Project Creative Director

Description

Creative Assembly are looking for a Project Creative Director to join the Total War team at our studio in (Horsham, in the heart of West Sussex / Sofia, Bulgaria). 
 
This role focuses on defining groundbreaking immersive player experiences, guiding the development of the entire gameplay, visual, and audio aesthetics in a manner that best-exemplifies the project direction as defined by the game Game Director. You will leverage your deep knowledge of games and game development to help define the game vision, and to inspire and empower the creative development team to deliver this vision, collaborating closely with the project Game Director, Development and Technical Directors, and project creative discipline leads and experts – alongside shared gameplay area product owners - to ensure that their efforts and output align with project and franchise goals. You will report to the Game Director, working closely with them and the Franchise Creative Director to help ensure consistency and excellence of the player experience not only within your project, but across the entire Total War franchise.
 
Flexible working at Creative Assembly includes hybrid, fully remote for eligible roles, and in-studio. We recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and empower our teams to define the working patterns which work best for them, which may mean different things for different teams and roles and at different times. 
This role is Hybrid and has an expectation of 2 days per week in our Horsham studio. This role cannot offer fully remote working. Further details can be discussed during the recruitment process. 

Key Responsibilities 
 
As Creative Director, your focus is on shaping the entire player experience, including gameplay interaction, visual representation, audio style, narrative tone, and more. To this end, you will work closely with the Game Director to help define and realise the game vision, coordinating with Design, Art, and Audio leads and experts to deliver an exceptional player experience that is immersive, engaging, authentic, and consistent in its execution. You will champion the game vision both within the project and across the studio, advocating for the creative efforts of the development team whilst inspiring them to deliver excellence all the while.  
 
On a day-to-day basis you will: 

• Drive development of the entire player experience, focusing on the aesthetics of gameplay, visuals, audio, and beyond, ensuring that these combine to create a meaningful and coherent whole. 
• Collaborate closely with the Game Director to define and maintain the game’s vision and direction. 
• Direct, lead, and inspire the project design team towards delivering the gameplay vision to exceptional standards.
• Where such a role exists on the project, support the Design lead in driving the project game design process, including review and assessment of feature designs across all stages of development and implementation.
• Collaborate with Design, Art, Audio, and other creative discipline leads to establish quality standards and to ensure further alignment with the game vision.
• Collaborate with the Game Director and discipline leads to define short- and long-term development goals, plan resourcing, and ensure that the project is deliverable on time, within budget, and in excellent order. 
• Support effective collaboration between Design, Art, Audio, and other creative teams to further enable them to deliver the game vision. 
• Champion the game vision within the project development team and across the wider studio.
• Coordinate with the Franchise Design Director and other franchise discipline leads to ensure that the creative execution of the project meets franchise quality and player value expectations. 
• Collaborate with collective franchise, project, and platform leadership teams to ensure that the game vision and creative execution:
• Aligns with the wider franchise strategy.
• Identifies and builds upon franchise roadmap and other developments.
• In-turn provides opportunities for other franchise projects to build upon. 

Knowledge, Skill and Experience 
  
Essential 

• Proven creative game development skills, capable of defining and building immersive player experiences through visionary game design, art, animation, audio, narrative, or any related creative craft skills. 
• Highly proficient at communication, both written and verbal, with a demonstrated ability to guide and inspire others to deliver authentic, high-quality, consistent, and meaningful gameplay experiences. 
• Confident, inclusive, and consensus-building approach to collaboration, capable of taking responsibility for the player experience while empowering – and championing the work of – individual creative game developers working to deliver it. 
• Deep knowledge and interest in a wide variety of games and in current industry trends, particularly in game design, art, audio, and relevant creative game development disciplines. 
• Knowledge of player needs and motivations and a feel for how to meaningfully build upon genre standards and generate appeal.
• Excellent problem solving, conceptual, and analytical skills, capable of weaving multiple complex game development efforts into a coherent and compelling player experience. 
   

Desirable 

• Experience as a director or lead responsible for design, art, audio, or other creative game development discipline on a high-quality, well-received game.  
• Experienced in game design, art, animation, or audio craft standards and practices across a variety of game genres. 
• A deep interest in narrative and worldbuilding and a desire to adapt settings and themes into immersive and engaging player experiences. 

• Additional medical and dental health insurance for you, your partner and kids, life insurance, and free health care screening
• Additional holiday allowance plus full studio closure over the Christmas and New Year period, as all Bulgarian Bank holidays
• Annual discretionary studio bonus
• Defined career development pathways and personalised training support including; SEGA Dev Day, internal masterclasses, prestigious creative workshops, on-site training with renowned specialists and global conference attendance
• Wellbeing support with an employee assistance programme
• Free games and merchandise plus access to our extensive games library
• Free breakfast every day - toast, cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit, soft drinks and more in our fully stocked kitchen
• Office massages
• Studio parties for you and your family; such as our Summer and Christmas parties, Children’s day party, wrap parties for game releases