Design Manager
Who We Are:
Ghost Story Games is a self-publishing game development studio founded by Ken Levine (Creative Director of System Shock 2, Bioshock, and Bioshock Infinite) and former Irrational Games developers. The studio’s mission is to create narrative-driven experiences rooted in immersive world building and gameplay.
The Challenge:
Ghost Story Games is seeking a talented Design Manager to join us on Judas, the highly anticipated game led by Ken Levine (System Shock 2, BioShock series). Unique in its bold, creative vision, Judas is also built upon novel technology by which the visual world, gameplay, and story unfolds in meaningful, dynamic ways. The result is a significant and personal journey adapted to each player’s experience and offers a new approach to the art and storytelling of video games.
As the Design Manager, your core challenge is to act as a contributor for the gameplay of Judas. You will be responsible for weaving together our dynamic narrative, deep rogue-lite mechanics, and other emergent, interconnected game systems. Success in this role means ensuring these complex elements feel like a single, seamless, and deeply rewarding player experience. This is a crucial role focused on the holistic integration and balancing of our core design pillars to deliver a truly groundbreaking game.
What You'll Take On:
- Manage Design Team personnel.
- Collaborate with technical and systems design leads on tasking for those groups.
- Create and maintain clear, concise design documentation that articulates system functionality.
- Work hands-on in Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) to prototype, build, and iterate on systems using Blueprint scripting.
- Collaborate closely with Engineering, Art, Narrative, and QA to ensure the cohesive and successful implementation of gameplay features.
- Champion the player experience, ensuring your designs are intuitive, engaging, and support a wide variety of playstyles.
- Actively participate in playtests, gathering feedback and iterating on designs to achieve the highest possible quality.
- Proactively identify design challenges and propose effective, innovative solutions that push creative boundaries.
- Act as a strong advocate for the player experience, ensuring your designs are intuitive, engaging, and align with the overall vision of Judas.
- Contribute significantly to design discussions and the evolution of design practices, fostering a studio culture of knowledge-sharing.
What You Bring:
- 5+ years of professional systems design experience on AAA titles.
- Shipped at least one AAA game in a systems design capacity.
- Proven expertise in designing and implementing core gameplay loops, progression systems, and player-facing mechanics.
- Strong proficiency with Unreal Engine (UE4/UE5), particularly in-engine implementation and Blueprint scripting.
- A proactive, self-motivated work ethic, with a strong sense of ownership and the ability to operate with autonomy.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to articulate complex design concepts clearly.
- A deep passion for creating emergent, systems-driven gameplay and narrative-rich experiences.
- Understanding of telemetry and its uses within game development to validate implementations.
- As a senior team member, you lead by example and demonstrate a willingness to mentor others.
Great to Have:
- Passion for narrative-driven First-Person Shooters.
- Scripting proficiency within Unreal Engine (e.g., advanced Blueprint usage) is a plus. Experience with C++ is a bonus.
- Direct experience with roguelike/roguelite or immersive sim genres.
- Experience designing systems that enhance replayability and emergent outcomes.
- Familiarity with content tracking tools (e.g., JIRA, Confluence, Hansoft) or version control systems (e.g., Perforce).
When Applying For This Position:
Please watch the following GDC talk given by Ken Levine: http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020434/Narrative
The pay range for this position in Massachusetts at the start of employment is expected to be between $130,000 and $170,000 per year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations.
Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.
Regular, full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefits at the Company, including: medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Company’s discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefits; and reimbursements for fitness-related expenses.