Sean McNamara
Lead Content Designer
sean.gamedesign@gmail.com
Overview
Self-motivated Creative Lead with 13 years of industry experience. Demonstrated expertise in maintaining IP quality, guiding diverse creative visions, and aligning projects with overarching creative strategies. Skilled in effective communication, excelling in internal and external team environments. Proven track record in leading the development and launch of live service games across multiple platforms.
Wonderstorm
LEAD CONTENT DESIGNER, THE DRAGON PRINCE: UN-ANNOUNCED PROJECT - June 2021-Present
Lead and mentor an 8-person content team made up of level designers, technical designers, and content designers.
Run multiple weekly playtests to generate feedback and identify action items which gives each designer on my team clear goals for the current development milestone.
Engage studio leadership on a regular basis to align on game vision and design goals.
Communicate game vision and design goals to each of my teams to ensure that missions and mechanics champion the core pillars that have been set out by game team leadership.
Developed and implemented a robust content development pipeline, enhancing functionality and visual consistency across the game.
Own the creation and maintenance of documentation, wireframes, flow graphs, and script snippets that define key features and tools used in our content development process.
Engage with the production team to proactively identify potential obstacles and create action plans to avoid roadblocks in future milestones.
Own and implement major pieces of mission content starting with paper design all the way through to delivery using UE4 and other proprietary tools.
Cryptic Studios
LEAD CONTENT DESIGNER/SENIOR CONTENT DESIGNER/STAFF CONTENT DESIGNER, MAGIC LEGENDS - MAY 2018 – MAY 2021
Managed and mentored a 9-person content team in the creation of campaign missions and zones through actionable feedback and clear goals.
Drove the creation of content design pillars through a collaborative process. This ensured the team had a unified vision of the content development pipeline and could champion our goals in any cross disciplinary interaction.
Developed and maintained documentation for realizing game modes, pacing structures, technical implementation, and design best practices for all missions, modes, and levels.
Developed and prototyped new content archetypes and gameplay mechanics for future expansions, including end-game evergreen content and cyclical events.
Review all content to ensure alignment with design direction and generate action items to give designers a clear direction to execute on.
Develop and deliver comprehensive mission content, including AI scripting with behavior trees, storytelling, pacing, and mission & encounter scripting.
Collaborate with production and other department leads to create sprints and block schedules to align design direction and minimize dependency friction across all teams.
Own and implement multiple campaign missions using a proprietary visual game editor. This includes concise design documentation, scripting gameplay, iterating on feedback, and collaboration across disciplines.
F84 Games
LEAD GAME DESIGNER - JANUARY 2010 – MARCH 2018
Spearheaded game development for various platforms including mobile, console, PC, and web.
Design 2D and 3D levels from block out to full mechanic and art implementation.
Manage an interdisciplinary team of designers, artists, and engineers to ensure high quality product launches within expected timeline and budget.
Act as point of contact to ensure game vision, design direction, and overall quality bar for all ongoing projects with clients including Mattel, Disney, and Warner Bros.
Education
Bachelor's of Sceience in Game Art and Design - 2009 - The Art Institute of California, Los Angeles
Project Lead for 30-man Unreal Engine 3 mod team
Submitted 2.5D Side Scroll Shooter full conversion mod to the Make Something Unreal Competition, winning 2nd place for non-fps game mod
Skills
13 Years:
Game Design
Level Design
UX Design
Game Production
Unity 3D
Unreal 4
Max
Team Leadership
Scheduling
Time Management
Program Management
Jira, Trello
Office 365, Google Docs
QA
Agile Development
Creative Collaboration
Technical Writing
Game Documentation
Adobe Photoshop
Interdisciplinary Communication