Ben Pielstick

Ben Pielstick is currently the Game Director at Monumental. Prior to that, they were the Lead Combat Designer at Sharkmob from December 2021 to March 2022, where they worked on a small cross-discipline team in the first phases of prototyping combat system features, environments, and encounters for a new unannounced title using Unreal 5. Ben also assisted animators with motion capture sessions, using stylized exaggeration of real world fighting techniques. Additionally, they coordinated with artists to select references for game asset photogrammetry to provide a solid foundation of real world assets to build upon.

Before their time at Sharkmob, Pielstick was the Design Manager at Jagex from June 2021 to December 2021. As Design Manager, they oversaw the design team for the MMORPG Old School Runescape. Ben revised job titles and descriptions, conducted interviews, and assisted team members with setting and working toward professional development goals. Furthermore, they increased levels of self-direction for designers by creating opportunities for individuals to choose their teams and for teams to define success criteria for their projects. Additionally, Pielstick worked with Product to create a yearly roadmap, identifying key user segments and ensuring features aligned to a steady cadence of content updates. Finally, they worked with Production to establish a new concept to completion pipeline to create continuity and establish a detailed multi-stage greenlight process with checks to manage scope and ensure alignment across contributors and key stakeholders of each stage.

Ben Pielstick's educational career began with an Associate of Applied Science in Computer Systems and Applications from Yavapai College.

Ben Pielstick reports to Monty Kerr, Co-Founder & CEO. Ben Pielstick works with Corey O’Neil - VP of Engineering, Kate Yu - Art Director, and Eric Hart - Art Director.