Job Description
At Splash Damage, we’re dedicated to crafting team-based multiplayer games that ignite friendships as much as they do healthy competition and teamwork.
Our teams celebrated the launch of Gears Tactics earlier this year, and we’re currently developing Outcasters for Stadia along with several unannounced titles.
As an UnrealEngine focused studio, we're excited to be transitioning our teams to the latest in UE5 technology and we're looking for skilled and passionate developers to help us drive this.
We're advocates for work-life balance and offer a comprehensive benefits package focused on the well-being of our staff and their families.
We believe that teams create the best work when they have a range of perspectives and experiences to draw from. Therefore we're committed to increasing diversity across our studio, fostering an inclusive environment to ensure everyone's voices are heard.
Due to the on-going COVID-19 outbreak, we're all currently working from home. We’re still looking to welcome new team members, who'll join us remotely until we return to the studio.
The role:
As a Creative Director at Splash Damage, you will be a key member of a leadership team responsible for the creative vision, direction and success of a product.
You will represent and reconcile the needs of the business, the player, and team members’ needs on the project. You will be responsible for the output and growth of the entire design discipline on your project and for the morale, alignment and cohesion of all team members, across disciplines.
Beyond your project you will work to share knowledge, improve standards and processes across the studio and across disciplines, albeit with a focus on design.
You will regularly communicate the vision throughout the studio. You will oversee the creation and maintenance of documentation including the GDD and wiki pages, though you will largely communicate verbally; spending time with each team member, at their desks, ensuring they understand the vision and design, are “bought-in” and have what they need to do their jobs. You will ensure the team feel the progress they are making and what their work is in service of, in the bigger picture.
You will regularly and effectively communicate with any external partners or publishers; managing those relationships, presenting the creative achievements of the team, negotiating feature / change requests. You will communicate outwards to press, communities and fans in various formats from live appearances to pre-recorded interviews to forum engagement acting as both an evangelist and representative of the product and as an ambassador for Splash Damage.
You will manage, mentor, develop & coach Lead Game Designers. You will be integral to the planning on your project working alongside Production to create roadmaps, hiring and succession plans, and scoping exercises.
As a leader you will set the tone on the project and ensure Splash Damage’s values are embraced and embodied by you team; including ensuring your team have autonomy and do not feel dictated to.
You have:
- A passion for making and playing games
- A deep understanding of all aspects of design with mastery in many areas including; feedback, controls, balance, narrative, game-feel, retention, usability, on-boarding, social mechanics
- Significant industry experience in a Lead position (or more senior) and 3 shipped AAA current gen or last gen (PS4 / Xbox One) console or PC title that featured a multiplayer component, worked on from beginning to end
- At least one shipped title featuring post-launch monetization beyond simple DLC packs; ideally a Free-to-play title
- Leadership experience, including the running of running a multi-person design team; man-management, mentoring, line-management
- Experience of being the vision holder on a project, communicating that vision out and getting buy-in from your team and external stakeholders
- Experience of being the flag-bearer / champion for a product including giving presentations to press and at conferences / events
- Experience in creating first or third person shooters
- Excellent verbal and presentation skills
- Excellent written communication skills, including writing high quality and thorough design documentation
- Knowledge of industry trends in regards to genres, gameplay, development models, and financial models
- Experience with design documentation, diagram and flow-chart creation, including wiki-based design documentation and spreadsheets
- Experience with source-control applications (SVN, Perforce, AlienBrain, etc.)
- The ability to work collaboratively with other disciplines and experience of being a key part of a leadership group
- Strong maths skills; formulas, probability, statistics and balancing
- Highly experienced with Microsoft Office Products and other business software including: Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, Adobe Photoshop or similar
- Strong problem solving skills including lateral thinking
- An understanding of systems, systemic design, emergent gameplay and the place of procedural content generation in development
- An understanding of player psychology and motivations
- Undergraduate degree in Video Game Design, Computer Science, Marketing, Entertainment or a form of technical training
- Experience running the live phase of a game as a service, including using telemetry / metrics to inform design and content decisions
- Experience of parsing the results of, and acting on, market research e.g. Focus groups, qualitative and quantitative surveys, etc.
- Experience of prototyping gameplay mechanics using UE4, UE3, Unity, or similar
Splash Damage is an equal opportunity employer. We believe our teams create better work when they have a range of perspectives to draw from, and we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment that celebrates diversity.
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