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Lead Game Systems Designer

California, United States (On-site)

Lead Game Systems Designer

7 Months ago • 5 Years + • Systems Design • $125,000 PA - $165,000 PA

About the job

4 skills required for this role

Add these skills to join the top 1% applicants for this job

multiplayer

communication

iterative-process

user-research

Job Description

Lead game systems design for an open world action-adventure game, requiring 5+ years of action game system design experience and deep understanding of virtual world economies.

Must have:

Action Game Design
Virtual World Economy
System Design
Lead Experience

Good to have:

Multiplayer Progression
Social Systems Design
Non-Combatant NPC
Multidisciplinary Teams

Perks:

Competitive Benefits
Equity Opportunities

About the job

Summary

Become the primary vision holder and hands-on contributor for all systems in an open world action-adventure game. Lead a team of multi-disciplinary specialists to deliver intuitive, deep, and novel systems that support long-term player investment and emergent fun.

Responsibilities

Drive the design and implementation of all game-wide systems.

Establish a vision for progression, rewards, customization, economy, UX, and systems-driven content that serves the player fantasies and creative direction, then evangelize that vision to the broader team.

Coordinate with gameplay, activity, mission, and open world design leads to integrate deep and diverse features into a coherent and accessible experience.

Rally designers, engineers, artists, and external co-dev partners to deliver playable progress at regular intervals as part of a rapid iterative process.

Incorporate feedback from peers, playtests, and senior leadership to refine, rebalance, and pivot as the game demands.

Partner with community, user research, and marketing teams to develop and refine systems that drive long-term player excitement and engagement.

Coordinate with quality assurance to develop longform playtests in continuous reevaluation of metagame systems.

Go beyond documentation and management to lead from the trenches, with hands-on contributions to playable game systems at every level.

Qualifications

5 or more years of experience designing systems for action games.

Awareness of casual gamers' needs and ability to reduce barriers to entry with accessible systems and intuitive UX.

Deep understanding of virtual world economies and how to design sustainably for long-term player chase and investment.

Narrative sensibilities and vision to design systems that immerse players in an authored fictional world, while empowering them to forge their own emergent experiences.

Recent experience with direct implementation in the form of visual scripting, balance tuning, or other individual contributions.

Excellent communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills.

Innovative thinker with creative problem-solving skills who thrives in a collaborative team environment.

Multiplayer progression, economy, or social systems design experience is a plus.

Experience designing non-combatant social NPC behavior is a plus.

Experience leading multidisciplinary teams is a plus.

Experience designing longform metagame testing is a plus.

Experience working with co-development partners is a plus.

Experience in UE4 or UE5 is a plus.

Description

Full time job with benefits

Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA

Office is located near downtown Santa Monica – near metro and freeways

The base pay range for this position is $125,000 to $165,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Absurd Ventures

Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.

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$125.0K - $165.0K/yr (Outscal est.)

$145.0K/yr avg.

Santa Monica, California, United States

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About The Company

Absurd Ventures

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Storytelling. Philanthropy. Ultraviolence.

Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.

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