Senior Gameplay Designer (Combat & AI)

teamLFG; Bellevue (WA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

teamLFG is looking for a highly technical and creative Senior Sandbox Designer to contribute to a new multiplayer action game. You will design AI characters and work with the Design Team to establish cohesive gameplay. The ideal candidate should possess a deep understanding of action games and strong collaboration skills.

Join a dedicated team focused on turning creative dreams into a new franchise at PlayStation. Responsibilities include creating and balancing gameplay elements while ensuring a top-quality player experience.

Qualifications

• Intuitive understanding of how action games function.
• Proven collaboration skills with various disciplines.
• Strong technical scripting abilities.
• Ability to autonomously handle tasks and feedback.

Responsibilities

• Build new AI enemies and player objectives.
• Create and balance player items for gameplay enhancement.
• Review content for readability and game feel.
• Create endearing characters that uphold IP quality.
• Collaborate with other teams to ensure clear gameplay.

Skills

Understanding action games

Collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams

T-shaped prototyping skills

Combat animation understanding

Feature direction alignment

Autonomy in ambiguous situations

PvP game design understanding

Combinatoric game design

Communication skills

Job description

Are you on a mission to create games that bond players together into deeply invested communities? Do you spend your time thinking about how to build combat puzzles for players that have potential to create memorable teamplay moments? Are you excited to make gameplay that strongly cares about player intention, action game feel, and readability?

We are seeking a highly technical, creative, and team-oriented Senior Sandbox Designer to contribute to a new multiplayer action game on teamLFG. You will work closely with the entire Design Team designing, crafting, and implementing a robust suite of AI characters for use in an objective-based team game. You will collaborate with team members from other disciplines to drive cohesive gameplay vision. You will establish good design processes and evangelize them throughout the design team. Most importantly, you will work with a fun, dedicated, and cross discipline team devoted to turning a creative dream into a new franchise at PlayStation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• An active member of a cross-discipline small team building new AI enemies, player objectives, and the core systems that enable the creation of future AI, such as navigation, perception, behavior, and combat prioritization
• Create and balance a suite of active and passive player items that can extend and amplify player base kits and act as meaningful inter-match upgrades
• Review content created by multiple disciplines, giving feedback to ensure competitive readability, best in class game feel, and compelling fantasies
• Create and maintain endearing characters that uphold IP quality, consistency, along with sandbox design principles
• Work with audio, effects, 3D and animation to make in-game gameplay affordances clear to players

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Intuitive understanding of how second-to-second action games work and why people play them
• Fluency for collaboration with designers, artists, programmers, audio professionals, quality assurance and producers to achieve a common goal, with adaptability for how to work in a flexible work environment
• Broad T-shaped rapid prototyping skills, with strong technical scripting ability and enough multi-disciplinary knowledge to quickly stub out gameplay ideas to evaluate their potential
• Strong understanding of combat animation; is experienced in discussing anticipation, follow through, character and timing, and their impact on game readability and balance
• Proven ability to build alignment and productively own feature direction without sacrificing empathy and collaboration with team contributors
• Ability to operate autonomously and handle ambiguity, including giving and receiving feedback despite that ambiguity
• Understanding of PvP game design and balance, getting the challenge level right for a wide variety of situations
• Understanding of how systemically consistent, combinatoric game design can create player surprise and laughter
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Experience as a Sandbox/Gameplay Designer on a multiplayer action game, designing, documenting, and building combat/character systems
• Experience delegating work or ownership of an area to multi-disciplinary peers
• Knowledge and perspective from playing competitive team games