Or are these worries unnecessary, and they're just human beings who can work perfectly well together?

Frank Rogan: Make software tools and pipelines a priority. Usually when an artist says the coders "don't speak the same language," it means the artist couldn't get the coder to do what he wanted him to do, and the coder couldn't explain to the artist why that would be difficult or time-consuming or distracting or solved through some other means the artist didn't think of. Screw that. Solve the problem once and for all by providing the artists with the tools they need to do their jobs the way they want to do them. And then reward the hell out of the coder that provided the tool (or the new feature, or the right bug fix) and make damn sure everyone knows what happened and why you, the producer, think that's just the bee's knees.

Amer Ajami: Peter, Ben, and Frank all hit on what I believe is the key to improved communication, not just between artists and engineers, but across all disciplines: collocation. Yeah, you need a team that speaks the same language and has great chemistry, and yeah you need guys on your team who will walk over to an engineer or an artist and solve problems on their own, without any oversight. But nothing knocks down the barriers of communication easier and moves development along faster than putting all your key guys in a room together and letting them run wild.

We have a physical setup at our studio that's not entirely conducive to a productive environment that promotes a lot of communication. The guys at Ubisoft Montreal did it right -- they basically sit in a giant warehouse with little to no walls separating a majority of the team. It's similar to the floor of any newsroom, for example. The energy level at their studio always seems high, and productivity doesn't seem to be a problem.

Our team here at EALA, on the other hand, sits in cubicles with 5 foot walls, and key people are often spread across the entire floor, sometimes separated by literally hundreds of feet. Obviously, not the ideal setup for making a game. The way we get around this communication barrier is to collocate certain members of the team (including engineers and artists) into a single space during key inflection points of the development cycle. We jokingly refer to these as "rooms of pain", but they're actually incredibly productive, and quite fun.

Having key engineers sitting literally face-to-face with key artists, with clear access to each others' monitors, cuts down on ambiguity, confusion, and miscommunication. These "rooms" only run for 1-2 weeks at a time, and are focused on hitting a specific milestone or delivering on a certain feature of the game, all while minimizing the impact on the rest of the team, which is ostensibly still doing its thing on the main floor.

If many of us had our druthers, our entire floor setup would be configured in a completely open space. But failing that, these "rooms of pain" are a great way to cut down the barriers to communication between all disciplines and drive the project forward at important times during development.

The opinions expressed by these producers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, plans or positions of the companies where they work at. If you are interested in being added to the interviewees for Producer Of The Round Table, please contact GameProducer.net.