Manager, Game Design

Job Description

Manager, Game Design

Are you an experienced game developer with a penchant for high quality, 3rd person, Action/Adventure games? If you enjoy PlayStation's library of games and top-tier studios we want to hear from you!

PlayStation is building a new game development team in partnership with the Visual Arts Service Group (VASG), an award-winning, full-production studio that specializes in Animation, Motion Capture, Cinematics, Art and Scanning. This is the same world-class team known for its contributions to beloved franchises like The Last of Us, Uncharted, Death Stranding, God of War and more. For more than a decade, we have shared knowledge, support and cutting-edge techniques with the very best developers in the industry: Naughty Dog, Kojima Productions, Guerrilla Games, Santa Monica Studios, Sucker Punch Productions, Bend Studio, Japan Studio, Insomniac Games and more.

This high visibility project is being developed in collaboration with a major Sony development studio. Though currently unannounced, we have a clear vision and plan to release.
Our game development team will leverage our existing expertise and premier talent, guaranteeing a high visual quality bar for the title.

Project Responsibilities:
• Responsible for all major design-related tasks: systems, encounters, behaviors, combat, balancing, collaboration with art and animation, etc.
• Delegate design-related tasks to team members
• Track work progress; follow up to ensure goals are being met
• Present, communicate and advocate development team perspectives as appropriate and needed
• Develop interpersonal relationships with team members; know their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses
• Use scripting language and other tools to implement and integrate complex gameplay scenarios
• Author readable scripts with comments that other members can adjust if needed
• Verify, approve and fix scripts so that all design scenarios work as desired. Consideration for checkpoints, difficulty levels, and cinematics
• Collaborate across disciplines to get work done and clear dependencies
• Collaborate directly with artists, programmers, animators and other game designers to contribute to the vision of the game

Management Responsibilities:
• Support the professional goals and development opportunities for the development staff
• Provide coaching (internal development opportunities, mentoring, one-on-ones)
• Plan and execute (or secure) relevant training and conferences for the team
• Counsel as needed (including PIPs and other corrective/disciplinary actions)

Qualifications:
• Preferred: 5+ years designing and scripting single-player levels for console games
• At least 1 shipped AAA title
• Minimum one development cycle managing, coaching, and mentoring engineers or technical developers
• Experience with staffing and team building
• Previous experience delegating design related tasks
• Experience scripting complicated level scenarios & combat encounters considering checkpoints and game saves
• Experience with creating and fine tuning NPC behaviors and actions
• Understanding of scripting/programming concepts using a language such as C#, Lua, Javascript, or Python
• Good working knowledge of Maya, 3DS Max or similar 3D package
• Project scheduling experience
• Strong and effective communication skills

Desired qualifications:
• Previous experience shipping a 3rd person action game
• Console development experience
• Proficiency with Maya

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g6knv8-3-133-109-211-42 in your application.