With Playtopia, the annual destination of Indie Games & Immersive Arts festival and conference set to return in 2023, GIA has partnered with the event to share insights from the crop of supremely talented creators in attendance. The next out of a series of speaker interviews is Senior Producer at Devolver Digital, Adoné Kitching.
Would you kindly provide some background into who you are, your entry into the games industry and how you came into your current position with Devolver Digital?
Sure. I’m Adoné. I work as a Senior Producer at Devolver Digital, and I’ve been with the team for just over three years now.
I found my way into the games industry in my late 20s. I’d done a Masters degree in Social Anthropology and was working as a policy researcher at an NGO focused on urban development. I enjoyed the work I was doing, but it didn’t offer much in the way of creative expression. One weekend my husband suggested that we participate in SA Game Jam – an event hosted by Free Lives – and it was love at first jam for both of us. We realised that making games was a way to use our existing skills in new and exciting ways.
I joined the team at Free Lives as a Producer in 2018, after about two years of making small games, doing a short course in User Experience Design and getting to know the local game making community. At Free Lives, I was thrown into the deep end, learning how to produce games on the go. I learned some incredibly valuable lessons about game development there, and I’m proud to have worked with the team on GORN and Cricket Through the Ages.
While at Free Lives, I worked closely with the Devolver Digital team and learned a lot from them. When I was ready to make a career move, Andrew Parsons (Director of Production at Devolver Digital) reached out about an opportunity to join the team and here we are! It’s been three years of working on some of the most exciting games with some of the most kind, experienced and creative people.
If it did influence your work, how did your previous experience as an Urban Land Policy Researcher contribute to your producer credits on Terra Nil?
My background in urban development definitely contributed to my appreciation of Terra Nil’s subject matter, but the thoughtful and engaging treatment of topics like climate change and our impact on the environment comes from the incredible team at Free Lives. Sam Alfred and Jonathan Hau-Yoon, along with the rest of the team, put so much care into developing the game. I’m really glad to have been a part of it.
For the uninitiated, what role does a producer play in game development?
Game Producers are essentially facilitators of the game development process. We make sure that teams have what they need to do their work, whether that’s information, tools, support, time and/or money. We help to streamline communication processes across disciplines like engineering, design and art to ensure that everyone on the team is working towards the same goal. We also help define what those goals are – taking into consideration what parts of the game need to work, by when and what tasks are involved with getting it there.
What’s expected of a Producer will change depending on the environment you’re in. As a development Producer you’re focused on the day-to-day tasks of the team, whereas publishing Production is focused on milestone reviews and stakeholder management.
Whatever the exact shape the Production role takes, however, we as Producers are expected to have a bird’s eye view of the project. We know when the project is hitting key milestones, what the main areas of concern are, what resources are needed to get it to release and – of course – what makes the game special.
What infrastructure exists to find and guide those with aspirations to be Producers in South Africa?
Folks in South Africa who are interested in Production should go out and find the community! Events like Make Games SA meetups in JHB and Maker’s Massive meetups in Cape Town are the perfect opportunity to connect with and learn from other game developers. There are Producers with varying levels of experience who can share their insights and help new Producers find their way. Ask them questions about what their day looks like and find out how they got to where they are.
What are you hoping to take away from Playtopia?
I’m so excited that Playtopia is back! Both 2018 and 2019 events were incredibly inspiring, and I expect nothing less from this year’s festival. By bringing together creative people and showcasing experimental, engaging games, Playtopia is the kind of event that reminds me why I work in this industry.
This year I’m also hoping to connect with game developers from across the African continent – to play their games and to learn more about game development communities in the region.
What advice would you offer to new entrants to the game producer profession?
Ask questions! So. Many. Questions. A lot of the problems we deal with as Producers come from unchecked assumptions. A task was assumed done, now the team is blocked. There was an assumption that a requirement was communicated, now we need to spend more resources on development and testing. By asking questions, you give yourself and others on your team the opportunity to share information and to operate from the same starting point.
Asking questions also helps you understand your team, the game and the development process. Producers are often framed as the ones who tell people what to do, which might make new Producers feel uncomfortable with admitting that they don’t know something. Of course, part of the job is to define goals and priorities, to keep the team to deadlines and to ensure that we deliver on commitments. But in order to do any of those parts of the job well, you need accurate information. What motivates your team? Why do they approach a problem in a particular way? Why do they use this tool instead of that one? Why is that action mapped to the X button rather than the Y button? How does source control work?
The best Producers I know ask relevant, focused questions that point right to the heart of a problem and help a team improve their process and their game.
I also recommend making games. Whether you’re using simple tools like Bitsy or Twine, or more complex engines like Unity or Unreal, making games will give you as a new or aspiring Producer the best insight into some of the challenges the team might face during development. By making games, you’re building up a vocabulary that will make it easier for you to communicate with your team down the line.
Check out the full program and consider joining Playtopia, which will run from December 7th to 9th December 2023 in Cape Town.
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