Jared Greiner
Senior Game Designer.
I love solving problems at the intersection of creative and technical thinking. Today, I have the privilege to do that for Riot Games passionate community as a Principal Game Designer working in R&D. I have 13 years of game design experience on AAA titles across level design, tech design, ux design, and systems. I’m a detail-oriented introvert who is still comfortable in front of a crowd or the press when presenting a game with which I am intimately familiar. I like to think that a combo of luck, discipline, adaptability, and excellent teammates have gotten me where I am today. It’s a blessing to work in a space I am so passionate about.
Portfolio
Examples of my experience with Systems Design, Level Designs, and Gameplay Scripting
Each image links to a video and description of my role in the project.
Resume
Highlights
13+ years of experience as a professional game designer. Exceptional technical skills and an ability to consistently help others see the glass as half full.
Experienced in AI enemy design, combat design, combinatorics systems, gameplay scripting, rapid prototyping, and game economies/progression.
Proficient in Unreal Engine 5, Unity, Node and Text Based Scripting (UE Blueprints, C#, JavaScript, some C++), Jira, Miro, Photoshop, Premiere, Azure DevOps, Trello, Agile Scrum, Microsoft Office.
Riot Games R&D Incubation
Principal Game Designer - Combat design and balance for an unannounced game.
Riot Games
3 Years
July 2022 - Present
Destiny 2
Senior Systems Designer
Senior Systems Designer - Designed game modes, quests, and weapon reward systems for the seasonal releases of Destiny 2. Shipped 30th Anniversary, Destiny 2 The Witch Queen, Season of the Risen, Season of the Haunted, Season of Plunder, and Season of the Seraph.
Bungie
1 Year
June 2021 - July 2022
Minecraft
Senior Game Designer
Mojang Studios
6+ Years
January 2015 - June 2021
Lead Designer, Creator Platform – Defined the vision for Minecraft as a user generated content platform. Facilitated cross discipline creative process, prototype goals, and development roadmap. The Minecraft Marketplace has shipped 7000+ items from 200 community creators around the globe.
Lead UX Designer, Bedrock Edition – Lead a team of four designers to design cross platform user experience as Minecraft consolidated the community and code base across console, pc, and mobile platforms. Collaborated with business and engineering to prioritize the UX roadmap and drive monetization and retention goals.
Senior Systems & UX Designer, Crafting – Redesigned the inventory, crafting, and trading system (350+ items) to bring the divergent experiences across game pad, touch, and mouse/KB together as the Minecraft codebase and community were unified across platforms. This included UX design, progressive reveal of what can be crafted, and rebalancing recipe and trade availability.
Technical Designer, Creatures – Reworked all the creatures in Minecraft into reusable data-driven components. This system sped up mob creation, brought official modding support to mobile/console, and enabled a UGC marketplace.
Project Spark
Game Designer
Microsoft
2 Years
January 2013 - January 2015
Game Designer - Created showcase levels for our E3 reveal to highlight the capabilities of the game creation sandbox. Built a level with the band Linkin Park featured in the music video Guilty All the Same. Provided technical design support for Creation Quest and Conker’s Big Reunion episodic campaigns.
Xbox Live Arcade
Game Designer
Game Designer - Reviewed concept pitches, competitive analysis, and user research across multiple titles including State of Decay, Ori, and Ascend.
Microsoft
6 Months
August 2012 - January 2015
Xbox Live Arcade
Game Designer
Game Designer - Reviewed concept pitches, competitive analysis, and user research across multiple titles including State of Decay, Ori, and Ascend.
Microsoft
6 Months
August 2012 - January 2015
Education & Awards
University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA
B.A. in Interactive Entertainment – Dean’s List - May 2011
United States Senate Youth Program - March 2007
Eagle Scout - Oct 2007
"An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself."
