Communication. Teamwork. Feedback.
WHO I AM
Award-winning Lead Designer with 6+ years of experience designing memorable moments.
Committed to create state of the art PC and console games.
Management
team coordination
task prioritization & management
mentoring and guidance
help define key pillars
high-level decision making
act on stakeholder feedback
multidisciplinary interactions
regular goal-oriented sprints
retrospectives and reviews
plan scope and pipelines
establish workflows & guidelines
team building and hiring
systems design background
thesis in boss enemy design
collaborating on 3Cs early on
creative training and brainstorming methods
feature design in new & established systems
game jam sessions
analyzing and outlining problems
improvement of workflow processes
presenting short and long term solutions
displaying information in effective ways
link between different departments
clear and profound contributions in meetings
early feedback-seeking
following the fun
giving constructive feedback
sharing knowledge with fellow devs
training interns for their design tasks
incorporate externals into the workflow
vision and design pitching to stakeholders
holding talks at game dev events
design documents and pacing graphs
clear metrics and affordances
open-world content distribution
2D Layout & 3D Blockout
iterative building process
narrative-focused singleplayer beats
open-world level guidance
events and player interactions
systemic and custom AI behaviors
static and dynamic encounters
dialogue implementation
framing and composition
animation and camera setup
environmental storytelling
terrain & vegetation editing
asset placement & collider passes
hands-on in-engine work
several game genres
personal, student, and professional projects
Documentation (Office/Confluence)
prepare, edit, and process data
setting up naming conventions
best practices and guidelines
creating molecular overviews
drafting level layouts
gather references for Level Artists
creating clean level blockouts
solid collision and navigation
highlighting affordances and points of interest
scripting and staging encounters and cutscenes
data-driven and node-based systems
collab with programmers on scripting tools
basic education in computer science program
small personal and student projects
- manage, mentor, and coordinate designers
- close collaboration with Game Direction
- define and establish core gameplay and key pillars
- find and execute a clear visual language
- define level and encounter metrics
- establish mission- and systemic-encounter scripting
- world design, content distribution, and player progression
- prepare documents for stakeholders
- coordinate and work with producing and other leads
Complete Edition 26th of October for PC & Consoles
- lead design substitute (managing and mentoring)
- contribution to several systems and features in game design
- boss design including narrative work, unit abilities, look & feel
- overseeing the production of external level designers
- complete ownership of multiple campaign levels
- layout, blockout, scripting, staging, and polish
- additional support for several levels (team-based iteration)
- technical design work for scripting tools
- 3 C design (character, camera, controls)
- core system and feature design
- level design ownership (modular and custom)
- AI behavior and encounter design
- technical design and prototype support
- student representative in the foundation
- enhancing advisory board with student experience
- advocating for gamedev students, graduates, and young startups
Monster Menace Matthew (2D Dungeon Crawler)
canceled
- creating Game Design Documents
- exploring different ideas in narrative and gameplay
- prototyping mechanics and features
- tile-based 2D level design
10 weeks of blocking out levels based on recorded lessons by Lead Game Designer Emilia Schatz (Naughty Dog), with feedback and Q&A sessions provided by Game Designer Shane Canning (Square Enix)
Co-Founder and Organizer of "alpha" (regular panel discussions and game jams for students),
Member of the study affairs committee (for Media Informatics and Interactive Entertainment)
Best German Studio 2017 & 2020,
Best Game Design and Best German Game for "Iron Harvest" in 2020
Organized an alpha game jam with 50 developers and even more people during final presentations.
Presenting our graduation project "Koa Bunga" at the German Dev Days as one of few indiedev exhibitors.
Every year our university chose one of our games for gamescom, to show what you can accomplish as a student team.
An Exhibition for Model Building, Model Railways, Creative Arts and Play.
My name is Justin Zwack and this is my portfolio.
I'm a Game & Level Designer with studio, freelance and lead experience currently working at KING Art Games in Bremen, Germany.
© 2020 Justin Zwack All Rights Reserved
