Senior Combat Designer - Unreal AI Enemies (3-Month)

Abstraction; Eindhoven; On-site; EUR 67,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Abstraction, a Dutch game co-development studio, seeks a Senior Combat Designer to lead combat design and enemy prototyping in Unreal Engine 5. You will shepherd enemies from concept to playable, polished opponents, collaborating with animation, AI, and design teams to ensure readable, responsive encounters that elevate gameplay.

The role emphasizes enemy creation, motion capture integration, and tuning within technical constraints.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Video Game Design, Computer Science or related field.
• 6-8 years of experience in games in a design role.
• Game Designer credits on at least 2 released AAA titles.
• Specialised knowledge in industry-standard software tools.
• Specialised knowledge of Unreal Engine or similar engines and PC/console platforms.
• Advanced verbal and written communication in English.
• Strong presentation and pitch skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and implement enemies end-to-end in Unreal Engine 5 from concept to playable character.
• Design grounded melee combat, including movesets, attack patterns, hits, and flow.
• Process and integrate motion capture data for enemy attacks, reactions and locomotion.
• Set up Animation Montages, tune attack timing and recovery for readable moves.
• Configure animation blending and motion warping for convincing enemy tracking.
• Build and maintain enemy AI behaviour using State Trees with decision-making and group coordination.
• Script and balance combat encounters based on playtests and feedback.
• Collaborate with other departments to improve tools/workflows for enemy creation.
• Write documentation for enemy movesets, behaviours and tuning values.
• Adapt to technical constraints like animation budgets, engine specifics and framerate targets.

Skills

English fluency

Presentation skills

Enemy design experience

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Unreal Engine

State Trees/AI tooling

Job description

Abstraction, a Dutch game co-development studio, seeks a Senior Combat Designer to lead combat design and enemy prototyping in Unreal Engine 5. You will shepherd enemies from concept to playable, polished opponents, collaborating with animation, AI, and design teams to ensure readable, responsive encounters that elevate gameplay.

The role emphasizes enemy creation, motion capture integration, and tuning within technical constraints.