Staff Gameplay Designer - Social (Contract)

PlayStation Global; United States; Presencial; USD 105 000 - 158 000; Tempo integral

Resumo da oferta

PlayStation Global is seeking a Staff Sandbox/Gameplay Designer to shape the avatar experience for social, cooperative play on our platforms in the United States. You will design and implement sandbox systems, ensure player self-expression through customization, and align features with an evolving IP.

You will partner with designers, artists, programmers, audio, QA and producers to prototype, iterate, and ship tools that empower rapid iteration and expressive gameplay.

Qualificações

• Experience designing social sandbox experiences for multiplayer games.
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines to reach common goals.
• Prototyping skills to rapidly test gameplay ideas.
• Strong scripting understanding to build design tools.
• Knowledge of character motion and animation impact on communication.

Responsabilidades

• Build and maintain avatar movement and sandbox systems for cooperative social gameplay and player expression.
• Develop avatar customization systems and progression economies to foster investment and self-expression.
• Deliver engaging gameplay through reusable sandbox mechanics focusing on 3C design (Character, Camera, Controls).
• Create NPCs to enhance IP quality and sandbox design consistency.
• Coordinate with audio, effects, and animation to clearly communicate gameplay affordances.

Conhecimentos

Avatar sandbox design

Collaboration

Rapid prototyping

Scripting for tools

Character motion & animation

Feature direction ownership

Autonomy in ambiguity

Experience planning

Communication skills

Systematic game design

Descrição da oferta de emprego

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the avatar movement and core sandbox systems that enable cooperative social gameplay and player expression, while building trust between players


• Build the systems to allow for avatar customization, creating extensible opportunities for player investment and a progression economy, as well as player self expression and customization


• Build compelling gameplay experiences through reusable sandbox mechanics, especially 3C (Character, Camera and Controls) design and implementation


• Create endearing NPCs that improve IP quality, consistency, along with sandbox design principles


• Work with audio, effects, and animation to clearly communicate gameplay affordances to players

Required Skills

• Understanding of how modern multiplayer social games can leverage an intuitive and expressive action sandbox to create memories between players


• 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 enough multi-disciplinary knowledge to quickly stub out gameplay ideas to evaluate their potential


• Strong technical scripting skills and understanding of how to structure game design tools to unlock player expression, content variety, and execution speed


• Strong understanding of character motion and animation; momentum, timing, and their impact on player communication and tone


• 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


• Ability to create plans and evaluate them for meeting the experiential needs of the players and markets


• Outstanding oral and written communication skills


• Demonstrated understanding of how systemically consistent, combinatoric game design can create player surprise and laughter

Preferred Experience

• Experience as a Staff Sandbox/Gameplay Designer on AAA or large-scale online action games, designing, documenting, and building character customization systems


• Experience delegating work or ownership of an area to multi-disciplinary peers


• Experience with social/cooperative game design and balancing for an active player base

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate. $76—$115 USD Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks. Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.