Fwd: So You Want to Be a Producer

A while back, I posted a video from Extra Credits about how to become a video game designer. While not all of their content interests me, they did create a new video about becoming a producer. K often gets asked "What's the easiest way to work for a video game studio if I don't have many specialized skills?" and becoming a producer ranks high up there right under being a QA (quality assurance) tester. It's basically like doing project management for any R&D (research and development) company. As Wikipedia puts it, the producer is not the "boss" of the people on the game development team, but the "boss" of the game in terms of its timely delivery and final quality.

What does a producer do? According to Extra Credits, a producer is:

1. A mediator/facilitator between teams (e.g. art, design, and tech), not the decision maker for what goes in the game.
2. The schedule master, who is responsible for making sure the game ships, even if it's not perfect and requires slashing features.

Check out the clip below for more details. Interestingly, I found that K personally dislikes Extra Credits because of the gimmicky, high-pitched narrator's voice and because he finds their outlook on the video game industry "ridiculously idealistic."