Game Production Community Podcast

This episode, Renee Wooten was an exceptional guest. Renee has a keen interest in accessibility and inclusion, as well as solid experience with customer and community-facing roles. After gaining a Game Design Bsc from Full Sail University, she started her inevitable climb to production stardom with KingsIsle Entertainment, based in Austin, Texas. Renee has worked on the Live Service MMO Wizard101 for the last 3.5 years.
We split the episode: part 1 is production focused, whereas part 2 is focused on being a woman in the games industry. Renee has been kind enough to contribute an article on the subject which we will link to from Part 2!
Topics in Part One include:
00:00 Intros
03:10 What Renee brings to the job of game production
08:00 Empowerment and enrichment
11:50 Communication across teams and titles
15:00 Inclusion and accessibility
21:20 Was life as a producer as expected? (Spoiler: no)
24:55 Creative input and leadership
26:00 Taking advantage of the Game Design BSc
27:50 A Day in the Life
31:00 Listening to feedback from internal and external sources
35:00 Deep-dive into Wizard101 - Intro
37:00 Child Safety and Production concerns
41:20 Ever feel like a spare part?
43:20 Data-driven decision-making
47:10 Project management for features and content work
52:30 Hybrid methodologies
55:00 The voice of the game - who owns it?
59:20 How to face the noise near milestone deadline day
62:20 Retrospectives - do them
64:50 Advice on forming strong relationships with the team and leads
68:20 The hardest part of producing the game
69:25 2 headlines and leadership support
73:40 Mentorship
(We took out a bunch of talking at this point and that forms Part 2!)
75:15 Why be a producer?
83:20 What does the future hold?
85:05 How everything affects everything else when you are making a game!
88:20 Farewells

Renee mentioned a few things while chatting that you might like the links to.
Darksider Post-Mortem:
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/119736/Postmortem_Highlights_Behind_The_Scenes_of_Darksiders.php
Crucial Conversations:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second/dp/0071771328
I mentioned Blood, Sweat & Pixels:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Sweat-Pixels-Triumphant-Turbulent/dp/0062651234
As well as the SpecialEffect charity:
https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/
We would love feedback - leave it anywhere we can reach it! For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out:
http://www.game-production.com
ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM
Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training.
Please visit the website, which exists as a pl

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with producers & others in the games industry, check out our affiliate website.
ABOUT THE GAME PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
“Level up together with our inclusive, growth minded community as we share game production knowledge & experiences, advocate team health & happiness and lead the way to diverse, high quality, sustainable game development.”

In this panel, host Juney invites four experienced accessibility professionals to guide us through the process of planning, budgeting, implementing and testing accessibility features from the ground up in both new and ongoing projects to make better and more welcoming experiences.
Our expert panellists:

• Ally McLean: Senior Producer at Mighty Kingdom
• Tabby Rose: UX Director at Mighty Yell
• Brannon Zahand: Senior Gaming Accessibility Program Manager at Microsoft
• Jonas Lundqvist: Senior Development Director at Respawn

Transcript can be found here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1055908/10019657

Please share with peers that could benefit from these expert insights & experiences!

Organised with the amazing support of Sergio Maldonado & our Supporters ♡
Resources shared during the panel:

• Article: How Producers can make games more accessible - https://workinglunch.substack.com/p/how-producers-can-make-games-more?r=nokf3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=
• Xbox Accessibility Resources - https://aka.ms/xga
• Xbox Accessibility Guidelines - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/accessibility/guidelines
• Xbox Gaming Accessibility Fundamentals course - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/gaming-accessibility-fundamentals/
• Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Services - https://aka.ms/mgats
• Able Gamers Player Panels: Community of players with disabilities interested in participating in play-testing and user research on games - https://ablegamers.org/player-panels/#:~:text=AbleGamers%20Player%20Panels%20is%20a,to%20make%20games%20more%20accessible
• Unity Screen Reader - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/gui/ui-accessibility-plugin-uap-87935
• TTS Speech Engine in development for Unreal & Unity - https://www.readspeaker.ai/unity-unreal-game-engine-plugin-free-trial/
• How developers are trying to solve motion sickness in video games - https://www.polygon.com/2013/10/26/4862474/video-games-and-motion-sickness-dying-light-techland-fps
• Twitter thread detailing Ubisoft subtitle usage - https://twitter.com/tisseranddavid/status/1143570437173104643
• Discord Live Transcription Bot - https://www.scriptly.xyz/

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with pro

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with producers & others in the games industry, check out our affiliate website.
ABOUT THE GAME PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
“Level up together with our inclusive, growth minded community as we share game production knowledge & experiences, advocate team health & happiness and lead the way to diverse, high quality, sustainable game development.”

Our guest today is Chris Keeling, Executive Producer at Street Smarts VR and living in Orlando, Florida. Previously, Chris has had a myriad of impressive roles, including Product Director at Wargaming, where he was the first American to join the Eastern Europe-centric company at the senior level. He was Program Manager at Full Sail University, leading the Game Design Bachelor of Science department on behalf of almost 2000 students. Chris served in the US Army as a Sergeant First Class for 23 years, with 10 years of active duty. He has been a game designer and writer and worked on titles such as Panzer Elite, America’s Army, World of Tanks, Master of Orion and World of Warships: Blitz for mobile.
In this episode, we talk about Chris's experience in the military and how that helped shape his approach to production leadership and training. We delve into his thoughts around the Game Design course, then plunge headfirst into Masters of Orion and its path from free giveaway to refocusing it to be a paid for product. Chris believes that producers cannot graduate from college, but should gain experience within game development before being supported and trained as producers. We talk a lot about that too.
Topics include:

00:00 Intros
12:00 Producers need experience in game dev first
15:40 The importance of holding Product Vision
19:30 From writer to producer
22:50 VR, AR, MR
24:00 Game Design BSc
29:30 VR production
32:30 Experience before production, training and support required
41:40 Master of Orion deep-dive
61:02 Movies and Games
65:00 Market Research & Player Types, Feedback and Bias
73:00 Back to Master of Orion for some final questions
74:00 Is Chris still in gaming?
78:20: Educating producers
80:20 Game Crunch and producer responsibility
91:00 Farewells & Wise Words

We would love feedback - leave it anywhere we can reach it! For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out:
http://www.game-production.com
ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM
Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training.
Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us.
http://www.game-production.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity
Website: https://www.game-production.com

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with producers & others in the games industry, check out our affiliate website.
ABOUT THE GAME PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
“Level up together with our inclusive, growth minded community as we share game production knowledge & experiences, advocate team health & happiness and lead the way to diverse, high quality, sustainable game development.”

The transcript can be found here:
https://www.game-production.com/post/anthony-kyne-podcast-episode-full-transcript
This being my second ever attempt at recording and editing a podcast, be kind and feel free to give advice! Our guest today is Anthony Kyne, a Lead Producer at Mediatonic Games. They’ve made games such as Gears Pop!, Murder by Numbers and the upcoming Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, which looks awesome. Anthony has worked on titles such as Madden, Championship Manager & The Sims. Unlike nearly every Producer that I’ve met or stalked on LinkedIn before now, Anthony has worked in games as both a lead designer and senior programmer. This gives him a unique understanding of making games which I’m looking forward to delving into. He was Lead Designer on Championship Manager game back in 2009, which saw the franchise finally rise to become a viable alternative to Football Manager.
In this episode, we talk about Anthony's experience as a designer, coder and producer. We deep dive into The Golf Club to use as an exploration of production methods. We talk about pods, cancelling all meetings, how producers need to be leaders and a lot more.
This time I have added the topics as chapters in the podcast so hopefully you can see them when you download this!
00:00 Intros
11:25 Advantages of coming from a different gaming background
21:10 The bare minimum of a Producer - traits, experience & skills
28:40 Agile methods - new concepts, prototyping & tech demos
34:36 Play your own game!
38:49 Producers - the good, the bad but always leaders
46:10 Earning Trust
49:00 Production Deep Dive: The Golf Club
86:12 Meetings, meetings, meetings
89:11 Why be a producer?
92:03 What's next for Anthony?

We would love feedback - leave it anywhere we can reach it! For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out:
http://www.game-production.com
ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM
Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training.
Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us.
http://www.game-production.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity
Website: https://www.game-production.com

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with producers & others in the games industry, check out our affiliate website.
ABOUT THE GAME PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
“Level up together with our inclusive, growth minded community as we share game production knowledge & experiences, advocate team health & happiness and lead the way to diverse, high quality, sustainable game development.”

The Game Production Discord hosted a panel on Scrum and agile practices in game development, featuring four panelists with varying backgrounds from in- and outside the industry!
Huge thanks to Maurice Kroes from Abstraction Games who housed a session with panellists Jeff Lindsey from Bossa Studios, Kimberly Rodatos from Digital Owl, Barry Anderson from Sainsbury's, Diversive and Selfull. They tackled topics like the backlog, user stories and estimations, discussing their practical implementations, limitations encountered and accompanying solutions.
Made possible by Juney Dijkstra MSc. - Producer, Game & Player Analyst, Game (Dev) Event Organiser. Thank you Juney.
We would love feedback - leave it anywhere we can reach it! For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out:
http://www.game-production.com
ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM
Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training.
Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us.
http://www.game-production.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity
Website: https://www.game-production.com
Discord (most active): https://discord.gg/NBamcKYsP6

We would love feedback: Reach out to us on Discord! For more articles and interviews with producers & others in the games industry, check out our affiliate website.
ABOUT THE GAME PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
“Level up together with our inclusive, growth minded community as we share game production knowledge & experiences, advocate team health & happiness and lead the way to diverse, high quality, sustainable game development.”