytelling
techniques to make your games cutting edge in every way.
29

The two initial required game development courses at USC do not reference game
production in their descriptions. CTIN-483 describes itself as an “[i]ntroduction to technical and
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 22
creative aspects of game development, including the art of creating the digital game prototype
and development of 2D games,” and CTIN-484L purports to cover “[a]dvanced topics in game
programming and implementation such as using game engines, creating digital prototypes, player
controls and level design.”
30
However, the course syllabi do refer to learning agile game
production as a key course goal.
Guildhall at SMU is an exception to this trend. Its masters-level program specifically
mentions production as a key track within the program:
The Master of Interactive Technology (MIT) in Digital Game Development degree was
designed by expert educators and instructional designers to meld the theory and practice
of game development. The MIT degree is comprised of game-related coursework, cross-
disciplinary team game production, directed individual work in the student's chosen area
of specialization, and a Master’s thesis. Students in the MIT program focus on one of
four (4) specializations: Art Creation, Level Design, Production or Programming.
31

Further, on Guildhall’s academics webpage, the very first topic listed is “Team game
production.” The summary mentions producers:
At the heart of the Guildhall curriculum is the application these concepts to develop 2D
and 3D games in multi-disciplinary teams. Cross-specialization student teams (artists,
level designers, producers, and programmers), utilize studio space to form game concepts
and build three games for their portfolios using current gaming equipment and
technologies. All student work and games are featured at our bi-annual student
Exhibition.
32

We can draw two possible conclusions from the near absence of production terms from
the top video game schools’ curricula and websites. The first conclusion is likely erroneous:
production is not taught at most schools. The second, at least in my experience at USC and in
speaking to other educators, is that production and the producer role are inherent in the programs
even if they do not draw a direct focus. Anyone with experience making games knows that
production and project management cannot be ignored in successful projects. The input from
industry employers quoted earlier suggests how important these roles are. And because most
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 23
video game programs are taught by former and current industry professionals, that importance
must manifest itself in the classroom.
Instead, I suggest that part of this lack of acknowledgment in courses and programs stems
from two factors. First, the ratio of producers to other members of a team is diminutive. A ratio
between 1:20 and 1:40 probably reflects the distribution of employees in production and all other
disciplines. The second factor is marketing. Very few students know when they begin degrees in
video games that they want to be game producers. Many students become producers, but that
result is more a case of found passion rather than planned careers.
Although most schools do not market themselves as teaching how to be producers, they
all teach these skills. We will next focus on recommendations on how to do this well.
Courses I Have Taught
Over my four-plus years as a part-time member of academia, I have taught three courses
(or their variants) that contained a large focus on production: USC’s Advance Game Lab, USC’s
Master Thesis, and SMU’s Game Production II.
Both USC classes are two-semester project-based courses generally taken at the end of a
student’s degree track. (Advance Games is primarily for undergraduates and Thesis is
specifically for advanced-degree candidates.) Advance Games in particular has a great focus on
the producer role that has developed since my initial involvement with the course in 2011.
Of particular note is SMU’s Game Production II (HGAM 6282). Guildhall specifies
production as one of its four key areas of concentration. Production was the last area added to
this group, in 2011. I was invited to teach the inaugural second course of the three in that
sequence. My course launched in summer 2012 with four students. Guildhall is built around
capstone projects, and these four students were producing their cohort’s four large team games.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 24
A key aspect of the curriculum was to use HGAM 6282 as both a place to learn about how to be
a producer and as a place for the producers to share experiences and help one other with their
projects. I feel this combination of theory and practice was key to the success of the class.
My syllabus stated:
This course continues the introduction to the field of game production (started in
Game Production I), with a focus on managing the people, processes, technology
and schedules to produce digital games. Students learn the business of game
development and publishing, and develop skills to define resources, organize
teams, and manage change for game development projects. Students participate in
lecture/discussion, and individual/small group assignments to learn professional
practices.
33

The syllabus thus combined the importance of people soft skills and project management
hard skills. Some of the topics in the twice-weekly lectures emphasized these both. Examples of
hard skills lectures included “The Concept,” “Business Models,” and “Planning Production.”
Examples of soft skills lectures included “Coaching and Developing,” “Communication
Methods,” and “Personality Styles.”
Reflecting on the class, I found that approximately sixty percent of the content focused
on production skills, particularly from the perspective of a publishing producer, and the
remaining forty percent focused on leadership and problem solving. In our class discussions
about the students’ current projects, nearly every topic centered upon managing their teams. For
example, one of the key problems faced by a student was continued confrontation with a passive
aggressive programmer. In addition to a penchant for doing what he wanted when he wanted and
not as prescribed by the milestone schedule, the programmer loved to smoke electronic cigarettes
in class (which technically was not in violation of SMU’s non-smoking policy at the time).
Ultimately, the fact that other students found the noisy e-cigs annoying became conflated with
the issue that the programmer’s work was subpar or irrelevant. In the class, we roleplayed the
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 25
situation and various approaches the student could take to solve both problems. The producer
was ultimately able to convince the wayward programmer to both smoke outside class and do his
assigned work.
Class projects ranged from learning how to construct a concept statement for a game to
building a profit and loss statement in Microsoft Excel to taking personality tests and learning
how to give feedback to others (practiced first in the class with one another).
At the time, the four students were very positive about the experience and the material in
the class. In November 2015, I interviewed one of the students, Charles Egenbacher, now an
Associate Development Manager (similar to an associate producer) at Riot Games. We covered
his early motivations for entering the video game industry, his work at Guildhall, and his current
career. Most importantly, we discussed his impressions of the value of graduate school to his
current role.

Charles Egenbacher Interview
AUTHOR. You chose to go to SMU Guildhall, so why did you do that? What was the
motivation? What was exciting you? Why did you choose that program?
MR. EGENBACHER. A little bit about my background. I was in economics undergrad
and I thought that was a super interesting subject matter, but as I dug into the work that an
economist would do, I didn’t find that as super compelling, and I explored law school, [or an]
MBA. Just didn’t really stick for me. I wasn’t super passionate about those things. Games has
always been a constant passion of mine in my life, and I was like, “You know what? Can I work
in games?” I literally had no idea what I could contribute. I’m not an artist or a programmer or
anything like that, but I did some research. I found USC’s Interactive Media Program and I came
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 26
upon Guildhall, and those were kind of my two targets because they were super high ranked in
the research that I was doing online on good programs…
I visited Guildhall, and what really attracted me about that was their team-based projects
and making... a game, even though it wouldn’t be the scale, clearly, of like a AAA studio or
something like that. You’d still go through the process of working together with creatives and
then taking this thing from an idea to reality. I saw that as a really tangible experience, and it
would at least give me a good idea of “Hey, is this something I’d like to pursue with my life or
not?” Ultimately I did and I love it.
AUTHOR. How did you end up in the production track?
MR. EGENBACHER. They’re like, “Well, here’s kind of what a producer does,” and I
was like, “Oh my God.” I actually started off in the design track, and they make you do one of
these tracks as a minor more or less. I struggled with the decision a lot, but ultimately what
attracted me to [production] was I felt like I sort of had an aptitude for working with people, and
I liked doing design and development work, but I saw myself and my natural talents better suited
towards the role of a producer, which is interfacing with lots of different types of people with
multiple trades and backgrounds and things like that and uniting them towards a common goal.
While I liked the satisfaction of making content and how good it feels to make
something, I was put in a team lead position on our first project and the day that we shipped the
thing, it just felt really good to know that I was the one that helped get things out of the way and
super proud of the team. I was like, “I can let people much more creative than myself go do these
things and I will clear the road for them and support them.”
AUTHOR. Got it. How long were you there?
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 27
MR. EGENBACHER. It was a two-year program.
AUTHOR. Then what classes, generally, did you take that you’d call the producer
classes?
MR. EGENBACHER. Guildhall, the way it’s set up is you have core curriculum classes
that an entire cohort or class would take together, and then you have discipline specific classes,
so producer only classes and things like that. Then while all of these classes were going on you
also had your team projects going on in the background that you were expected to work on. Then
eventually you got to the part where you had to write a thesis on top of all of this, so it just goes
insane.
The general classes would focus on things like the history of video games, for example,
where you learned about the first video game that was made all the way through to now,
basically. Then you’d also study things like current trends in the industry, general studies type
stuff. Then production specific courses were more focused on sort of project management. What
are the different production methodologies? We talked about waterfall. We discussed agile, kind
of pros and cons of each.
How would you use these things to approach certain teams, certain products? We even
had organizational behavior classes that talked more about what’s it like to work at a large
organization, what are some indicators of certain types of corporate behavior? Is this a
welcoming atmosphere? How would you tailor you production styles to work in these areas? The
production classes really focused in on teamwork and working with people, I guess, and
organization like Excel and Microsoft Project and your more tactical tool stuff, if that makes
sense.
AUTHOR. What year did you graduate? Then give me your job history since then.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 28
MR. EGENBACHER. May 2013. Immediately after that I went to Sony Computer
Entertainment of America in San Diego. I was at an internship there for four months, and then I
was hired on at Riot in the following ... I started at Riot the following January.
AUTHOR. What was your job at Sony? An internship in?
MR. EGENBACHER. My title was a production coordinator intern, and that was
essentially a sub-associate producer level, just like a production coordinator role. My
responsibility was to assist with asset management for artists, ranging from everything from
concept artists to modelers to animators to motion capture data. The area that I worked was
called The Visual Arts Services Group, which is basically an art outsourcing center for first party
Sony titles. As an example, we did ... That place did all the motion capture and animation for the
Naughty Dog games and Insomniac and stuff like that. I would help run down assets, commit
things to Perforce and help organize documentation.
AUTHOR. Then here, what do you here at Riot?
MR. EGENBACHER. Here I help development teams create and implement and
maintain and evolve development processes. Riot focuses heavily on agile development
methodologies, so I basically come in and determined where a team is in their work process and
help them evolve or create or ... Yeah, help them evolve that process based on where they are, so
basically help them work more efficiently.
AUTHOR. What is your title?
MR. EGENBACHER. It’s Associate Development Manager. I’d like to make this
distinction for the record. Riot’s production is kind of strange and different at Riot. From what
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 29
I’ve heard about the rest of the industry, it’s a little bit different. We’ve got two production
departments. There’s one called Product Management, and the POs are responsible for the what
that we build. They define the vision and the direction that the product is headed, customers, all
that. Dev Manager is more responsible for how the team accomplishes that work or reaches that
goal. It’s more centered around development efficiency, organizing the work and things like that,
whereas a Product Owner is more creative vision.
AUTHOR. Most teams have a Dev Manager and a Product Manager?
MR. EGENBACHER. Right. They come in pairs, which is an interesting dynamic at
times because I find that out of the game producers that I’ve met or people that come from that
background, a traditional game producer will espouse properties of both, so here they kind of
split up the roles, if that makes sense. In fact, that came back in a lot of the research was, “Well, I
expect my producers to really be on time and on top of things, but they better have an
understanding of the rest of the process.”
AUTHOR. Is that the same? Would you say Dev Managers still have to really understand
the process, like what the vision of the game is and stuff like that?
MR. EGENBACHER. Oh yeah. It’s an interesting split because how can you hope to
help a team work if you don’t really understand what their goals are and what their mission is
and that sort of thing? If, for example, I join an art team that’s going to be helping them establish
work processes is going to be very different than if I join maybe the live support team or a team
of engineers or gameplay engineers or something like that. You need to have a pretty clear idea
of what the vision is.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 30
At a large company like Riot, something like vision or product direction or whatever it
can be constantly changing or it can get out of alignment pretty easily. Really, at the end of the
day your responsibility is the same as the POs, which is to ship the thing that you’re making,
which is the ultimate goal of a producer, right? How do we help get this ball across the finish
line? You really do have to know your stuff, and I try to know enough knowledge to be
dangerous. If my PO is out of the office, I need to be able to speak to everything he can.
AUTHOR. Do you like it?
MR. EGENBACHER. Yeah. I like it. I’ve certainly learned a lot here, for sure. I think the
split, at times, can artificially create a duplication of roles almost. You know what I mean?
Whereas if you kind of just had one person that could do both, why not have that? Let’s say I go
to a meeting and there needs to be a product call that has to be made or something. Rather than
me being able to meet it, I need to call in the product owner, if we’re going by the books. It also
as created some odd interpretations of what a product owner and a DM can do, because
depending on the pair of people, they might have different agreements on how they do the work
split on that team.
It’s an awesome experience and I’ve learned a lot, but at the same time, I think it’s an
interesting first perspective into game production in the industry.
AUTHOR. Then trying to now bridge your thoughts, you’ve learned a bunch of stuff and
were given a bunch of experiences, and then you’ve worked in two companies now. What things
stand out to you? Like “Wow. This thing that I learned has been helpful.” Start on that side. Are
there things that you would go, “Gosh, I'm really glad that came up in these two years of
graduate school versus ...”
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 31
MR. EGENBACHER. Absolutely. There are numerous things that I thought were great.
First off, in Guildhall, I thought the team game development experience was incredible
invaluable, especially in a production role. Essentially the goals are the same as industry
producer and as a student producer in this case, because you’re essentially trying to align a bunch
of creative people from different disciplines towards a common goal, and the experience of
working with people, different personalities, organizing schedules and stuff like that, I was
surprised at how well that actually prepared me for dealing with production in the workplace.
Say you have to deal with conflict. You’ve got a tough personality on the team or
something like that. Guildhall actually did a pretty good job of preparing me for that. Hitting
deadlines and how super important those are. In class with you, we did numerous exercises on ...
I think we deconstructed a game, did some presentations, created an add-on for an IP that you
know. I found those exercises to be super useful in the industry because it causes you to think
about the product in a different way, maybe trying to break down this competing product, for
example.
The way that’s helped me at Riot is with Heroes of the Storm coming out, looking at that
in a competitive landscape, it’s like, “Okay, what are they trying to accomplish here? What are
their strategies? How is Blizzard organizing teams around their goal? How are they leveraging
their Blizzard IP?” Like, “Oh, I see what they’re doing here. Right. I see how they’re using their
strengths. Now how can we use our own strengths? How can we get a Blizzard developer to look
over and be like, ‘Man, Riot is just scary because they’ve got this, and that's awesome’?” You
know? I found that to be super valuable.
AUTHOR. Now the flip side. Where have you had moments where you’re like, “I am just
not prepared for this.” You know? There’s two sides of it, right? “I’m not prepared for this
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 32
because we run into things all the time that we’re not prepared for,” but also where you go like,
“I should’ve heard about this. This should’ve come up in school.” Is there any kind of examples?
Where you feel like you could’ve been better prepared?
MR. EGENBACHER. Interesting thing for me, joining Riot, is clearly League of Legends
is a live product. It’s constantly on, and I’m not sure how you simulate that in the graduate
school environment. Maybe there’s a way. Turn on a live game or something like that. It’s a
massive company with a whole lot of players and stuff.
AUTHOR. When you say “players,” you mean people in the company that are playing or
customers?
MR. EGENBACHER. Well, both. I wasn’t prepared for, as a producer, to have so many
of my team members being allowed to play games in the workplace. That I wasn’t prepared for.
No, but working on a live game is really interesting because it’s like fixing the playing while it’s
in error and everybody’s going to see you do it kind of thing. The work pace at the Guildhall did
a good job of preparing me for the stress of that. We always worked in very finite milestones.
We would do release to manufacturer and you ship the box products, whereas on a live thing,
you ship something and you support it. What I was not as well prepared for in coming here was
“What is the cost of maintaining a system?”
What I mean by that is let’s say I join a team and somebody comes and asks me, “Hey
Charles, we would like your team to help create this thing on the engineering, something for the
store, maybe, on the backend.” What I learned the hard way here was there’s not just the cost of
time for creating that thing. There’s also, because it’s on all the time, what’s the maintenance
cost and who own that? Then that adds a layer of overhead and then you have to maintain that
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 33
and create points of contact for that. What is the “runbook” look like so our live support guys can
deal with it if something breaks there? That was a tough lesson. I’m not sure how you replicate
that to a grad school space, though?
I would also say another big thing was somehow I landed on a low level engineering
team here working on the League of Legends client, in client store, actually, which was just all
programmers. I worked with programmers, but it was gameplay programmers and then level
designers and artists. My exposure to just pure engineering that you might find more in e-
commerce or a company probably more akin to an Amazon or a Facebook, I just wasn’t super
familiar with that problem space and working with that type of engineer in that case.
AUTHOR. The last question is at this point in your career do you go, “Yeah. The grad
school thing, that was totally worth the investment and the time and ...” or “Hmm. I’m not so
sure.” It’s a tough question because you did it, so you can’t go back in time.
MR. EGENBACHER. I think it totally depends on one’s path. I think for me, grad school
was very much worth it in terms of I think the training was good, but even more that, the people
that you meet, and effectively the leg up that you get, because production, certainly, is not like an
entry level role. Even entry level production jobs are really tough to get. You know what I mean?
I think Guildhall really gave me the network and the networking skills and the ability to kind of
pitch myself in a way to help me break into the industry.
*
Other than knowing that this paper would focus on the importance of and best practices
for teaching video game production, Charles was unaware of any of the specifics of my analysis
or recommendations. So, when he spoke about his experience managing people and schedules
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 34
both at school and in work, he did not purposefully attempt to channel what he knew I planned to
write. Still, he immediately thought of his education in terms of both soft and hard skills. In fact,
what pulled him from design to production was that he thought of himself as someone who likes
to work with and manage others.
Charles is a model case of someone with a career focus on production. His pre-graduate
education would not have prepared him for a design, programming, or art program. Yet now, just
a few years after graduation, he is working for the number one game in the world alongside
graduates from schools like USC and MIT.
Charles is a student whose graduate curriculum, interests, and, most importantly, skills,
meshed in a way that brought him successfully into the industry. He is doing what he likes and
works on a game at the top of its class.

Observations of Student Producers
The capstone project for most undergraduates in USC’s Interactive Media & Games
program is Advance Games. This year-long series of courses begins with a pitch process in the
spring of students’ second-to-last year. About a dozen small teams develop prototypes and
proposals. A committee of professors review these proposals, and ultimately five games chosen
based on a selection criteria focused on feasibility, team size, originality and team strength. As
the games take shape, students form teams. Since I joined the teaching staff of the class in 2011,
the other professors and I have pushed the importance of having dedicated producers on each
team. The games that do the best in the class have strong producers.
For example, in 2014, a dedicated producer led Project Rhea. The game faced numerous
design challenges: working with development hardware, a complex professional engine (Unreal),
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 35
and very few similar games from which to learn best virtual-reality practices. Yet the students
finished the game on time partly by reducing the scope and party by making design changes that
were encouraged by regular play testing (which the producer managed). King Basil’s Quest,
another student game, provides a counterexample. The designer lead King Basil’s Quest to that
exclusion of anyone driving production in a meaningful way. Although ultimately a small game
emerged from the process, the quality of the game suffered.
More than 100 students enroll in Advance Games at USC, and thousands more work on
similar project classes across educational institutes. Instructors and programs must develop
producers early in their academic careers to help ensure they gain the skills to be successful in
the industry. Success in their classes is the first test and measure of how well they are learning
(and being instructed).

Comparison: Teaching Production in USC’s Production Division
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Production Division, a sister division to Interactive
Media & Games, grappled with a similar issue over five years ago. USC’s Advance Games class
is modeled on a similar advance film production class. The film and television production
program at USC transformed its production classes to put greater emphasis on the producer role.
Previously, film and television producers ended up in their roles with little formal instruction
specific to producing. In the new curriculum, the film and television production program created
numerous modules on production that emphasized a creative producer’s role in shaping film and
television.
34

The overall emphasis taught producers in three areas: Creative, Fiscal, and Physical
production. Classes start with the basic foundational elements of these disciplines, which then
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 36
become prerequisites for higher-level producing classes. These modules, called vertex points, are
manifest in the production course catalog. Some examples from the graduate level classes
follow.
507: Production I (an introductory course)
From the class syllabus summary: “The effective communication of ideas through
the language of cinema; one directing exercise; two short HD projects; introductions
to producing, directing, editing, cinematography, and sound.”
35

More details on the course follow:
Producing: An overview of the art and craft of producing, from pitch to delivery.
The creative side of producing includes acquiring source material, developing
screenplays, and assembling the filmmaking team. The logistical side of
producing also involves team building, specifically collaborating with an assistant
director (AD) and unit production manager (UPM) on breaking down the script
and scheduling the shoot.
36

Because the class is an introduction-level course, the class presents all key movie-
making skills in conjunction with one other. Notably, though, the first two weeks of
the class are all about producing. In week one, the course lists these topics:
“Filmmaking stages, what a producer does (key questions they must answer, critical
decisions they must make, who gets hired), who does what (roles, responsibilities and
functions of the creative collaborators), breakdown, schedule & budget basics,
production meetings, location evaluations, the definition of diplomacy.”
37
Week two
continues the theme with a module on “Producing ‘Golden Rules.’”
38

508: Production II
The next class in the sequence, CTPR-508, continues the themes from Production
I. “Producing: Team leadership and collaboration; resource allocation and
management; development, including script breakdowns, call sheets, production
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 37
scheduling, casting and locations; guiding the production team through all phases of
production; working within the budget; creative problem solving.”
39

In this class, groups of three students make a total of three movies, with each
person taking a turn at producing. This requirement exists regardless of a student’s
expected area of concentration. Each student must learn to produce at least at a basic
level.
All students take these classes as part of their education in the craft of linear narrative
creation. The production curriculum also includes classes wholly dedicated to production
instruction. What follows are snippets of those syllabi.
538: Intermediate Producing
This course explores the “[d]efinition, examination and practical experience in the
role of the line producer as it relates to preproduction, production and post
production.”
40
The syllabus continues:
Intermediate Producing… is an in depth examination of the role of the producer
in motion picture, television and new media production. The course will examine
the creative producing process behind the initiation and selling of a concept,
funding the production, and the practical processes of casting, staffing,
scheduling, budgeting, overseeing the shoot, post production and marketing.
What’s the difference between a Producer, Executive Producer, Line Producer,
Co-Producer? The emphasis will be on current real world practices, focusing on
developing skill sets that are essential for successful producers.
41

558: Advanced Producing
This course “[d]efines and examines the role of the Executive/Feature Producer
through the preproduction, production and post production phases.”
42
The description
continues:
This class will provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and
challenges in producing—the emphasis will be on feature and television films
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 38
but we will also discuss series, documentaries, webisodes and other forms of new
media. The class is designed to be a continuation of the Intermediate Producing
class and will further explore the role of the producer and the strategies for
creating, researching, developing, pitching, executing and selling your ideas. We
will focus on the creative and collaborative aspects of producing as well as the
importance of the entrepreneurial and business side. We will also have an
ongoing discussion about the managerial and problem-solving skills necessary to
succeed.
43

In addition to these classes, many others include instruction on elements of production.
Such classes include “The World of TV,” “Developing and Selling Your Film and TV Project
(pitching),” and “Single Camera Television Dramatic Pilot.”
573: Producing the Advanced Production
The culmination, and the key touchstone for teaching interactive production, is
“CTPR-573: Producing the Advanced Production.” This seven-week course is
required for all producers in the advanced filmmaking two-semester sequence
(CTPR-581/582). The course includes the “[b]asic skills of production planning as
applied to students’ advanced project scripts [and] covers all steps from breakdown to
delivery.”
44

This class will look at what is needed to produce a 581/582. [Producing the
Advanced Production] is a seven-week intensive, immersive preproduction class.
During the seven weeks you will engage in planning, scheduling, budgeting and
envisioning your thesis films. The creative, fiscal and logistical plan will define
the films you will make.
45

It is clear from these course descriptions how much production and producing permeates
the whole range of film classes.

Recommendations for Teaching Game Production
My findings lead me to the following recommendations for teaching game production.
1. Infuse courses with production teaching
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 39
Perhaps not surprisingly, my first recommendation is to actively include production as
part of the course curricula. By specifying at the earliest stages of game instruction the
importance of production and producing, students will better grasp that importance. Even small
projects (which need not be digital) can benefit from a level of production. Everyone on a game
team will eventually interact with someone in a production role, and the sooner students
understand how a project works and is run, the easier time they will have working on a game
team. Finding the right faculty to teach these skills is a particular challenge because instructors
both need to be able to teach these skills and understand how to let the students experience the
problems and solutions that each project uniquely provide.
2. Create a common base of understanding regarding producing
Standardizing how producing is discussed and taught, particularly for incoming students,
is crucial. This common language will be the basis for everything students learn going forward.
Although my survey did not reveal a strong desire on the part of employers for applicants to
know specific production methodologies, respondents indicated a consensus that students should
generally know about such methodologies. I recommend that programs pick a system (various
SCRUM methods or some other system) as a core part of instruction. Similarly, programs should
standardize terminology to remove potential disconnects from occurring when students from
different cohorts interact. Ideally, every student should produce at least one small project. Each
class should also clearly state what it expects of producers (and all other disciplines) in that class.
3. Develop a producing track
Dan Irish warns potential producers, “If excellence is your goal as a video game
producer, expect to experience many challenges.”
46
Students may think they want to be
producers, but this desire is often based on incomplete information lacking substantial warning
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 40
about how difficult the job can be. Producers make up a relatively small percentage of the
industry, so only the best will get and retain the best jobs. By crafting a strong sequence of
producing classes, like SMU’s Guildhall and the USC Film Production faculty, programs can
develop the best talent to leap into the industry at the associate producer level or higher. Students
who truly wish to pursue producing will be fulfilled; those who do not will be frustrated. Schools
should help students find what is right for them, and a producing track helps students decide
whether production is for them. I estimate that at the size of current game programs (which
usually graduate fewer than fifty people a year across all disciplines), the industry’s need for
associate producers and related positions would be able to consume the best production students.
Programs should consider modeling the producer-focused cinema course “CTPR-573: Producing
the Advanced Production” for their capstone producers as well.
4. Teach soft skills
As the industry survey showed, half of the skills hiring managers expect graduates to
have learned are “soft” skills such as the ability to communicate and to know one’s personality
and how it affects one’s actions. Although school is not psychotherapy, much of learning
happens in the social space among students. This learning focus on preparing production students
for the industry. Rich Adam, veteran of THQ, Atari, and EA and currently CEO of Mine Shaft,
summarizes this need: “The producer must be VERY good at managing personalities to keep the
team a team. In addition, my experience has taught me that people with large talent frequently
have large personalities. Again a personality management challenge.”
47
Classes that cover
personality traits and types can be very helpful for students as they navigate working with a
diverse set of people. In particular, enlisting local producers to teach “insider”-perspective
courses can be particularly useful to the students.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 41
5. Feedback loops
A hallmark of the USC program is user testing. Every major course requires user testing,
and the industry itself has steadily adopted this important feedback mechanism to make games
more approachable and fun and ensure that they work as intended. It is crucial for producers to
learn this process. Producers must solicit feedback about their projects and their performances as
leaders. Beyond improving the producer, feedback also empowers a team. As Heather Chandler
explains,
When people believe their feedback, opinions, and concerns are being considered when
making decisions about the project, they will buy into the project objectives. This support
also results when people can clearly picture the project’s success in their minds, which
means the game ships on time to great reviews, and it is a number one best-seller for
months.
48

Giving and receiving feedback requires practice, and establishing this skill early in a producer’s
career maximizes the results of the feedback.
Additionally, programs should ensure that students play one another’s games throughout
their development. I recommend that students spend time as QA testers for other titles at the
school, whether at the graduate or undergraduate level. Although we expect graduates to skip the
tester phase of the industry due to their advanced study, experiencing some amount of QA is
extremely helpful.
6. Case studies and industry mentorship
Computer and video games have existed for over fifty years, and the industry itself has
existed over forty years, starting with Atari.
49
Those decades have provided a wealth of examples
from which to learn. Harvard Business School famously uses case studies of past situations to
teach students how to run businesses. French sociologist Frederic Le Play is generally credited
with inventing the case study in 1829. His goal was to determine how to end suffering by
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 42
modeling and learning from happy family situations.
50
. Providing case studies to students about
how successful and dysfunctional teams have acted when working on previous games helps
solidify the actual production skills students are learning.
Similarly, I have observed that active professionals relating their histories and tales of
game making has the greatest impact on students. Universities near game developers should
cultivate relationships with such professionals, to encourage visits by members of the game staff.
For institutions without such resources nearby, the GDC Vault and many published post mortems
may serve a similar function.
7. Create a producer group with strong faculty support
If they follow these recommendations, universities will have strong class sequences to
help create future producers. Although very few producers will work directly together in their
careers (because most teams have just one producer), faculty should create forums for producers
to share ideas, problems, and solutions. These forums could occur through dedicated producer
lab sessions, mailing lists, social media groups, or more informal mechanisms such as monthly
producer lunches. Regardless of the mechanism, a strong faculty mentor for the producers is key.
The USC film production division is structured around this idea of key faculty for each
discipline. This idea will easily translate to interactive media instruction.
8. Sell the dream
Students often enroll in game programs because they are passionate about playing games.
This pattern is particularly true at the undergraduate level. Yet very few students know exactly
what each role on a team performs. Even fewer probably think about producing games. By
introducing early what a producer does—even as early in the process as on the website and in the
materials about a game program—students may gravitate to these roles if they feel passionate
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 43
about the work. Some people feel that producers are want-to-be designers or even failed
designers. The best producers know the boundaries, and learning how to define and respect those
boundaries should start early in a producer’s education. Certainly producers work closely with
the design team and contribute to the design, but if they were responsible for the design, they
would be on the design team. As Irish notes, “At the end of the day, a producer is a producer and
not a designer. Such a distinction clarifies responsibilities and allows people to focus their talents
on what they do best.”
51

9. Scholarships
If a program is to become a leader in creating game producers, it will likely need to
sponsor the best candidates with scholarships and grants. I recommend establishing a small fund
for this purpose. Most universities, even public ones, are expensive, and by offering some
financial aid, more students may gravitate to production. Likely these scholarships should be
merit based.
10. Celebrate the best producers and productions
If scholarships are the carrot to lure the best students to the table in producer roles at a
school, then a reward system is the dessert at the end of the meal. Producers are not often very
visible in productions. Often the lead designer or lead programmer receives the majority of
accolades. Ideally, of course, the team should be celebrated. However, there is room to also
recognize the contributions and successes of the production team, even if only among the
producer group.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 44
Next Steps and Areas for Further Study
This investigation into the best practices of teaching production is by its nature
incomplete. Schools continue to add game programs, and they innovate teaching methods every
semester. One area for further study is to continue to survey the top game programs in order to
refine these best practices.
Another potential area of study is to follow a group of producers from their education
origins through the first decade of their careers (by which time they each will likely have
produced a handful of titles). Some of these students may ultimately decide on different
disciplines or even industries to pursue. A longer-term study would be instructive for seeing the
impact of teaching practices on a student’s career. The results would be qualitative, unless the
study followed a very large group. A study with quantitative results would probably require a
collaboration among schools to create a large enough research study about the impact of
coursework and careers.
Finally, as the ultimate employers of our current and future students, ongoing dialogues
with game companies, large and small, is crucial. The simple one- and two-person teams who
created Atari cartridge games look nothing like the modern Call of Duty sets of studios
producing the biggest games year after year. That title seems incomprehensibly large compared
to the many mobile and web game developers churning out minimally viable products to gauge
audience reactions and produce nearly instantaneous user feedback. New systems such as virtual
and augmented reality devices will further modify the shape of game teams. Universities must
stay in touch with the needs of the game makers.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 45
Conclusion
The video game industry continues to be a thriving ecosystem, ever evolving and
providing new entertainment methods to game players. As children are exposed to technology
and gaming earlier and earlier through smartphones, tablets, and consoles, more and more will
want to become game makers. University programs are a key method of following those dreams,
and those wanting to become producers expect the best instruction to prepare them for fruitful
careers. In parallel, the industry is looking to schools to provide the best prepared, “hit-the-
ground-running” applicants who encompass both technical and interpersonal skills to lead teams
and games. Schools must develop and refine teaching methods that prepare their graduates to
excel as producers, filling industry needs while rewarding students for their investment in pursuit
of their video game dreams.
Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 46

References
1
Christina Couch, “Game Changer: Kellee Santiago,” last modified 2013, accessed January 12, 2015,
http://getinmedia.com/articles/game-careers/game-changer-kellee-santiago.

2
Heather Maxwell Chandler, The Game Production Handbook, 2nd ed. (Hingham, MA: Charles River
Media, Inc., 2009), forward, xv.

3
“March 24, 2015 press release,” Princeton Review, accessed December 17, 2015,
http://www.princetonreview.com/press/game-design-press-release.

4
Rachel Weber, “NPD: 2015 video game sales flat compared to 2014,” GameIndustry.biz, January 14,
2016, http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-01-14-npd.

5
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2011), 53.

6
Chandler, The Game Production Handbook, section 1.1, 1.

7
D.S. Cohen and Sergio A. Bustamante II, Producing Games (Burlingame, MA: Focal Press, 2010), 3.

8
Cohen and Bustamante II, Producing Games, 3.

9
Gage Gallinger, e-mail message to author, March 4, 2014.

10
Gage Gallinger, e-mail message to author, March 4, 2014.

11
Gage Gallinger, e-mail message to author, March 4, 2014.

12
Aaron Davies, e-mail message to author, March 8, 2014.

13
Lisa Roth, e-mail message to author, March 9, 2014.

14
Nahil Sharkasi, e-mail message to author, March 8, 2014.

15
Carey Chico, e-mail message to author, March 8, 2014.

16
Ernst ten Bosch, “What Makes a Good Game Producer? Part 2,” Gamasutra (blog), September 19,
2013,
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ErnstTenBosch/20130919/200659/What_Makes_a_Good_Ga
me_Producer_Part_2.php.

17
R.J. Mical, quoted in John Hight and Jeannie Novak, Game Project Management (Clifton Park, NY:
Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008), 9.

18
Chandler, The Game Production Handbook, section 2.2, 23.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 47

19
Cohen and Bustamante II, Producing Games, 4.

20
Dan Irish, The Game Producer’s Handbook, (Boston: Course Technology, 2005), 36.

21
Laura Fryer, e-mail message to author, September 11–13, 2015.

22
Hight and Novak, Game Project Management, 165.

23
“Runic Games Senior Producer job listing,” Runic Games, accessed December 17, 2015,
http://www.runicgames.com/about/jobs/senior-producer/.

24
Ibid.

25
“Santa Monica producer job listing,” Sony Computer Entertainment of America, accessed December
17, 2015,
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/95555748?trkInfo=searchKeywordString%3AMicrosoft+
Game+Producer%2CsearchLocationString%3A%2C+%2Cvertical%3Ajobs%2CpageNum%3A
1%2Cposition%3A16%2CMSRPsearchId%3A53904481_1453630977033&recommendedFlavo
r=IN_NETWORK&trk=jobs_jserp_job_listing_text.

26
Philip Tan, Sara Verrilli, and Richard Eberhardt, “2013 Syllabus, CMS.611J/6.073J Creating Video
Games,” MIT, accessed November 5, 2015, http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-
studies-writing/cms-611j-creating-video-games-fall-2013/this-course-at-mit/; italics added.

27
Ibid.

28
“Website course listing,” DigiPen, accessed November 5, 2015, https://www.digipen.edu.

29
USC School of Cinematic Arts website, accessed November 5, 2015, http://cinema.usc.edu.

30
USC Catalogue 2015–16 (Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 2015), online version.

31
Guildhall admissions website, accessed November 5, 2015, http://www.smu.edu/Guildhall/Academics.

32
Guildhall website, academics section, accessed November 5, 2015,
http://www.smu.edu/Guildhall/Academics/CoreCourses; italics added.

33
Laird Malamed, “HGAM 6282 Game Production II course syllabus,” (SMU Guildhall, Plano, TX,
2012).

34
Brenda Goodman (Professor, USC), pers. comm. with the author, December 14, 2012, Los Angeles,
CA.

35
Stu Pollard, “USC CTPR-507 Class Syllabus,” (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA,
2016); italics added.

36
Ibid.

37
Ibid.

Malamed, Laird Teaching Interactive Production 48

38
Ibid.

39
Carolyn Manetti, “USC CTPR-508 Class Syllabus,” (University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA, 2016); italics added.

40
Tim Marx, “USC CTPR-538 Class Syllabus,” (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA,
2014).

41
Ibid.

42
Jane Goldenring and Susan Cartsonis, “USC CTPR-558 Class Syllabus,” (University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, 2015).

43
Ibid.

44
Michael Peyser, “USC CTRP-573 Class Syllabus,” (University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA, 2013).

45
Ibid.

46
Irish, Game Producer’s Handbook, 2.

47
Hight and Novak, Game Project Management, 166.

48
Chandler, The Game Production Handbook, 121.

49
Carly A. Kocurek, Coin Operated America: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade,
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015), Kindle edition.

50
Sister Mary Edward Healy, C. S. J., “Le Play’s Contribution to Sociology: His Method,” The American
Catholic Sociological Review 8 (Oxford University Press, Association for the Sociology of
Religion, Inc., 1947): 97–110. doi:10.2307/3707549.

51
Irish, The Game Producer’s Handbook, 43.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Malamed, Laird Mitchell (author)

Core Title Teaching interactive production

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Cinema-Television (Cinema Production)

Publication Date 04/19/2016

Defense Date 03/23/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education,instruction,interactive,OAI-PMH Harvest,producer,producing,production,teaching,video games

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Fullerton, Tracy J. (committee chair), Goodman, Brenda (committee member), Stringer, Elizabeth (committee member)

Creator Email lairdo@cinema.usc.edu,lairdo@cltc.com

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