Gameplay (and Creature) Programmer

2 Months ago • 4 Years + • Gameplay

Job Summary

Job Description

Gameplay (and Creature) Programmer responsible for bringing creatures to life in a game about a field biologist interacting with a wide variety of mundane and fantastical creatures. The focus is on creating unsettlingly alive creatures using animation, physics, AI, and gameplay programming. Responsibilities include analyzing real animal movement, working with designers on gameplay prototypes (e.g., a prehensile tongue), creating robust systems responsive to player input, exploring Unreal's procedural VFX systems, and collaborating with artists and animators. The ideal candidate has 4+ years of professional game development experience, strong C++ skills, and comfort with vector math and basic physics. Experience with Unreal, science/biology, and procedural animation are beneficial.
Must have:
  • 4+ years professional game dev experience
  • Strong C++ background
  • Comfortable with vector math and basic physics
Good to have:
  • Unreal Engine experience
  • Interest in science and biology
  • Procedural animation experience

Job Details

Gameplay (and Creature) Programmer

We're looking for a programmer who can help us bring our creatures to life.

Our is about a field biologist interacting with a wide variety of mundane and fantastical creatures. We're trying to create moments that echo the mesmerizing strangeness and familiarity of real-life encounters with wild animals. Like a , a , or a but filtered through an aesthetic that includes classic fairytales, Jim Henson, and Junji Ito.

Your primary focus will be on finding programmatic ways to help our creatures feel unsettlingly alive. That's likely to include a mix of animation, physics, AI, and gameplay programming. It's OK if you don't have direct experience in all these areas but you should have a background that includes technically complex, player-facing systems.

Any experience with traditional gameplay programming would be helpful too. In this game creatures ARE gameplay so there's a lot of overlap between the various systems. The underlying goal for us is an experience that feels responsive which in this game is often synonymous with feeling alive.

This might be a good fit for you if you'd enjoy:

  • Analyzing real animal movement and behavior to figure out ways to improve our creatures' sense of liveliness.
  • Working with designers on gameplay prototypes, eg building a prehensile tongue that can "crawl" around the environment in a suitably stretchy, squishy way.
  • Creating robust that are responsive to player input, eg a belly being poked with a pencil.
  • Exploring Unreal's procedural VFX systems including and . Our goal is to create characters that can playfully respond to perturbation like .
  • Collaborating with character artists and animators on building and polishing our creatures.

Must haves

  • 4+ years of experience as a professional game developer
  • Strong background in C++
  • Comfortable with vector math and basic physics

Nice to haves

  • Experience with Unreal
  • An interest in science and biology
  • An interest in procedural animation

This role could be fully remote or you can join us in Los Angeles if you'd like.

If you think you'd be a good fit, please .

Similar Jobs

Wargaming - Lead Level Artist

Wargaming

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)
2 Weeks ago
Sony Interactive Entertainment - Environment Artist

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Tokyo, Japan (On-Site)
2 Months ago
playrix  - Lead VFX Artist

playrix

Ireland (Remote)
8 Months ago
Scanline VFX - Lighting Artist

Scanline VFX

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Hybrid)
5 Months ago
We Accept You - Executive Producer

We Accept You

Paris, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Ubisoft - Senior Gameplay Programmer 3C

Ubisoft

Montpellier, Occitanie, France (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Ubisoft - Senior Gameplay Programmer

Ubisoft

Saint-Mandé, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
Wargaming - Lead Gameplay Programmer

Wargaming

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
Ubisoft - Senior Gameplay Programmer 3C

Ubisoft

Montpellier, Occitanie, France (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Activision - Senior Expert Gameplay Engineer

Activision

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

Jam City - 2D Animator

Jam City

Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina (On-Site)
11 Months ago
Light Speed Studios - Lead Graphics Engineer

Light Speed Studios

California, United States (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Scanline VFX - Senior Pipeline Developer

Scanline VFX

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Hybrid)
3 Weeks ago
Scanline VFX - Software Engineer, Stage Pipeline Workflows

Scanline VFX

Los Angeles, California, United States (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
2K - Senior Operations Manager (Creative Dev)

2K

Montréal, Québec, Canada (Hybrid)
3 Weeks ago
G5 games - Creative Producer

G5 games

(Remote)
2 Months ago
P99 soft - Senior 3D Generalist

P99 soft

Pune, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Ubisoft - Senior 3D Artist

Ubisoft

Saint-Mandé, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
Blue bolt - Matchmove Artist

Blue bolt

London, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
3 Weeks ago
Rockstar Games - Animation R&D Programmer

Rockstar Games

New York, New York, United States (On-Site)
7 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Los Angeles, California, United States

bytedance - Senior Software Engineer, Anti-DDoS - Network Security

bytedance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
PPfa - Manager, State Advocacy Communications

PPfa

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
upwork - Lead Software Engineer - AI Data Systems

upwork

United States (Remote)
1 Day ago
MiQ - Account Manager

MiQ

Kansas City, Kansas, United States (Hybrid)
3 Weeks ago
Genies - Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer, 3D Model Inference & Deployment

Genies

San Mateo, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Nagarro - Associate Principal Engineer, CRM Salesforce

Nagarro

New York, New York, United States (On-Site)
8 Months ago
FalconX - Head of Compliance, Americas

FalconX

California, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Alation - Lead Product Designer

Alation

Redwood City, California, United States (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Otherside Entertainment - Senior 3D Artist

Otherside Entertainment

Concord, New Hampshire, United States (Remote)
4 Days ago
Greenworks Sunrise Global Marketing - Digital & Ecommerce Marketing Manager

Greenworks Sunrise Global Marketing

Mooresville, North Carolina, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Gameplay Jobs

2K - Senior Gameplay Designer

2K

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
binance - Senior Gameplay Engineer

binance

Royal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
1 Week ago
bohemia interactive - Associate Gameplay Programmer

bohemia interactive

Prague, Prague, Czechia (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Airlab Inc  - Gameplay Programmer (Mobile)

Airlab Inc

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
11 Months ago
PlayStation Global - Programmeur·euse Senior – Jouabilité/Senior Gameplay Programmer

PlayStation Global

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
6 Months ago
ZeniMax Media - Senior Gameplay Programmer

ZeniMax Media

Rockville, Maryland, United States (On-Site)
9 Months ago
PlayStation Global - Senior Gameplay Programmer

PlayStation Global

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
3 Months ago
playrix  - Lead Unity Software Engineer (Gameplay)

playrix

Cyprus (Remote)
8 Months ago
Thatgamecompany - Gameplay Engineer

Thatgamecompany

Canada (Remote)
3 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by Giant Sparrow

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug