Principal Game Designer

Job Description

The Job

WB Games Inc. seeks a Principal Game Designer for the WBG San Francisco Design department. Working with the Director of Design, the Principal Designer will establish and evolve the overall vision for multiple facets of their assigned game. The Principal Designer is an individual contributor who is a recognized expert in their field. This is a ''forward looking role,'' with expectation that the Principal will lead discipline to understand emerging trends and technologies that may benefit/impact how we design games. There is typically only one incumbent in each discipline per studio.

The Daily
• Creates ground-breaking prototypes which reflect new, innovative systems and features. Designs the most complex features or systems and ensures design is represented in clear, concise game documentation. Ensures ongoing and iterative design documentation that keeps pace with the project's progress.
• Owns ideation and implementation plans for multiple areas of responsibility. Effectively communicates design direction, requirements and deliverables across disciplines. Generates industry-leading, innovative content delivery within their area of responsibility and has a major impact on driving quality and innovation for many of the differentiating features of the overall game. Establishes standards and develops effective integration plans with other disciplines or groups.
• Works in collaboration with other disciplines to find ground-breaking solutions to the constraints or requirements identified by other disciplines (e.g. memory usage).
• Implements, manipulates and tunes content. Reviews game system(s) within area of responsibility and ensures optimal balancing across the game for player experience and creative goals.
• Acts as a leader, mentor and role model.

The Essential
• 12 years of game design experience, with at least 3 years of mobile F2P experience including live operations.
• Must have proven success in game development, typically in a role of major responsibility.
• Have contributed to several game titles that are recognized as having reached significant critical and/or commercial success.
• Possesses expert knowledge of game design principles such as design theory and methodologies, environment, directing player experience, player behaviour, choice and motivation, game progression and pacing, etc.
• Maintains an unparalleled knowledge of competitive products and trends. Expert at deconstructing competitive game design elements and understanding the correlation with player experience and satisfaction. Distils and shares insights within the team.
• Possess an incomparable understanding of all game development disciplines and their inputs into the content pipeline. Possesses a comprehensive understanding of how area of ownership is manifest in the overall game design and final product. Exceptional ability to communicate design concepts effectively, verbally, in written format, or visually to other disciplines.
Oversees the development and establishment of proposals and design goals for area(s) of responsibility. Holds and translates vision for broad area of ownership consistent with the overall vision for the game.
• Exhibits mastery with mocking up design features using appropriate tools, such as MS Office, Photoshop, Maya/Max, Confluence, internal wikis, etc.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gmke13-3-129-39-55-42 in your application.