Two Games industrys and two different job roles within them.

In my contextual studies lecture this week we were told that we will be looking into the games industry roles and their Practices and having to do research about this. The research could consist of the future of the games industry and how it will grow, or even the indie side of the games industry to the biggest developers with big titles in the 'AAA' sector.  For task 1 we were told to choose 2 game companies of our choosing and then select 2 roles within the industry.

My first games studio that I have decided to write about and a role within this company is 'Lionhead studios' the company was first founded in 1996 in a English town called Guildford in Surrey. Founders of the company are "Peter Molyneux" and "Steve  Jackson". In 2006 Microsoft studios took possession of Lionhead studios. The company first started as a handful of employees and now the team has grown into the 100's, this shows how successful the company has become throughout the years.

The genre of games that the studio mostly focuses on is adventure style games. Here is a list of some of the games titles that they have developed and released throughout the years. 

• The Movies (PC)
• Fable (Xbox), Fable 2 and Fable 3 (Xbox 360)
• Fable legends (Xbox one)
•  Black and White (PC)

Within all games studios there are a number of roles that someone can take, Here is a list of roles within  Lionhead studio;

• Concept artist ( This could be a character artist or even a environment artist)
• Internships
• 3D modeller (Environment, Character) 
• Game play development manager 

Lionhead are currently hiring at the moment, here is one job role that is published at the moment and what they are looking for in a employee, this is in their words. 

Technical Director

Lionhead creates original, landmark games and is one of the world’s most respected studios.

Lionhead seeks a highly experienced Technical Director/Manager to lead the engineering team on its cutting edge new title.
Reporting to the Studio CTO, you will be responsible for managing the technical team while also partnering with the Game Director as the technical stakeholder in design - working closely with both teams to define the feature set for this AAA First Party production

Key Skills and Experiences

• Prior experience leading a technical team from concept to ship on multiple AAA projects as a Technical Director/Lead Programmer or Technical Manager.
• Demonstrable experience of working closely with other game teams to balance design/art requirements with technical scope and schedule.
• Lionhead creates original, landmark games and is one of the world’s most respected studios.
• Demonstrable experience of working closely with other game teams to balance design/art requirements with technical scope and schedule.  
• A thorough understanding of programming specialties including but not limited to: tools and pipelines, server infrastructure, 3D graphics, game logic, AI, networking; with significant expertise in more than one discipline.
• Experience of recruiting and managing a high performing team of at least 20 engineers.
• Experience working on MMORPGs, Multiplayer games or Action/Adventure titles on Xbox 360, PS3, or PC.
• Experience evaluating, implementing and enhancing middleware solutions.
• Excellent communication skills, to both senior management and team, with proven experience assessing and communicating project risk to stakeholders
• A passion for game development and cutting edge gameplay.

Lionhead studios, 2016, Permanent careers Lionhead Studios, [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.lionhead.com/careers/current-vacancies/permanent. [Accessed 17 January 16].

My second games studio that I have decided to write about and a role within this company is 'Dontnod entertainment' The company is a independent developer based in Paris, The company was founded by a former Criterion Games head called 'Oskar Guilbert' in 2008. The company isn't the biggest of company's and doesn't have as many employees as some but they have fairly reticently in 2015 developed and released a game called 'Life is strange' which has won awards.

Here is a list of titles the company has developed;

• Vampyr
• Remember me
• Life is strange 

Within all games studios there are a number of roles that someone can take, Here is a list of roles within Dontnod entertainment;

• Concept art (This could be character to environmental) 
• Animator
• 3D modeller (Character, environment, props) 
• QA testers

Currently Dontnod entertainment are hiring, here is one job role that is published at the moment and what they are looking for in a employee in their words.

UI gameplay/programmer

Position Duties

As part of developing a game for consoles, DONTNOD Entertainment is seeking a Programmer Interface / Gameplay. Reporting to the Lead Gameplay Programmer, the candidate will be responsible for:

    Working with the artist UI to design and implement the interfaces of the game while respecting the artistic vision
    Help designers specify their game mechanics and represent the interface
    Implement different game modes that can not be easily created with Unreal C ++, using the technologies selected by the company (Unreal for rendering and animation, PhysX for physics ...)
    Transform some patterns Unreal scripts or in C ++ for optimization purposes
    Correct existing code or adapt to new requirements or environmental system changes such
    Suggest and develop improvements in the house code or the game engine
    Follow the quality procedures necessary for each stage of development: validation, integration, software testing, regression testing ...
    Documenting workCandidate ProfileQualities

    Excellent interpersonal skills to interface with various teams: technical, artistic, production, exploitation
    Ability to clearly and skillfully express his opinion, to explain his work and to understand the needs and expectations of the other teams, for example on the game mechanics
    Autonomous and proactive
    Open-minded and loving teamwork
    Ability to quickly absorb and understand complex systems
    Culture oriented product / result; constant concern for the quality of the user experience
    Passion for gaming technologies; curiosity for new techniques and algorithmsTraining / experience / skills

    Fluent in C ++
    Two years in the video game industry or the Entertainment in a similar position, preferably on the project (s) for consoles. At least a project from start to finish is a big plus
    Knowledge of Unreal Engine 3 or 4 is a more
    Direct programming experience on consoles or on mobile platforms is a plus
    Knowledge of multi threaded programming and multi-processor is a plus.
    Development experience in SCRUM and XP is a more
    Fluency in English (reading technical documentation, interaction with middleware support     teams...)

 Wikia, 2016, DONTNOD Entertainment, [ONLINE] Available at: http://dontnodentertainment.wikia.com/wiki/DONTNOD_Entertainment. [Accessed 17 January 16].
DONTNOD Entertainment, 2016, DONTNOD Entertainment careers. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dont-nod.com/category/careers/. [Accessed 17 January 16].