Lead Game Designer
Other Ocean Interactive — 2019
[PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch]

Summary

Multiplayer social deception game blending survival mechanics with hidden traitor gameplay. As Lead Game Designer, I delivered the core player experience from conception to post-launch live support, designing and iterating on features that fostered distrust, communication, and cooperation.

Key Contributions

• Vision & Direction: Led design vision across the entire project lifecycle, translating the core fantasy of social betrayal into tightly scoped gameplay systems.

• Core Systems Design: Designed and balanced critical systems, including traitor mechanics, crafting, survival conditions, objectives, and voting mechanics.

• Player Psychology: Focused on promoting emergent behavior and distrust through spatial design, limited communication systems (voice/radio), and false flag mechanics.

• Cross-Disciplinary Leadership: Collaborated daily with artists, engineers, and producers to integrate features that aligned with the creative vision and technical constraints.

• LiveOps & Updates: Directed multiple post-launch updates based on player feedback and telemetry data, including feature expansions, new roles, and balance patches.

• Player Onboarding: Designed streamlined tutorials and UX improvements to reduce onboarding friction and better retain new players.

Highlights

• Shipped on 4 platforms, maintaining parity and intuitive design across console and PC.

• Helped grow the game from indie release to a multi-million player base through smart, modular system design and strong feature prioritization.

• Project Winter became a Top 10 most-played title on Xbox Game Pass during peak months post-launch.