Principal Player Combat & Gameplay Designer

Description

• Obsessed with the 3C’s (Character, Controls, Camera) and how they impact the overall game feel to ensure player gameplay feels best-in-class.
• Able to clearly articulate how combat, enemy encounter, and level design are used to facilitate player skill mastery and investment.
• You are passionate about third-person action games and are excited about the possibility of bringing your design expertise to the genre.
• Able to understand, align, and adapt to high-level project design goals, game world fantasy, and audience expectations.
• Someone with a strong desire to think outside of the box, building from the games within genres but striving to find new gameplay within them to innovate.
• Collaborative, self-motivated developer, with a desire to grow & share knowledge.
• Excited to play a key role in a new studio and team working as a tight knit team highly focused on delivering exciting gameplay in a new IP.
• Strong ability to proactively communicate, especially in a remote environment, particularly with other designers, engineers, and animators.
• Receptive to feedback from a variety of sources and confident enough to evaluate the best actionable response and what is not necessary to address.
• Capable of creating and updating documentation to pitch & explore designs, achieve alignment, and facilitate communication with different disciplines.
• Able to drive playtesting; collect & analyze feedback, ceaselessly iterate, and determine when a design meets quality.
• You show empathy and respect for our players and fellow team members. 

• Serve as the design expert in development of player gameplay, driving core gameplay mechanics that creates strong player mastery in partnership with game systems to deliver combat and exploration that is fun to perform solo or cooperatively.
• Be a leader in the identification of challenges with gameplay mechanics, game content, and workflow processes and devise creative solutions in cases where there will be limited information and requires adaptation to resolve.
• Work directly with team leadership to ensure that the vision is being properly executed and clearly executed.
• You'll be heavily involved in partnering with the development efforts of AI combatants to define and evolve gameplay pillars to create high quality gameplay interactions between the player and enemies.
• Collaborate with the team through all phases of development, including working with production and product management to effectively scope, prioritize, and deliver at the highest quality and ensure a cohesive gameplay experience.
• Exhibit expert game design knowledge, using in-depth professional knowledge, acumen, concepts and company objectives to develop, resolve complex models and procedures.
• Establish quality benchmarks that drive the team and development partners in reach them.
• Collaborate with outsourcing partners to guide them with expanding and delivering gameplay content that meets the quality goals of the game.
• Mentor other game designers to share your experience and insights to help them improve their craft.
• Proactively provide updates on progress and development to the team including communicating progress and decision-making widely to ensure full visibility & strong alignment between disciplines.
• Lead the work of testing features and identifying challenges with gameplay mechanics, game content, and workflow processes and find creative solutions to meet design goals. 
  
   

• A nuanced understanding of third-person character action game principles & ability to clearly communicate them, at both a granular and high level.
• Understanding of how various combat and action role-playing game systems intertwine.
• Experience with animation systems and tuning gameplay within the context of combat design in a modern 3D game engine.
• Experience designing and implementing challenging and engaging player gameplay experiences at a shippable AAA quality level.
• Ability to collaborate and clearly articulate across multiple disciplines.
• Able to work on day-to-day projects and end-to-end assignments without constant oversite, utilizing best practices, independent judgement, skills, and previous experience to effectively execute on requests from stakeholders.
• Strong conceptual thinking and ability to work on complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors.
• Experience in mentoring other designers and providing insightful feedback on design efforts.
• Recognized as a subject matter expert.
• Ability to establish department/function goals and objectives.
• Requires a minimum of 10 years of related or equivalent work experience.
• Experience in the design of at least two games on modern consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC etc.).

• Previous combat and traversal design experience on a third-person action RPG or melee combat game.
• Previous experience in feature ownership within game design of AAA game development.
• Experience using Unreal Engine (Unreal 5 preferred) and Blueprint visual scripting to build shippable-quality combat and gameplay.
• Experience in mentoring other designers and providing insightful feedback on design efforts.
• Expertise in C++ or other text-based scripting languages.
• Experience partnering with co-development partners to supplement content development.

Benefits:   

• We provide a rich benefits package:
  • Medical Coverage - health, dental, and vision paid at 100% for the employee and dependents are subsidized by the Company.
  • Healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance.
  • 401(k) with an annual contribution by the Company.
  • Paid holidays and vacation, bereavement leaves, and parental leave.

• This is a full-time, benefits-eligible, exempt (salaried) position.
• The anticipated salary range for Zone 1 (WA/CA) $169,000 - $262,000, and for Zone 2 (all other states/jurisdictions), $136,000-$206,000. Regardless of zone, the upper third of the salary range is typically reserved for existing employees who demonstrate strong performance over time. When an offer is made, many factors are considered, including your unique experience and skills, where you live, where the work will be performed, what similar jobs pay, and internal equity.
• In addition to base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for additional incentives, such as short- and long-term incentives. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed.