Senior Designer

PC Games Insider; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Ghost Story Games is seeking a remote Senior Designer to join Judas, a narrative-driven project led by Ken Levine. You will own design and prototyping for core gameplay systems, guiding level gameplay balance, and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to ship a cohesive experience.

The role emphasizes strong level design, gameplay pacing, and a deep understanding of systemic game design. You will work with Unreal 4, Perforce and contribute to a player-first, immersive world.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of design experience on PC or console games in a systems design capacity.
• Experience across the full production cycle, from concept through ship.
• Strong skills in design/scripting (Unreal 4 experience preferred).
• Able to work independently, meet deadlines, and handle schedules.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and organizational skills.
• Familiarity with highly systemic games with procedural elements.
• Experience with shooters, immersive sims and/or action RPGs.
• Experience with Perforce or similar source control.

Responsibilities

• Primary ownership for design, prototyping and fostering core gameplay systems.
• Lead and coordinate cross-disciplinary sub-teams to implement features.
• Author and revise internal design documentation and implementation guides.
• Collaborate with design to integrate systems into level gameplay and balance.
• Iterate, balance and tune features based on feedback from leads, QA and playtests.

Skills

Level design

Gameplay pacing

System design

Communication

Scripting

Tools

Unreal 4

Perforce

Job description

Designer - Game Design - Massachusetts, United States of America

Job Title

Job Title Senior Designer

Job Description

Ghost Story Games is a self-publishing game development studio founded by Ken Levine (Creative Director of System Shock 2, Bioshock, and Bioshock Infinite) and former Irrational Games developers. The studio’s mission is to create narrative-driven experiences rooted in immersive world building and gameplay.

The Challenge:

Ghost Story Games is seeking a talented remote Senior Designer to join us on Judas, the highly anticipated game led by Ken Levine (System Shock 2, BioShock series). Unique in its creative vision, Judas is also built upon novel technology by which the visual world, gameplay, and story unfolds in meaningful, dynamic ways. The result is a significant and personal journey adapted to each player’s experience and offers a new approach to the art and storytelling of video games.

We’re looking for an experienced lead designer to help build the best possible gameplay experience for our next project. You have a strong understanding of level design, gameplay pacing and global balance and keep a holistic view of how it all fits together in moment to moment gameplay. You have a strong ability to deconstruct high level gameplay systems, breaking them down into specific technical details, features and tasks as well as possess the technical acumen to dive in and hook it all up in a highly systemic game.

What You’ll Take On:

• Primary ownership for the design, prototyping and fostering of one or more core gameplay systems, including player mechanics, world simulation and / or AI;
• Lead, coordinate and participate in collaborative, interdisciplinary sub-teams to implement and balance gameplay features from initial design to final polish;
• Author, revise and provide feedback on internal design documentation, including feature specifications and implementation guides;
• Collaborate with the design team to incorporate systems into level gameplay and maintain overall balance between multiple gameplay systems;
• Continually iterate, balance and tune features and gameplay based on feedback from design leads, QA and playtesting.

What You Bring:

• 10+ years of design experience on PC or console games in a systems design capacity;
• Have worked on projects throughout the entire production cycle, from concepting through ship;
• Strong skills in design/scripting (Unreal 4 experience preferred);
• Ability to work independently to diagnose and solve problems; to work within a schedule; and to deliver effectively to deadlines;
• Excellent communication, collaboration, interpersonal and organizational skills;
• Familiarity with highly systemic games with procedural elements;
• Experience with design for shooters, immersive sims and/or action RPGs;
• Experience with Perforce or similar source control solutions.