Lead Game Designer

Koolhaus Games Inc.; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Koolhaus Games Inc. is seeking a Lead Game Designer to guide design across projects, ensuring a unified vision aligned with studio strategy.

The role requires owning the design process from concept to completion, mentoring designers, and collaborating with art and programming teams to deliver compelling, monetizable experiences.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 4 years in the digital media industry as a Lead or Senior designer at developer or publisher level
• Experience with PC/STEAM
• Shipped at least 3 AAA F2P released projects (Mobile / Console / PC / Mac)
• University degree, college diploma or equivalent experience
• Successfully owned the creative design vision and implementation from concept to completion
• Experience programming or scripting is a plus

Responsibilities

• Lead game and app design for assigned projects and ensure a cohesive vision
• Create an overall product vision in collaboration with studio leadership
• Stay updated on current game design trends and best practices
• Communicate the project vision effectively to the team
• Incorporate core mechanics and monetization considerations into the project
• Collaborate with artists and programmers for proper feature implementation
• Oversee design-related documentation and milestone deliverables
• Provide career management and mentorship for designers
• Manage and direct a team of game designers
• Foster a healthy, creative, productive work environment
• Resolve design conflicts and maintain project momentum

Skills

Excellent communicator

ARM monetization

Core game mechanics

Multi-project design

Critical thinking

Leadership & delegation

Documentation

Education

University degree

College diploma or equivalent

Tools

MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Job description

ROLE – The primary role of the Lead Game Designer is to be the guiding light for all games being developed or serviced by Koolhaus Games. The Lead Designer provides and maintains the overall vision and ensures that products are aligned with the strategic goals of the studio.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Game and App Design

• Take responsibility for the successful design of assigned projects
• Create an overall vision for products, in conjunction with the studio leadership group
• Stay up to date with the current state of game design in the industry
• Effectively communicate their vision for the project to the rest of the team
• Understand core game mechanics and how to incorporate them into the larger project
• Understand the current market as it relates to F2P games as a service i.e. acquisition, retention, and monetization
• Craft well designed apps and games for a variety of genres and demographics

Development Team Interaction

• Effectively communicate and 'sell' your vision and direction
• Initiate and support an all-encompassing, cross discipline creative team environment
• Understand what is possible artistically and technologically
• Work with artists and programmers to ensure proper implementation of the game features as designed

Documentation

• Oversee the creation and maintenance of all design-related documentation
• Work with the studio leadership to develop project specifications that define the scope of the project, requirements of the prototype, and deliverables of milestones

Staff Support

• Provide career management and mentoring for designers with different levels of experience
• Organizes and directs a team of game designers
• Ensure that the design team’s work environment is healthy and facilitates a high degree of creativity and productivity
• Help settle project-related design conflicts and disputes
• Manage a talented creative team of game designers

Skills

• Excellent communicator
• Full understanding of ARM: acquisition, retention and monetization
• Demonstrated expert level ability to generate core game mechanics, core loops, meta game, story, functionality and other aspects of game design
• Able to multi-task, designing multiple projects across multiple genres
• Strong critical thinking skills
• Excellent leadership, time-management and delegation skills
• Solid knowledge of the game design and development process
• Strong documentation skills
• Expert familiarity with MS Office tools i.e. Word, Excel, Powerpoint

Requirements

• Minimum of 4 years working in the digital media industry as a Lead or Senior designer at either the developer or publisher level
• Must have experience with PC/STEAM
• Shipped at least 3 AAA F2P released projects (Mobile / Console / PC / Mac)
• University degree, college diploma or equivalent experience
• Successfully owned the creative design vision and implementation from concept to completion
• Experience programming or scripting is a plus

Relationships

• Reports to: Producer and CEO
• Manages: Game Designers

Compensation

• Competitive salary, benefits, revenue/royalty sharing and stock option package available for the right candidate

Return To Office

• We are no longer working remotely as we’ve found this to be counter productive to the creative process