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Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

What does a game team structure look like? I often get asked about this in candidate interviews or by new people on the team. It looks like this, more details in the *very long thread* below. Executive Producer Directors Leads & Managers Sub-Leads Individual Contributors

What does a game team structure look like? I often get asked about this in candidate interviews or by new people on the team. It looks like this, more details in the *very long thread* below. Executive Producer Directors Leads & Managers Sub-Leads Individual Contributors

  • Iksar
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
    What does a game team structure look like? I often get asked about this in candidate interviews or by new people on the team. It looks like this, more details in the *very long thread* below. Executive Producer Directors Leads & Managers Sub-Leads Individual Contributors

    • Iksar
      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
      First thing I should mention is that this applies to the Hearthstone team, and roughly to all other game dev teams at Blizzard. Different companies have totally different org structures, which is part of the reason people get confused and want to know about this kind of thing.

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
        I’m also not including other teams like publishing, QA, CS, analytics, esports, etc. They are all obviously a huge part of game development (they are devs!) and work closely with the game team, they are just part of a different org with different leadership.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
          EXECUTIVE PRODUCER (EP) Unlike the rest of the above groups, there is only ever one person occupying the role of executive producer. You can think of an EP as the CEO of the game. They are usually less involved in day-to-day development and more involved in long-term planning.

          • Iksar
            Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
            They are ultimately responsible for the expenses we take on, the revenue we generate, and the overall quality of the game itself. I’d consider this the top job @ Blizzard in terms of game development. Any higher and you get significantly less attached any game decision making.

            • Iksar
              Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
              The responsibility of an EP extends outside game dev as well. They are usually involved in high-level decision making for departments like publishing, analytics, esports, and more.

              • Iksar
                Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                The TL:DR of EP is they are the big boss. They drive the culture and high level goal setting for the team even if you might not see them on camera or in interviews very often.

                • Iksar
                  Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                  DIRECTORS Depending on the size of a team, you might have anywhere from 1-10 directors. A new project usually starts with a game director, which is just another way to say design director.

                  • Iksar
                    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                    Beyond that, there is always an art director, tech director, and production director. Less commonly you might have a creative director, a specialized director like a narrative/ui director, or a group of associate directors reporting into the director of their discipline.

                    • Iksar
                      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                      Hearthstone also has a business director that technically reports into a separate org, but functionally they (and their team) are very much embedded and working with the development team on a regular basis.

                      • Iksar
                        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                        The game director owns design decision making. They are focused on the WHY (why should we do a thing) and the WHAT (what are we going to make). Players usually look at the game director as the big boss because they are in charge of decisions players tend to care about most.

                        • Iksar
                          Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                          The production director is mostly focused on the WHY and the HOW (how are we going to do a thing). They tend to be the best at connecting all the various disciplines together so we actually end up shipping a thing to players rather than just doodling around iterating forever.

                          • Iksar
                            Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                            Art directors on different teams are responsible for different things. They are always responsible for art direction (surprise!) but are also sometimes very involved in the creative direction or world building for a project.

                            • Iksar
                              Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                              Tech directors tend to be focused on execution (the HOW), but can also be heavily involved in design/production. Won’t spend too much time typing the rest of what a tech director does because it’s mostly magic to me still, even after 10 years of working alongside engineers.

                              • Iksar
                                Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                Together, the director group and EP set the vision for the game, determine the goals, create an environment where the rest of the team can thrive, and make decisions or pivots when necessary.

                                • Iksar
                                  Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                  LEADS & MANAGERS These roles are generally only for very big teams. A lead is someone who oversees the entirety (or very large portion) of their discipline. Their title might be ‘Lead Artist’ or ‘Lead Game Designer’. A manager is someone who is focused solely on management.

                                  • Iksar
                                    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                    Managers are more common around the company these days, most likely because our teams are so large. Managers help make sure individual contributors always have the support they need even if their project lead might not have the time to give guidance or support.

                                    • Iksar
                                      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                      We were getting to a place on Hearthstone where leads would have 10+ reports and also be responsible for major features. It's incredibly difficult to be an effective manager and project leader with that many reports, something will suffer. The project or (more likely) the people.

                                      • Iksar
                                        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                        If you think about when someone in an IC role needs the most support, it’s usually when the project is under severe stress or deadlines. Those moments also happen to be the times when the project leads have the least amount of time to support their teams.

                                        • Iksar
                                          Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                          Fires will always happen no matter how well you plan. When you have roles focused on management, it helps assure that every person gets the time and attention they deserve, even when everything is on fire.

                                          • Iksar
                                            Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                            That said, being a lead is still a leadership role. The skillset to lead a group of individuals through your own example is required. Kindness is required, helpfulness is required, empathy is required. The passion to grow and support your team is required.

                                            • Iksar
                                              Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                              Leads and managers are zoomed out further than sub-leads. They focus on long-term goal setting and helping to remove roadblocks preventing the team from effective work. They own things like hiring and occasionally own a complex feature that might require senior leadership.

                                              • Iksar
                                                Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                SUB-LEADS Sub-leads own the day-to-day direction of their team and are also on the ground floor doing the work alongside individual contributors. Sub-leads are very likely to be known by players because they (like the GD) tend to own decisions players care about.

                                                • Iksar
                                                  Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                  People in this category are server engineering leads, class design leads, 2D art leads, etc. This is the first ‘lead’ role. Beyond this role, you move further away from game dev and more into team leadership.

                                                  • Iksar
                                                    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                    INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS (IC) These are the people who are actually doing any work (ha ha.. just kidding, kind of). They are your concept artists, balance designers, gameplay engineers, art producers, etc. The people in this group make up the large majority of the team (80-90%).

                                                    • Iksar
                                                      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                      Even with the multiple layers of leads and management above people in an IC role, most still have a great deal of independence when it comes to the WHAT (what are we gonna do) and the HOW (how are we gonna do it).

                                                      • Iksar
                                                        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                        Many people in an IC role tend to stay here and not move on to any of the lead roles by choice. That is great! At blizzard there is a long and lucrative career path for being an IC. Lead should be something you want to do and not something you do because there is more $ there.

                                                        • Iksar
                                                          Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                          <end thread> <kermit gif> https://t.co/EcrFjzqdmd

    • CrunchTime4L
      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS The real question. Is there a monetization team/position in Hearthstone?

      • marble4747
        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
        @CrunchTime4L @IksarHS Seems pretty likely to be the business team that is embedded but separate.

        • Iksar
          Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
          @marble4747 @CrunchTime4L Monetization in F2P games is integrated really closely with design.

    • phtherton
      Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS Now the question everybody wants answered.. where are u sitting on this classification ??

      • Iksar
        Posted 3 years, 9 months ago (Source)
        @phtherton I am a probably somewhere in between sub-lead and lead designer. I don't manage everyone in design, but do manage a few sub-leads.
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