# Brett Levin > Design Director / Principal Designer | Game Systems, Live Service & Team Leadership (PC, Console, Mobile) Location: Mill Valley, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/brettlevin Design Director and Principal Designer with 25+ years of experience building and shipping games across PC, console, mobile, and online platforms. Proven leader of multidisciplinary design teams from early concept through launch and live operations. Deep hands-on expertise in game systems design, progression and economy design, onboarding (FTE), live service features, and social/multiplayer mechanics. Experience spans AAA, mobile, and experimental projects, including licensed IP (Star Wars, Command & Conquer, Knives Out), original IP, and emerging technology exploration. Known for servant leadership, mentorship, and translating creative vision into clear, implementable design systems while maintaining sustainable production practices. Comfortable operating as both a creative leader and senior individual contributor. ## Work Experience ### Co-Founder, Design Director @ Snake Punch Studios Jan 2026 – Present | Mill Valley, California, United States New game ideation, prototyping and pre-production development. Game & System Design ### Principal Designer @ The Game Band Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 | Mill Valley, California, United States Principal Designer on Dead Man’s Party, a Knives Out transmedia game launched on Netflix Games alongside Wake Up Dead Man Designed core game flow, systems, and contributed to first-time experience (FTE) for a broad casual audience Partnered closely with Netflix internal creative, technical, and production teams to meet platform requirements and IP authenticity goals Conducted and analyzed 12+ live playtests to iterate on usability, pacing, and player comprehension Used Claude Code and ChatGPT to build and ship localization tooling to support subtitles across 12 languages ### Design Director @ The Game Band Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 | Mill Valley, California, United States Design Director for an internal R&D team exploring AI-assisted and AI-integrated gameplay mechanics Led and mentored an 8-person distributed design team through early exploration, prototyping, and validation Defined design direction for novel gameplay systems in ambiguous problem spaces Partnered closely with engineering to prototype, test, and validate experimental mechanics for future production use ### Principal Designer @ The Game Band Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | California, United States Lead designer on an unannounced asynchronous MMO city builder with ARPG/roguelite elements Designed social collaboration systems, resource loops, and progression tied to community-driven development and live events Managed and mentored junior and contract designers while partnering with UX, art, and engineering to deliver a playable prototype ### Product Owner @ InfiniGods Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Remote Product Owner for a game studio building titles centered on player-owned digital assets Owned and led design and development of Immortal Siege, a tower defense game blending exploration, resource gathering, and deck-building mechanics Designed and delivered Shipwright, a companion web tool supporting in-game-to-blockchain asset management Delivered pre-production design for InfiniRealms, a city builder built around shared digital assets ### Creative Director @ Topgolf Jan 2019 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, CA, United States Creative Director and vision holder for ShankStars, a free-to-play, character-driven casual golf RPG Led cross-functional teams across design, UX, engineering, and production from prototype through soft launch Designed core gameplay systems, game economy, onboarding, progression, and live-service features Built and managed a design team with a strong emphasis on mentorship, team culture, and work–life balance Oversaw transition to fully remote development and established sustainable team workflows ### Creative Director @ Electronic Arts (EA) Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 | Redwood Shores, CA Command & Conquer Rivals mid-2017 – April 2019 Transitioned to EA Mobile to support the development and live operation of Command & Conquer Rivals, a competitive mobile RTS. Lead Meta Systems Designer responsible for progression, economy, monetization, live events, and social systems Designed and validated multi-tier progression and event systems supporting long-term player engagement Stepped into Creative Lead role following Creative Director departure, providing creative leadership for an 80–100 person development team during final production and LiveOps Operated live service features and analyzed player metrics to guide iteration, balance, and feature prioritization Partnered closely with production, PM, engineering, and analytics to align design decisions with business and player goals Pogo.com / 30 to 30 Group February 2016 – mid-2017 Creative Director within EA Mobile’s “30 to 30” group, initially overseeing a portfolio including Scrabble Mobile, Tetris, and Pogo.com. Following the conclusion of EA’s licensing agreements with Hasbro, transitioned to Creative Director for Pogo.com. Designed and shipped internally developed titles (Poppit! Party, Sudoku) in partnership with EA Shanghai Oversaw and vetted external development partners, providing creative direction, milestone validation, and quality bar enforcement Upheld requirements and creative standards to ensure third-party titles could succeed on the Pogo platform Helped lead Pogo’s transition from Flash to HTML5, mitigating large-scale content loss and enabling long-term platform viability Collaborated with product, engineering, and leadership to align portfolio strategy with changing technical and business constraints ### Director of Design @ Zynga Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area Director of Design on Project Stardust, a voxel-based 3D adventure/building UGC game Prototyped and led early development of Project Beasties / Hero’s League, a character-based strategic RPG ### Game Director @ TinyCo Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Game Director for an unannounced Star Wars mobile title Led creative vision and game design from pitch through early production Served as primary creative liaison with Lucasfilm, managing ongoing design reviews and IP authenticity Directed a 20+ person cross-disciplinary team across design, engineering, art, and production ### Lead Game Designer @ TinyCo Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Pitch Leadership & Licensed IP Strategy Led and managed internal pitch teams focused on securing major entertainment licenses Successfully pitched and helped secure Star Wars and Marvel licenses, establishing TinyCo as a credible partner for premium IP holders Collaborated with executive leadership to align pitch strategy with company growth goals Pitch work contributed to strengthening TinyCo’s market position and long-term acquisition attractiveness Design Organization Leadership Managed and mentored a design department of approximately 10–12 designers across a wide range of experience levels, from junior to senior Provided performance feedback, career development support, and design direction across multiple concurrent projects Acted as an internal design consultant, supporting live titles (Family Guy) and early-stage new IP development ### Senior Designer @ LucasArts Jan 2011 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco, California, United States Senior Designer on Star Wars 1313, a AAA console/PC Unreal project developed in close collaboration with Lucasfilm. Combat designer responsible for player combat experience and feel Designed and implemented weapon systems, special abilities, aiming and aim-assist mechanics Built combat test gyms and tuning tools to rapidly iterate on combat balance and feel Partnered closely with AI design to craft enemy behaviors and combat encounters Took the project from pre-production through the start of full production before project cancellation following Disney acquisition Contributed to establishing a production-ready combat and gameplay foundation for a large-scale AAA title ### Game Designer @ LucasArts Jan 2006 – Jan 2011 | San Francisco, California, United States Designer on LucasArts’ internal innovation and prototyping group focused on exploring new IP, platforms, and development approaches. Core contributor to Team 3 / LucasLabs, an internal incubator focused on rapid prototyping and creative exploration Developed and pitched original AAA IP concepts, including Ministry of Time (Lucasfilm), through early pre-production Designed and prototyped gameplay systems across emerging platforms including DS, PSP, XBLA, Facebook, and early mobile Shipped Lucidity on Xbox Live Arcade as part of a small, multidisciplinary team Conducted early user research and concept validation, including live focus group testing and observation sessions Recognized internally as a key source of creative experimentation, leading to the team’s transition onto Star Wars 1313 The team’s focus on experimentation and prototyping helped inform LucasArts’ approach to new platforms and IP development during a period of rapid industry change. ### Lead/Senior Designer @ Impressions Software Inc Jan 1997 – Jan 2004 | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Lead Designer on Lords of the Realm III Contributed systems, combat, unit, and scenario design across Pharaoh, Zeus, Poseidon, and Lords of Magic ## Education ### BA in Computer Science Wesleyan University Jan 1993 – Jan 1997 ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-levin-4002472 --- Source: https://flows.cv/brettlevin JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/brettlevin/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-07