Who gets credit for how a game turns out? The director or the designer?

Sorry if the topic is kind of vague. Let me explain. You know how when a movie comes, out, and it's like "A Steven Spielberg Film." (Because he was the director, and therefore gets most of the credit for the film)? Well, what would be the equivelent of that in gaming? For instance, I'm a fan of Shiguru Miyamoto. Should I be more excited if he's directing a new game or just designing it?

Everyone unless you worked for Team Bondi.

I give the credit to the team and not a person. For example, the Halo series. I credit Bungie for how great the game turned out rather than one single member of the team.FamousVampire68

Lead designer and "director" (which is a stupid term to use in games) is usually the same thing.

Lead designer and "director" (which is a stupid term to use in games) is usually the same thing.

UpInFlames

The director is the one that has the vision for the game and the team is the one that makes sure to see that vision realized while designing the game. So, to be fair, I think both the director and the team should be getting the credit, not one over the other.

Everyone, a mention should be made of the script writer too. Some games ahave fantastic storylines, looking at you MGS

Directors often fill a similar role as they do in movies, in that they will oversee and guide all aspects of the game (including the core gameplay design). Miyamoto is actually usually listed as a producer, which in most companies is more of a managerial/support role. However I'd have to imagine that Miyamoto ends up handling a lot of director duties, being who he is.

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

Lead designer and "director" (which is a stupid term to use in games) is usually the same thing.

Metamania

The director is the one that has the vision for the game and the team is the one that makes sure to see that vision realized while designing the game. So, to be fair, I think both the director and the team should be getting the credit, not one over the other.

Directors often fill a similar role as they do in movies, in that they will oversee and guide all aspects of the game (including the core gameplay design). Miyamoto is actually usually listed as a producer, which in most companies is more of a managerial/support role. However I'd have to imagine that Miyamoto ends up handling a lot of director duties, being who he is.

Teufelhuhn

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

Directors often fill a similar role as they do in movies, in that they will oversee and guide all aspects of the game (including the core gameplay design). Miyamoto is actually usually listed as a producer, which in most companies is more of a managerial/support role. However I'd have to imagine that Miyamoto ends up handling a lot of director duties, being who he is.

dtb2483

You're absolutely wrong. Yes, producers help finances a project, but they also get to make decisions on said project, whether it be a movie or game. Sometimes, if the director doesn't ask the producer for the greenlight on something for the movie or game (i.e. a new set design for a scene), that would be highly frowned upon.

Now, this varies from staff to staff. But in most cases, it works this way. I would know. One of my clients is a sound designer and works on movies/TV shows.

A person is only as good as the team he works with. Great games aren't made by one person and one person never gets credit. A director just tells them what to do but without good art designers and programmers etc. the game won't come to fruition. A great game is made up of many great departments combining together

A person is only as good as the team he works with. Great games aren't made by one person and one person never gets credit. A director just tells them what to do but without good art designers and programmers etc. the game won't come to fruition. A great game is made up of many great departments combining together

seanmcloughlin

[QUOTE="seanmcloughlin"]

A person is only as good as the team he works with. Great games aren't made by one person and one person never gets credit. A director just tells them what to do but without good art designers and programmers etc. the game won't come to fruition. A great game is made up of many great departments combining together

Elann2008

Exactly. There are a lot of very talented people who get overlooked in games development. Using a recent example of skyrim people don't give the language guy enough credit to know the dragon language and to create a song in their tongue that rhymes in both Dragon speak and english

video games are such a diverse medium that they require teamwork even more so than film, so its often the studio that gets credit more than any one person (although i feel like in games the franchise is recognized more than the developer, which is disappointing but also an entirely different topic).

theres not much of a distinction between director and lead designer though. if theres a single person who has the most control over the end result, its the producer. the confusion is that the producer of a film just pays for everything and secures resources. in games, its very common that the producer has the overall vision and communicates it to various directors to translate into their respective fields (or communicates it to the lead designer/"director", depending on the structure of the studio). youll also notice that more western studios have directors but no credited producers. its because the publisher provides the finances and the director takes on the creative role that the producer would otherwise have.

rule of thumb: if theres a producer, that person generally gets the most credit. if theres no producer, either the director or lead designer gets the most credit. if there is both a director and lead designer position but no producer, then the director generally gets the most credit. its convoluted and not very helpful due to how most games are really made. hell, there are even exceptions (look up shadow of the colossus and see which of the top names you recognize). the focus should be most on the overall talent of the studio.

video games are such a diverse medium that they require teamwork even more so than film, so its often the studio that gets credit more than any one person (although i feel like in games the franchise is recognized more than the developer, which is disappointing but also an entirely different topic).

theres not much of a distinction between director and lead designer though. if theres a single person who has the most control over the end result, its the producer. the confusion is that the producer of a film just pays for everything and secures resources. in games, its very common that the producer has the overall vision and communicates it to various directors to translate into their respective fields (or communicates it to the lead designer/"director", depending on the structure of the studio). youll also notice that more western studios have directors but no credited producers. its because the publisher provides the finances and the director takes on the creative role that the producer would otherwise have.

rule of thumb: if theres a producer, that person generally gets the most credit. if theres no producer, either the director or lead designer gets the most credit. if there is both a director and lead designer position but no producer, then the director generally gets the most credit. its convoluted and not very helpful due to how most games are really made. hell, there are even exceptions (look up shadow of the colossus and see which of the top names you recognize). the focus should be most on the overall talent of the studio.

LoG-Sacrament

Actually, I was right about the producer. He doesn't have anything to do with the production of the project. It's just his job to finance it and hire the people who are in charge of making everything work. For example, Shigeru Miyamoto is listed as a producer for Killer Instinct, but it didn't have anything to do with how it was made.

[QUOTE="LoG-Sacrament"]

video games are such a diverse medium that they require teamwork even more so than film, so its often the studio that gets credit more than any one person (although i feel like in games the franchise is recognized more than the developer, which is disappointing but also an entirely different topic).

theres not much of a distinction between director and lead designer though. if theres a single person who has the most control over the end result, its the producer. the confusion is that the producer of a film just pays for everything and secures resources. in games, its very common that the producer has the overall vision and communicates it to various directors to translate into their respective fields (or communicates it to the lead designer/"director", depending on the structure of the studio). youll also notice that more western studios have directors but no credited producers. its because the publisher provides the finances and the director takes on the creative role that the producer would otherwise have.

rule of thumb: if theres a producer, that person generally gets the most credit. if theres no producer, either the director or lead designer gets the most credit. if there is both a director and lead designer position but no producer, then the director generally gets the most credit. its convoluted and not very helpful due to how most games are really made. hell, there are even exceptions (look up shadow of the colossus and see which of the top names you recognize). the focus should be most on the overall talent of the studio.

dtb2483