Game Design Tutor

Reports to: Head of Games 

Contract type: Permanent Location: 6 Mitre Passage, North Greenwich, London, SE10 0ER (hybrid option available) 

About Escape Studios:

Escape Studios is one of the UK's leading animation, games and VFX schools, with several BAFTA and Oscar winners counted amongst our alumni. We are not the typical HE provider, we are unique and do things differently, our courses are designed and delivered with industry experts within a welcoming, close-knit and successful community. Our world-class industry partners include Industrial Light & Magic, Creative Assembly, PlayStation London Studio, FrameStore, The Mill, DNEG, Milk VFX Cinesite, Blue Zoo and MPC, while our partnership with Epic Games means we're also one of the UK’s only Unreal Authorized Training Centers. Approved and endorsed internationally as a Rookies School, we came No 1 in the world for Production Excellence in Immersive Media in the Rookies 2023 rankings and 4th in the UK for Games Design. We are also a Houdini certified school. We offer a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and short courses. Our graduates (Escapees) have worked on games such as, Assassin’s Creed, Lords of the Fallen, Forza Horizon 5, the new Fable, and GTA6. 

Our Escapees, work at companies such as Framestore, Rare, Sumo digital, Playground Games, Climax, Rebellion, Electric Square, Fire without Smoke, Super Massive, Studio Gobo, Natural Motion, Lucid Games, Dimension Studio, nDreams, XR Games and many more! www.escapestudios.ac.uk About the department As a Game Design Tutor, you will be part of the Interactive and Realtime Department, which teaches courses in, Game Art, Game Design, Tech Art, Character Creation, and Realtime FX, as well as new courses in development, such as Concept Art and Experience Design, Programming for Games and VFX and UI/UX.

Our tutors are development veterans who work hard to create the most up to date and relevant courses for the Games, Animation and Realtime industries. We each bring our experience and passion to Escape, we want you to join us and help shape and teach our fantastic courses. We’re a driven, creative, supportive and fun group of people. We are closely supported by our industry connections as a growing organisation, we work in a fast-paced environment but one where we nurture talent, share ideas and work collaboratively. 

Game Design Tutor Key responsibilities:

The Game Design Tutor is part of a team responsible for the development and delivery of the Game Design programs to our Undergraduate and MA students and will work with the Head of Creative Technology and Head of Games as well as other members of the team

• We are looking for Games Designers who have released games and or interactive immersive experiences, or a Games Design Lecturer / Teacher who has contributed towards the creation of interactive entertainment. 
• You should have experience and an understanding of production and have been part of a professional development cycle. 
• You need to be capable of explaining the Game Design development process, technical principles and creating learning materials.
• We are looking for tutors who have a range of skills in Game Design and understand the latest pipelines and how that can apply to a student's work, as well as the technical limitations of the project.
• You will be comfortable teaching the foundations of Game Design, helping students understand the craft and good practice, as well as also working at a more complex level, depending on the specific class.
• You will be comfortable briefing students on industry-based projects and guiding them as individuals or in groups, providing formative feedback as well as summative reviews, and of course marking work 
• Delivering training courses to students in a classroom environment, online and when necessary, to individuals and professional customers on and off-site 
• Providing one–to-one feedback, coaching, show-reel clinics and support to students with a range of backgrounds and abilities
• Organising workloads to a schedule and work under pressure when required
• Cooperation with the Marketing, Sales, and Recruitment teams to support and participate in promotional and business development activities.

Experience and Qualifications: If you do not possess the experience below, we will still consider applicants who have a willingness to learn and have compelling examples of Games Design - 

• Worked on at least one released game or interactive experience
• Understanding of modern Games Design, systems, mechanics and techniques 
• Understanding of Unreal Engine, (desirable) if you don't know Unreal we can provide training
• Game Design systems and Level Design
• Understanding of Blueprints and game engine optimisation (desirable)
• Have experience or understanding of Graphic design tools for UI, UX and UE5 UMG (desirable) 
• Have experience with Packaging games and troubleshooting 
• Teaching experience and/or a willingness to undertake teaching training with eventual membership of the HEA, postgraduate qualifications are also acceptable
• Understanding of Q+A and Agile Development
• Understanding of Analog Game Design
• You must have a have a degree or MA Research and Development: 

Learning and development: We want you to keep your edge and pass that on to our students and the team. You will have time so you can learn and develop our curriculum, deliver it, and importantly contribute to its ongoing development. We want tutors to continue developing new skills and methodologies. 

• Our engine of choice is Unreal Engine 5. If you have used other engines or software, that is fine as you will be given time and help to get up to speed. Our use of software changes in line with industry, we also use Adobe Suite for graphics based tasks and UI as well as Maya and Blender for 3D. 
• Development plans are aligned to the needs of courses and to the tutor, we continually review and provide training or on-line courses to help develop areas of interest. 
• Time is given for research, dependent on the teaching timetable 
• We encourage tutors to join industry associations and attend Games and Realtime conferences, timetable and costs permitting
• For team projects we have industry mentors review students work and help advise our briefs and course direction, developers such as, Creative Assembly, Sony, Rockstar, Rocksteady, Improbable and many more, this affords us fantastic exposure to some of the best talent in the UK.

Working hours: 

• The working day is 9 to 6, 5 days a week (there is room for negotiation dependant on circumstances)
• Teaching contact hours can vary dependant on Undergraduate and Post Graduate timetables. A term-time minimum could be16 hours a week with the rest of the time taken up with various duties such as course development, providing feedback, marking and research, and potentially supporting other modules. 
• The Degree Course has two terms a year running September to May, but there can be teaching initiatives in the summer.
• The MA in Game Design is 2.5 days a week, is a year in length, a mix of in class and independent study supported by the tutor and can run twice a year. 

Location: 

Hybrid working / working from home 

• Our brand-new campus is in Greenwich Peninsula, right next to the O2 Arena, the tube station is Greenwich North, a 5 min walk away
• On non-teaching days we can work from home, so our work pattern is hybrid in nature, generally staff are in the studios 2.5- 5 days a week depending on the teaching timetable. 
• We are flexible on hours so if you are teaching in the morning you can work from home in the afternoon dependant on duties and meetings. 

Benefits: We know that one size doesn’t fit all, so our workplace programmes meet the different needs of our diverse teams, and their families -

• Competitive salaries
• Staff work flexibly with a hybrid approach
• Starting holiday of 25 days increasing to 30 
• Generous pension scheme Application / Game Design Portfolio

To apply please send a CV and covering letter detailing your relevant skills and experience to jobs@escapestudios.com via the ‘Apply’ button above. Please submit examples relevant to your experience as either as a Zip file / link to Dropbox or links to videos and or playable links. We would like to see examples from any of the following below, dependant on your experience as a Designer:

• High-quality examples of your work demonstrating your expertise in Game Design,
• Games Design docs, 
• Breakdowns of your process, 
• Playable examples or videos, 
• Any examples of UI and UX design, systems and mechanics, 
• A range of work that demonstrates a comprehensive understanding and application of Games Design