As an artist, a designer, and a teacher the role of producer for a small game project, Knick-Knax, is both familiar and foreign. This is a weekly journal of some of the things I've learned, experienced, and witnessed along the way.
Logo Design: Part 2
So last week I started a logo for our game Knick Knax. I mentioned the fact that I usually spend 30 hours on a logo but it only took me 17.5 hours to create this one. This is most likely due to the fact that I didn’t have to work with a picky client. The majority of the work was coming up with a style that fit the demographic we are shooting for (6-12). We are now going to go back and retrofit the style to match all other marketing content and even use this style in the game’s UI.
In this day and age having a Facebook book page is an obvious must. Personally I’m not much of a Facebook user so I’ve actually learned quite a bit about the monetary side of things. Facebook makes the majority of its money by using integrated advertising, advertising that fits right in with user feeds. Having a business page on Facebook adds all kinds of buttons you don’t find on a personal page. Such buttons include “Promote Page” and “Boost Post” which are clearly visible on the example image below:
Clicking these buttons brings you to a page that looks like this:
As can clearly see, this page allows you to customize your ads, choose locations, interests, age ranges and gender types to target. You then set a daily budget, a time duration, and of course a form of payment and Facebook does the work for you. They even give you rough estimates of how many likes you’ll get per day with your current advertising settings. We intend to do some promoting when the game is released. In the meantime we are working on acquiring some funding, a https://www.indiegogo.com/ campaign might be the most logical route.
The plan for the coming week is to start creating more content to share on the Facebook page. It all starts by teaching the artists the style and technique I used on my logo so they can apply it to their work and to start taking pictures of the team and the work itself.
Morale
As the semester at UAT (the school I both teach and study at) rolls on I continue to learn the role of a producer through both experience and research. One of the areas that really stood out to me in my weekly readings was the idea of morale.
Morale is how the team (in general) feels about the project, their co-workers and their own personal confidence. With 7 years of teaching experience under my belt this is not a foreign concept. In fact, the more I learn about the role of a producer the more I realize it goes hand in hand with most of the traits that’s make an excellent instructor.
In my first post I mentioned respect. It’s hard to respect someone when you don’t feel like they care about you. As the adage goes “They don’t care how much you know until they know you how much you care.” This is ultimately true of all leadership positions. Just as a teacher sets the tone for their class a leader sets the tone for their team.
A producer must consistently present the project in a confident and positive light no matter what is happening behind the scenes. In order to do this they must not only speak and act this way, but they must focus on removing distractions that might undermine the team’s morale. It’s also important to focus on each individual, knowing all their names and their roles and responsibilities on the project. I have learned that it is the small things that make the great things come to fruition. The simple action of positive acknowledgement is sometimes all it takes to keep someone motivated. All of the small tasks that team members perform eventually add up to the finished project. Keeping the team happy and positive will always show in their work. If the ingredients are good so will be the finished recipe.
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Official Website: http://rolalas90.wix.com/knickknax
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnickKnaxGame
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KnickKnaxGame
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