# Marcus Montgomery > Game Design Leader/Creative Director Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/marcusmontgomery I design combat experiences that feel immersive, responsive, and unforgettable. With deep expertise in gameplay systems architecture, AI behavior tuning, and enemy encounter design, I craft dynamic game systems and combat mechanics that enhance both player agency and overall game engagement. Throughout my career—from Xbox Game Studios Publishing to Meta, Nway, and Sony—I’ve collaborated with engineering, animation, and VFX teams to create memorable enemy archetypes, fine-tune AI behaviors, and build combat systems that evolve with player feedback. My leadership in game systems design has helped studios refine their vision, align teams, and execute gameplay mechanics that resonate with players. I thrive in cross-disciplinary environments, working closely with programmers, artists, and animators to ensure every enemy movement, attack sequence, and combat interaction feels deliberate and impactful. I also mentor designers, facilitate playtesting, and champion iteration-driven development to continuously push the boundaries of an engaging gameplay experience. Let’s connect—whether it’s to talk game design theory, combat mechanics, AI behavior, or how to craft compelling gameplay experiences! ## Work Experience ### Creative Director @ Cornerstone Interactive Studios Jan 2023 – Present | Oakland, California, United States ### Design Director @ Xbox Game Studios Publishing Jan 2022 – Jan 2025 Provided expert design guidance for multiple unreleased PC and Xbox projects, fostering strong partnerships, internally championing partner visions, and shared subject-matter expertise in player controls. Delivered targeted feedback to drive gameplay improvements and player engagement, while also actively pursuing personal and team development. • Directed creative alignment across partner studios and internal stakeholders, delivering targeted milestone feedback, annotated gameplay improvement videos, and combat tuning samples providing clarity and actionable insight. • Built trust and fostered collaboration with external partners, earning a place in creative discussions and accelerating project momentum. • Championed the partners’ product vision among internal Microsoft stakeholders, fostering cross-organizational support and confidence in their projects. • Advocated for external partners to prioritize gameplay quality over content volume and developed/edited design related pre-production exit criteria to clarify expectations. • Collaborated with production teams to track development milestones and deliver strategic feedback aligned with the game's core pillars, enhancing overall product appeal and player engagement over subsequent UR playtest scores. • Partnered with User Research to design playtesting plans that clarified feature perception and guided adjustments to boost player engagement. ### Product Manager @ Oculus VR Jan 2018 – Jan 2022 Oculus Home (PC-Oculus Rift); Scoreboards, Oculus Move, Oculus Home (Meta Quest 1 and 2) Developed product requirement documentation and defined success metrics, driving project refinements that elevated user engagement and enhanced the quality of the VR OS experience. • Crafted and championed the product strategy for the System Apps and Platform Art team, while shepherding feature development for Oculus Move, Scoreboards, and multiple home environments — balancing creative vision with cross-functional privacy, legal, and technical constraints. • Oversaw the production and release of the licensed IP Myst environment and coordinated its launch entitlement with game purchase, with its promotion increasing gross payments by 6.8%. • Managed the Japan Environment pivot due to identified cultural missteps in concept art, quickly implementing cultural quality control processes that resulted in the Ryokan Retreat becoming the number one selected environment in the Japanese region. • Led design and implementation of key Oculus Home features, including Gateways, UGC Homes, and new user experience redesign that resulted in a 110% increase in UGC Home creation and leading to a 3% increase in DAU and a 7% in Multiplayer DAU. ### Senior Gameplay Designer @ nWay Inc. Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Power Rangers: Legacy Wars (iOS, Android) • Led the creation and execution of 19 distinct warriors, orchestrating seamless collaboration across engineering, animation, and VFX teams to deliver polished, high-impact gameplay. • Conducted in-depth analysis of game and community health, driving strategic balance adjustments that maximized player engagement and retention. ### Lead Game Designer @ Limbic® Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco, California Zombie Gunship Survival (iOS, Android) Set feature development priorities with production, ensuring efficient execution and alignment. Maintained and balanced Zombie Gunship Survival’s unique three-faction combat system, tuning 30+ weapons and enemy scaling. Designed gacha box drop tables and collaborated with engineering to streamline data integration. ### Lead Game Designer @ Glu Mobile Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Mateo, CA Unannounced 3rd Person Shooter (iOS, Android) Created 3 distinct enemy factions designed for creative user-generated base defense combination. Prototyped combat experience to prove out weapon combat and demonstrate flexibility of base defense design. Designed replayable mission structure providing players with mission objective diversity and opposition variation. ### Game Designer @ KIXEYE Jan 2012 – Jan 2015 TOME:Immortal Arena (Web Browser, Steam) Spearheaded systems and live-ops design initiatives that improved player retention, optimized matchmaking fairness, and enhanced team workflow efficiency. • Managed and overhauled a 5 person design team’s workflows to provide predictability of hero release in live-ops. • Designed and implemented the tutorial and Quests system which increased D7 by 15% and 27% respectively. ### Senior Designer @ Backbone Entertainment Jan 2006 – Jan 2012 | Emeryville, CA Dance Central 3 (X360, Kinect); Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, 1942: Joint Strike, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon (XBLA, PSN); Gauntlet (DS: Unreleased) Managed designers’ workflow, scheduling, and productivity while mentoring junior staff through regular sessions on work critique, creativity exercises, game deconstruction, and task planning—all aimed at skill and career growth. Provided strategic design guidance to the studio’s creative director, stepping in as design director when needed, while also leading pitch meetings and crafting pitch decks for client proposals. Designed, tuned and maintained documentation of all enemy behaviors and player abilities for Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon and Gauntlet DS ### Senior Designer @ SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC Jan 2004 – Jan 2006 Jet Li: Rise to Honor (PS2); Unreleased 3rd Person Action Game (PSP) Led a team of two designers in implementing three levels, personally scripting and executing two. Designed, scripted, and refined all non-boss fight scenarios. ### Designer @ SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA LLC Jan 2001 – Jan 2004 Partnered with animation and programming to integrate the fight system. ### Level Layout Director @ The 3DO Company Jan 2000 – Jan 2001 Army Men: Air Attack 2, Army Men: Air Attack, Uprising X (Playstation) Ensured design consistency and quality by overseeing level creation throughout production while facilitating seamless collaboration between design, art, and management teams ### Associate Level Layout Director @ The 3DO Company Jan 1998 – Jan 2000 | San Francisco Bay Area Designed and scripted three single player levels and one multi-player level for Army Men: Air Attack Earned responsibility of liaison between design, art, and management staff ### Level Layout Designer @ The 3DO Company Jan 1998 – Jan 1999 Constructed and scripted two single player levels for Uprising X Built and scripted two training missions previously unplanned for Uprising X ### Game Tester @ SEGA of America Jan 1995 – Jan 1997 Lead teams of testers in quality assurance review of Geneis and Sega Saturn product software Created test plans Tested Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis, and PICO game software ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Computer Science Cornell College ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusingames - Website: http://www.sleepy-genius.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/marcusmontgomery JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/marcusmontgomery/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-07