​​​​Tobias Heussner​

Professional info​

I am passionate about games with a focus on gameplay, narrative content and on delivering the best possible experience to our players. My personal focus is narrative and level design and in my over 20 years in the industry, I have attained the senior level in level design as well as in production. I am currently working as Production Director for Saber Interactive Spain, overseeing the production of all the games in our Spanish studio. I also enjoy supporting the team with my expertise in game design, level design, and writing. In addition to working as Production Director, I am also the current Chair of the Executive Board of the IGDA Special Interest Group Game Writing and the Series Editor for FocalPress series Focus on Unreal.

Work experience

Production Director (Spain), Saber Interactive

Sep 2017 - present

• Dedicated Senior Producer for all titles of Saber Interactive's Madrid (Spain) studio

• Highly effective project management, task tracking, communication management, and game design

• Preparation of headcounts, milestone plans and legal documentation such as Statements of Work

• Maintaining and organizing communication flows in the local studio and with other Saber Interactive studios

• Remotely managing a partner team in the development and completion of various titles

• Handling all submission, communications, and approval processes with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Valve

• Supporting the game design team and taking part in the design of various projects

• Recruitment and staff management

• Working on several unannounced titles at the moment

Series Editor - Focus on Unreal, CRC Press/Focal Press

Dec 2017 - present

• Identifying interesting Unreal Engine 4-related subjects

• Finding and evaluating potential authors and supporting them during the development of their books

• Providing feedback on manuscripts and ensuring series consistency

Chair of the Executive Board - SIG Game Writing, IGDA

Apr 2013 - present

• Manage a volunteer community of writers working together to improve the state of the art of video game writing and narrative

Senior Producer (Spain), Saber Interactive

Aug 2016 - Sep 2017

• Dedicated Senior Producer since March 2017

• Senior producer for all titles

• Highly effective project management, task tracking, communication management, and game design

• Handled all submission and approval processes with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Valve

• Supported the game design team and participated in the design of various projects

• Recruitment and staff management

• Senior Producer of NBA Playgrounds, released in May 2017 for XBox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch

Producer, Virtual Toys

Jan 2014 - Jul 2016

• Highly effective project management, task tracking, localization management, and game design

• Led the game design team and took part in the design of various projects

• Remote management of the team in Sweden 

• Translation, writing and localization management of the texts from Pirates: Treasure Hunters

• Worked on: 

  • Muppets Movie Adventures (PlayStation Vita) - as Game/Level Designer

  • Looney Tunes: Galactic Sports (PlayStation Vita) - as Game/Level Designer and Producer​

  • Pirates: Treasure Hunters – as Producer

  • Several unannounced prototypes and titles – performing various roles including Game/Level Design and Production

Senior Level Designer, Bigpoint Berlin

Jun 2010 - Jan 2014

• Assistant Lead and Senior Level Designer since March 2012

• Level gameplay and environment design

• Quest/ Level conception and implementation

• Writing and developing both stories and lore for new and existing products

• Prepared the patch notes for all weekly and major releases of Drakensang Online

• Products shipped in this position: 2

Concept Designer, Radonlabs

Nov 2009 - May 2010

• Supported the business developer in acquiring new projects and developing new IPs 

• Wrote and developed pitch and concept docs for own and third-party projects and project acquisition

Associate Producer, Radonlabs

Dec 2008 - Nov 2009

• Supported the producer in the completion of executive and management tasks

• Held a Leadership position in a 70+ member team

• Tracked the budget and schedule as well as organized and led sub-teams for special tasks like cut-scenes, bug management, and motion capture planning

• Established and administrated TechExcel DevTrack and DevPlan

• Executive Producer for “The Dark Eye – Drakensang Gold edition”

• Products shipped in this position: 2

Assistant Producer, Radonlabs

Mar 2007 - Nov 2008

• Supported the producer in the completion of executive tasks 

• Leadership position

• Oversaw and managed the quality assurance department

• Executive Producer for “The Dark Eye – Drakensang Demo”

• Assisted as level designer in various projects

• Products shipped in this position: 5

Level Designer, Radonlabs

Apr 2005 - Feb 2007

• Developed the initial design of interior and exterior locations 

• Scripted events, AI, technologies and triggers 

• Assisted in game design and responsible for playability, quests, and balancing

• Lead Level Designer for several projects

• Documented the following products: Nebula Toolkit for Maya 1; Nebula Toolkit for Maya 2

• Products shipped in this position: 10

Lead Game Designer / Director, Tricium Factory

Jul 1998 - Mar 2005

• Led and organized the development group 

• Worked on concept writing, level design, game (system) design and story development

• Scripted events, quests, and triggers

• Assisted in programming game functions

• Liason for businesses and networks

• Developed programs and presentations for the DAI (German Institute of Archaeology)

• Supported Radon Labs GmbH as developer (tester and level designer)

Languages

English

German

Spanish

Skills

• Unreal Engine 4 and Unity

• Microsoft Visual Studio

• Programming in C/C++, XML, C# and html

• Microsoft Office

• Autodesk Maya

• Adobe Photoshop, Gimp & Inkscape

• Nevigo Articy:Draft 

• XMind

• Project Management Software (Hansoft, TechExcel, Microsoft Project)

• Version Control Systems (Subversion; Perforce)

• Scrivener & Final Draft

• Experienced with various Game editors such as StarCraft 2 editor

Speaking Engagements

• Speaker at ECGC 2019

• Speaker at GDC 2013 Game Narrative Summit

• Co-coordinator/Speaker, Game Writing Tutorial Day at GDC Online 2012

• Co-coordinator/Speaker, Game Writing Tutorial Day at GDC Online 2011

• Speaker at GDC Online 2010 Game Narrative Summit

• Speaker at Quo Vadis 2009

Education​

The Open University

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Open

2015 - 2017

Courses in Management from the Open University Business School, as well as in Investment, and Creative Writing.

University of California, Los Angeles Extention (UCLA)

Certificate Feature Film Writing (Earned with Distinction)

2008 - 2009

Courses in Screenwriting Basics I - III; Writing for Emotional Impact; Writing Great Dialogue; Rewriting;

Certificate completed with the notation "Earned with Distinction" and a final GPA of 3.95

Free University of Berlin

2005 - 2009

Courses in Software Engineering; Database Systems; Network Programming; System Administration and Nonsequential Programming

Humboldt University of Berlin

2002 - 2005

Courses in Mathematics for Computer Science; Object-oriented and Logic Programming; Compiler Development; Robotics; Hardware Development; Dependable Systems; AI Theory; Mobile and Embedded Systems; System Architecture