2.5 Game Production Interviews: Renee Wooten (Part 1 of 2), Associate Producer at KingsIsle

This episode, Renee Wooten was an exceptional guest. Renee has a keen interest in accessibility and inclusion, as well as solid experience with customer and community-facing roles. After gaining a Game Design Bsc from Full Sail University, she started her inevitable climb to production stardom with KingsIsle Entertainment, based in Austin, Texas. Renee has worked on the Live Service MMO Wizard101 for the last 3.5 years.

We split the episode: part 1 is production focused, whereas part 2 is focused on being a woman in the games industry. Renee has been kind enough to contribute an article on the subject which we will link to from Part 2!

Topics in Part One include:
00:00 Intros
03:10 What Renee brings to the job of game production
08:00 Empowerment and enrichment
11:50 Communication across teams and titles
15:00 Inclusion and accessibility
21:20 Was life as a producer as expected? (Spoiler: no)
24:55 Creative input and leadership
26:00 Taking advantage of the Game Design BSc
27:50 A Day in the Life
31:00 Listening to feedback from internal and external sources
35:00 Deep-dive into Wizard101 - Intro
37:00 Child Safety and Production concerns
41:20 Ever feel like a spare part?
43:20 Data-driven decision-making
47:10 Project management for features and content work
52:30 Hybrid methodologies
55:00 The voice of the game - who owns it?
59:20 How to face the noise near milestone deadline day
62:20 Retrospectives - do them
64:50 Advice on forming strong relationships with the team and leads
68:20 The hardest part of producing the game
69:25 2 headlines and leadership support
73:40 Mentorship
(We took out a bunch of talking at this point and that forms Part 2!)
75:15 Why be a producer?
83:20 What does the future hold?
85:05 How everything affects everything else when you are making a game!
88:20 Farewells

Renee mentioned a few things while chatting that you might like the links to.

Darksider Post-Mortem:
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/119736/Postmortem_Highlights_Behind_The_Scenes_of_Darksiders.php

Crucial Conversations:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second/dp/0071771328

I mentioned Blood, Sweat & Pixels:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Sweat-Pixels-Triumphant-Turbulent/dp/0062651234

As well as the SpecialEffect charity:
https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/

We would love feedback - leave it anywhere we can reach it! For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out:
http://www.game-production.com

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