Gameplay Designer, Creatures

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• Develop, iterate, and sustain creature behaviors and abilities for both combat and non-combat scenarios within an online multiplayer setting.

• Take ownership of the implementation and ongoing maintenance of creature behaviors utilizing Unreal Behavior Trees and Blackboards, from initial prototyping to final polish.

• Work collaboratively with engineers, artists, animators, and audio designers to enhance the player experience through your creature designs.

• Be responsible for creatures, their abilities, and behaviors while ensuring alignment with gameplay design and leadership directives.

• Partner with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure creature design is consistent with artistic vision, narrative, core gameplay mechanics, and technical specifications.

• Balance and fine-tune difficulty and behavior to craft compelling encounters for multiplayer scenarios.

• Champion the player experience by ensuring creature interactions are enjoyable, unexpected, and memorable.

• Collaborate with the Animation team to refine movement sets and provide pathfinding logic that ensures locomotion feels grounded and purposeful.

• Serve as a vital link between Art/Animation and Engineering to resolve visual state logic issues and enhance creature performance.

⛳️ Requirements

• A strong understanding of how players engage in multiplayer gameplay to create captivating and engaging creatures (and their behaviors) that enhance the player experience.

• Excellent collaboration skills with the capability to articulate ideas clearly and concisely.

• Strong playtesting and iteration practices to uphold creative objectives while considering how design choices influence player interactions and relationships.

• Significant experience with Unreal Engine, particularly with Unreal Engine Behavior Trees, Blackboards, and Blueprint Scripting (Bonus Points).

• Familiarity with and a solid understanding of the Gameplay Ability System (GAS) in Unreal Engine (Bonus Points).

• A passion for ecological design, systemic worldbuilding, or player-driven emergent gameplay (Bonus Points).

• A love for and comprehension of the animal kingdom, creature biology, and natural ecosystems (Bonus Points).

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive Salaries and Pay Transparency

• Stock Options

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage (100% for Individuals and 90% for Dependents)

• Life Insurance, Short Term & Long Term Disability, and various other benefits

• 401k contributions (USA) / RRSP plan + DPSP contributions (Canada)

• Paid Parental Leave

• Biannual Company Retreats

• Continued Education Allowance

• A fully-distributed studio across North American Timezones (US & Canada)