Team17 assistant producer Hollie Emery talks about her role at the indie games label
What is your job? What does it involve?
I’m an assistant producer for Team17. Part of my role has me working with the Team17 Games Label – supporting our external partners with their games to full release and beyond.
What are your main responsibilities?
My day-to-day is managing relationships with the development teams I work with. That could take the shape of communicating deadlines between the developers and/or Team17’s different departments, working with my teams to schedule up work or project goals and organising QA, localisation, working with release management and platform holders.... that’s only a small section!
How did you get your job?
I started work in video games retail back in 2010, which was my route into the industry. I then applied and started off in QA at Team17 just shy of 6 years ago. Moved my way up the ladder here with a mixture of enthusiasm, passion for games and a pinch of cheekiness.
What special skills or qualifications did you need?
This was a fun one - I don’t have a degree. I stepped into the industry with eagerness to learn, an addiction to collecting gamerscore - all off the back of working in video games retail.
What new skills have you had to learn for this role?
People management skills. Each member of your team is different, and you encourage and motivate each member of your team in different ways. Also there is A LOT of product knowledge to learn across your different PC, console and mobile platforms. Delegation too, difficult one especially when you’re passionate about the things you’re doing.
Describe a normal day. What do you do?
I work with teams across America and Europe, so checking emails is my pre morning coffee check. Then I’ll catch-up with various members of my teams over the course of the day over progress with development, also mentoring more junior members of Production. Providing progress updates to the relevant Team17 folk and of course, being cheeky.
What are the best and worst parts of your role?
The best part is I have a window into every aspect of games development whilst working with my teams. I have visibility on code, design, art, audio, QA, usability and more. And of course, being a part of shaping that game into a final form!
Is there a worst part?! I find there’s definitely sadness when you’ve shipped a game (woohoo!), and you’re no longer working as closely with a developer anymore. I’ve kept in touch and still see some of the teams I’ve worked alongside before, which is lovely!
What tips would you give to someone applying for a similar position?
Get familiar with scheduling tools. Read up on popular methodologies for games development (ie, Agile, Waterfall). Grow your network. Never burn bridges. Sometimes you can help people solve problems just by being their sounding board.
This piece is part of our New Year New Job coverage for the start of 2018. If you want to get in touch to share your insight, email [email protected].
