DESIGN MANAGER Job at Ghost Story Games in Oklahoma City

Overview

Ghost Story Games is a self-publishing game development studio founded by Ken Levine and former Irrational Games developers. The studio’s mission is to create narrative-driven experiences rooted in immersive world building and gameplay.

Design Manager – Judas

Ghost Story Games is seeking a talented Design Manager to join us on Judas, the highly anticipated game led by Ken Levine. Judas is built upon novel technology where the visual world, gameplay, and story unfold in meaningful, dynamic ways. The result is a 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 contribute to the gameplay of Judas. You will weave together our dynamic narrative, roguelite mechanics, and other emergent, interconnected game systems. Success means ensuring these elements feel like a single, seamless, and deeply rewarding player experience. This role focuses on holistic integration and balancing of our core design pillars to deliver a 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 cohesive and successful implementation of gameplay features.

Champion the player experience, ensuring designs are intuitive, engaging, and support a wide variety of playstyles.

Actively participate in playtests, gathering feedback and iterating on designs to achieve high quality.

Proactively identify design challenges and propose effective, innovative solutions that push creative boundaries.

Advocate for the player experience, ensuring designs align with the overall vision of Judas.

Contribute to design discussions and the evolution of design practices, fostering a 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 mentor others.

Great to Have

Passion for narrative-driven First-Person Shooters.

Scripting proficiency within Unreal Engine (e.g., advanced Blueprint usage); C++ is a plus.

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 (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

Privacy and application information : The Privacy Notice for Job Applicants explains how your data will be used. If you need more information, contact the Privacy Notice contact. Will you require sponsorship for employment visa status? Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?

Thank you for your interest in joining Ghost Story Games.

Note

This description includes the core responsibilities and qualifications for the role. All other application form fields and prompts have been omitted from this refined description.

#J-18808-Ljbffr