Inside the Video Game Industry

Inside the Video Game Industry GameDevelopersTalkAbout theBusinessofPlay Judd Ethan Ruggill, Ken S. McAllister, Randy Nichols, and Ryan Kaufman Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 First published by Routledge Th ird Avenue, New York, NY and by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business © Taylor & Francis Th e right of Judd Ethan Ruggill, Ken S. McAllister, Randy Nichols, and Ryan Kaufman to be identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections and of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act . All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Ruggill, Judd Ethan, editor. | McAllister, Ken S., – editor. | Nichols, Randall K., editor. | Kaufman, Ryan, editor. Title: Inside the video game industry : game developers talk about the business of play / edited by Judd Ethan Ruggill, Ken S. McAllister, Randy Nichols, and Ryan Kaufman. Description: New York : Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa Business, [] | Includes index. Identifi ers: LCCN | ISBN (hardback) | ISBN (pbk.) | ISBN (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Video games industry. | Video games—Design. | Video games— Marketing. Classifi cation: LCC HD.E I | DDC ./—dc LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ ISBN: ---- (hbk) ISBN: ---- (pbk) ISBN: ---- (ebk) Typeset in Warnock Pro by Apex CoVantage, LLC Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 Contents Acknowledgments vi Author Bios vii Introduction 1 Programming 12 Art 72 Design 130 Producing 173 Quality Assurance 213 Audio 255 Business 292 Conclusion 368 Index Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 v Acknowledgments We are very grateful to the following people and groups for their interest in, assistance with, and/or support of this project: Suellen Adams, Toni Alexander, Derek Bambauer, Matthew Beale, Megan Boeshart, Maury Brown, Mike Bruck, Bill Carroll, Bryan Carter, Kate Chater- don, Tobias Conradi, Steven Conway, José Cortez, Zuleima Cota, Adam Crowley, Michael DeAnda, Jennifer deWinter, Jason Dewland, Gwen Downey, Javier Duran, Lyn Duran, Alain-Philippe Durand, Richard Edmiston, James Fleury, Sarah Elizabeth Fredericks, Jeremy Frumkin, Cynthia Gaff ney, Ron and Elizabeth Gard, Angelia Giannone, Jason Gill, Harrison Gish, Daniel Griffi n, Diane Gruber, Alexander Halavais, Chris Hanson, Bryan Hartz- heim, Kati Heljakka, Gina Hernandez, Justine Hernandez, Zachary Hill, Nina Huntemann, Antonnet Johnson, Kim Jones, Jeff rey Kassing, Douglas Kelley, Barbara Kienzle, Carly Kocurek, Aynne Kokus, Kyounghee Kwon, Owen Leach, Jamie Lee, Adela Licona, Jonathan Madog, Megan McKittrick, Lindsey Mean, Marijel Maggie Melo, Kevin Moberly, Ryan Moeller, Mia Moran, Majia Nadesan, Jennifer Nichols, Jude Nicholson, Rolf Nohr, Dean O’Donnell, David O’Grady, Marc Ouellette, Jessica Paxton, Matt Payne, Anushka Peres, Ramsey Eric Ramsey, Roberto Reyes, Reneé Helen Reyn- olds, Quentin Rezin, Dave Rick, Th eo Rohle, Lorenia Romero, Jane Ruggill, Robert Ruggill, Marjorie Sanders, Chris Schlerf, Ron Scott, Charles Watkins Scruggs III, Alice Srubas, Rachel Srubas, Deborah Spargur, Jason Th omp- son, Sam Tobin, Celeste Leigh Helen Trimble, Marlene Tromp, the fi ne folks at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic, Stephanie Vie, Jeremiah Webb, Bon- nie Wentzel, Erica Wetter, Mary Wildner-Bassett, Karen Williams, Greg Wise, Women in Games—Boston, and Josh Zimmerman. Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 vi AuthorBios Judd Ethan Ruggill is an Associate Professor of Computational Media at the University of Arizona and co-founder and co-director of the Learning Games Initiative. He researches computer game technologies, play, and cultures, and is the co-author of Tempest: Geometries of Play and Gaming Matters: Art, Science, Magic, and the Computer Game Medium. Ken S. McAllister is a Professor of Rhetoric and Associate Dean of Research and Program Innovation for the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona. A co-founder and co-director of the Learning Games Initiative, McAllister is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on topics ranging from game preservation to critical technology studies. Randy Nichols is an Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma. His research has focused on understanding the political economy of the video game industry and its intersections with other cultural industries. Ryan Kaufman began his career at LucasArts Entertainment, and for ten years worked as a tester, designer, and content supervisor on games such as Full Th rottle, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron N, and Star Wars: Republic Commando. He is currently Director of Design at Telltale Games, contrib- uting to titles including Th e Walking Dead, Th e Wolf Among Us, and Game of Th rones. Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 vii Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 Introduction When it comes to its inner workings, the normally voluble video game industry is remarkably silent. Like in a hot dog factory, the fi nished product is everything, while the creative process leading to that product is nothing— or at least nothing to be shared openly with the public. As a result, there is precious little information available to those interested in the business and labor of electronic play. Th is is not to say, however, that there is a paucity of information about getting a job in game development. On the contrary, seemingly dozens of books are produced each year that purport to proff er insider secrets and commonsense career advice about how to break into the industry, whether one is a programmer, musician, artist, or designer. Almost all of these guides include short interviews, extended pull quotes, or short anecdotes by well-known professionals, and they all directly or indirectly characterize the nature of making games for a living. Such books rarely, however, convey much information about the actual day- Downloaded by [Pennsylvania State University] at 11:09 14 September 2017 to-day work of game development, and they say almost nothing at all about how that work is secured, funded, organized, outsourced, iterated, and ulti- mately either shipped or shut down. Rather, they tend to explain how to gain employment, not what it is like to stay employed. As a result, potential workers—and people who study games and the creative and corporate envi- ronments from which they emerge—have an exceptionally narrow view of Introduction this world, with glimpses of its inner workings only when stories such as “EA Spouse” or “Gamergate” hit the mainstream press. Th e view is obscured further still by the fact that the game industry is supremely competitive. Even the largest companies may have slender profi t margins, making intellectual property protection and its attendant self- imposed silences more doctrine than custom. Readers of this book will almost certainly come to wonder about the necessity of such secrecy. To us, it remains an open question; not only is the game market rapidly expand- ing globally—meaning that the zero-sum assumption driving much of this profi t competition is suspect—but there are also signifi cant marketplaces where a hyper-competitive stance is discouraged. Among these more open peers, game developers tend to be quite free in the ways they share corporate resources and information. Th ey compare notes on how quality of life and team structure diff er from company to company, and they exchange ideas and production techniques in ways that would almost certainly trouble their respective public relations and legal department counterparts working in more litigious countries. What is particularly curious—perhaps even concerning—is that such information exchange is actually vitally important everywhere. Th e game industry is one in which job migrations are commonplace, whether due to greener pastures, personal needs, or professional necessity. Factors such as these routinely trump even the most terrifying pre-hire and severance con- tracts, creating a kind of dark network in which dialogue about changes in the industry emerges according to an unwritten code that guides insiders’ career decisions not through published books but through barroom conversations and private messages. In addition to discussions about career options, game developers are also justifi ably proud of what they do, so dis- cussing their latest breakthrough with industry colleagues is understood to be a mutually benefi cial activity, an opportunity for inspiration to fuel innovation. Such conversations happen casually most of the time, but there are also occasions for more formal collaborations and revelations, through pre- sentations and postmortems at industry events such as the Penny Arcade

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