FROM VISION TO REALITY
AAA Lead/Senior Game Designer based in Melbourne, Australia.
18+ years industry experience at some of the top studios in North America and Australia.
Design Director at RiffRaff Games.
Full-cycle Consulting Services. Mentor at CG Spectrum Online.
ABOUT
Hi. My name is Heath Smith. I’ve been a Game Designer since 2006.
My passions are leadership, immersive design and mentoring. Through roles such as Design Director (RiffRaff), Lead SP LD (Sledgehammer), Lead Game Designer (Eidos Montreal) and Design Mentor (CG Spectrum), I have provided the design, direction and tools for myself and others to succeed.
As a leader, my strong communication, collaboration and mentoring skills ensure features are embraced by all departments and designers become the best they can be. My joy is defining a vision, sharing it, empowering the team to make it better – and celebrating when they do.
As a designer, I am always striving for excellence in four core areas – the creativity to look beyond cliché but keep the audience in mind, immersion in the player experience, excellent communication and the attention to detail to see features through to the end.
I also find great satisfaction in helping others to define and clarify their vision.
I strongly believe in passionate, collaborative discourse and checking ego at the door to make the best games possible.
KEY FACTS
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Nationalities
- Australian (birth)
- Canadian (citizen by naturalization)
Industry Experience
- 18+ years
Key Roles
- Design Director
- Lead Game Designer
- Lead Level Designer
- Game Design Mentor
Specialties
- Management & Direction
- Leadership & Mentorship
- AAA Vision setting
- Clear & Vibrant Communication
- Rational Systems Design
- Single-Player Level Design
- Combat Systems & Encounter Design
- Puzzle Systems & Level Design
- Meta-game & Economy Design
- Agile Scheduling and Production
Companies
- RiffRaff
- Sledgehammer
- Eidos
- Square-Enix
- Beenox
- Codemasters
- CG Spectrum
- Mighty Serious
Notable IP
- Sleight Of Hand
- Call Of Duty
- Tomb Raider
- Hitman
- Spider-Man
- Codemasters Cricket
- Frank Miller’s Sin City
Education
- Adv. Diploma of Prof. Game Dev. (Software Dev.)
– AIE Melbourne (2006) - Bachelor Of Applied Science.
(Software Eng.)
– RMIT Melbourne (2000)
Mentoring Experience
- CG Spectrum