With different producers working on separate modules, how do you ensure the modules work together to create a consistent overall gameplay experience?asked by SmartAce
TL;DRProducers keep modules consistent through constant communication between studios, with designs like the FPS reviewed by all teams, and because producers' responsibilities overlap across projects rather than being isolated.
Okay, that's a good question, 'cause yes I hear this a lot, and people are worried about the designs, the art styles, and whether it's gonna end up like the ISS or something, where you have the Foundry 42 modules strung along to the US module, and the Canadian module. In reality-...
Interesting analogy!
Heheh. I would say the thing that we spend a lot of time on, and Chris is very adamant about, is making sure that we have one consistent design that works for everything. So (just because it's top of the mind for me, it's recent) the FPS for example having been heavily designed out of the Illfonic office - huh, that's weird I can "Illfonic" now and it's okay! I'm used to saying "redacted". Being heavily designed by Kedhrin and his team at the Illfonic office, one of the things that's always been very important to Chris is making sure that that design is thoroughly reviewed by the Squadron 42 designers, and by the Persistent Universe designers, and making sure that those designs work for them. And if there are things that don't work for them, or need to be changed, or added, making sure that's all part of the conversation at the inception of the FPS modul, so that it's all going to be consistent throughout the entire game. He does not want to have things that play differently in single player versus multiplayer versus the PU, and so that has been a very important thing to do, and we do that basically by constant communication between all the studios. I would say a large part of our job is basically communication of information and dissemination of information.
I mean that's pretty much the job of a producer, is maintaining open communication between department. Whether it's nightly hand-off emails because everybody's in a different timezone - when the UK is getting out for the night we're just getting in, and vice versa, so there's always this constant overlap of duties. With a constant stream of communication that makes sure, "alright, here's where we left off. This is what we need you guys to pick up on," so there's always some kind of consistency in everything that we do.
Actually that's a good point to bring up too is that, even though this is "10 for the Producers" this is really "10 for Two Producers". It is a global team effort - we've got producers in Foundry 42, in Austin, Texas, in Montreal at Illfonic. We've got a lead programmer that works as a producer at Moon Collider. I mean there's people all over the world who are involved on the production side, so big props to the whole team on that one, 'cause its an ongoing effort.
On top of that, if it was "2 for 10 Producers" it'd be really crowded.
Yeah. We'd need a bigger camera.
But more to point, also, it's asked that "when different producers working on separate modules-". There is a lot of responsibility overlap. We don't have a producer who is dedicated specifically just on "this item only". We have the luxury of being able to be involved in various projects, so for example, my contribution is Arena Commander and also the spaceship missile system, and a few ancillary responsibilities here and there. But those responsibilities overlap with some of the stuff that the UK is working on, and what Austin is working on, so we have our fingers pretty much in everything. So on top of that it also helps kind of maintain that overall consistency between the different projects and different modules.