Sumo Digital
Summary
Timbre Games, a new studio in Vancouver, Canada, is looking for a Lead Level Designer to join their team. The ideal candidate should be experienced in hand-crafted level and world design, have proven success in creating varied, memorable levels, and be able to manage and lead a group of designers. They should also have an excellent understanding of level design fundamentals and the role of level design in the overall player experience. The Lead Level Designer will establish level and world design best practices and framework in UE5 alongside the cross-discipline team, be the point person for level and world design with other cross-discipline team members, and participate in building exemplary content to help the project grow. Timbre Games is committed to fostering a workplace environment that empowers their team to do their best creative work and offers competitive salary and comprehensive health benefits, flexible paid time off, and a values-driven culture with direct access to leadership and industry veterans.
Job description
Welcome to Timbre!
We are Timbre Games (part of the Sumo Digital Group), a new studio in Vancouver, Canada focused on making exciting, innovative game experiences. Timbre’s vision is to change the games industry through the original games we make, as well as how we make them. We’re building an inclusive, supportive culture that allows us to explore fresh, new (and sometimes weird) ideas. We’re searching for more visionary explorers to join our team of diverse voices, coming together to develop games that are accessible to a wide audience.
If you’re thinking about your next adventure, send us your resume to talk to our team about how you can add your voice to the games we’re working on.
Design at Timbre Games
A great Timbre Designer strives to be curious, humble, authentic and adaptable. Great ideas come from everywhere, and we have the exciting opportunity to harness the power of collaboration to create something truly special.
At Timbre, designers are here to build a cohesive vision using inclusive practices and help create clarity for our team around what the game experience aspires to be.
We are the voice of our players and the heart of the game. Constantly learning as we go, we use our skills and lean on those around us to shape quality experiences that capture our audience's imagination.
Together, alongside the rest of our talented team, we create confidence in Timbre's vision of building diverse, meaningful AAA games using the latest software technologies.
Who you are at work:
You lead with humility in all that you do. You are a partner to your key stakeholders: art, animation, design and production. You take high level ideas from the teams and pitch back ideas that truly shape the experience for your players. You are an experienced Level Designer who cares deeply about games as an art form, and approaches design from a player’s mindset; your fulfilment is to hook players emotionally from the moment they pick up the game. At Timbre our focus is on making core experiences accessible, and on making players feel awesome as they experience our games. We want you to align with those values and add your flavour to our design and studio culture.
At Timbre, we take mentoring seriously, and as one of the core early production team, we want you to as well. We are here to make amazing games and grow the next generation of game industry people – two goals that are at the heart of who we are.
As a Lead Level Designer at Timbre, you will:
- Establish level and world design best practices and framework in UE5 alongside our cross-discipline team
- Be the point person for level and World design with other cross-discipline team members to make sure levels are created to contribute to enhancing the gameplay, the game narrative and are aligned with the art vision and technicality.
- Participate in building exemplary content to help the project grow and provide examples for level designers to learn from.
- Identify iterative improvements and changes to design processes and pipelines.
- Advocate for player experience with a diverse and inclusive mindset geared towards accessibility.
- Guide the team in crafting unique worlds where gameplay flow and visual composition form memorable experiences.
- Manage the level designers in the priority of their tasks and their deliverables; providing critical feedback on their performance to help them succeed in their craft and career growth.
- Partner with the recruitment team to identify key hires, taking an active role in building the core team.
- Collaborate on creation and constant improvement of pipelines and processes.
- Communicate your passion to our diverse team, ensuring we iterate effectively on our designs to deliver a fun, accessible end product for our player
- Manage cross-discipline communication and collaboration as it pertains to levels: work closely with engineers, artists, sound designers, and production in managing the prioritization, implementation, and scope of the game’s environments.
What you bring:
- Experience with hand-crafted level and world design
- Experience managing and leading a group of designers.
- Proven success in creating varied, memorable levels.
- Experience with game editors and/or 3D packages. Unreal Editor is a plus
- Excellent understanding of level design fundamentals and the role of level design in the overall player experience.
- Some general knowledge or interest in art or architecture or civil engineering is a plus.
- Ability to create map layouts at all stages – from simple sketches to fully functional levels in an existing game engine.
- Strong analytical and creative thinking abilities.
- Outstanding verbal and written interpersonal communication skills.
- Experience with scripting systems, either visual (such as Blueprint) or text-based (such as Python, Lua, or C#)
- Experience with Blueprint in UE
What you'll gain:
Timbre aims to foster a workplace environment that empowers our team to do their best creative work. Below are a list of some of the benefits we offer to ensure you reach your full potential. As we continue to grow, we are co-creating more values-driven benefits to support our team.
• Competitive salary & comprehensive health benefits, including extended health, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, short / long-term disability, 24/7 counselling through an employee assistance program and a health spending account available to you from your first day
• Annual bonus & up to 5% RRSP matching available to you from your first day
• Flexible paid time off (unlimited), plus holiday closure between Christmas and New Years, as well as National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
• Work with us in Vancouver or remotely across Canada, utilizing our $500 work from home allowance
• 1 year gaming subscription and weekly gaming days
• My Pathway - a Career Development Program to provide a clear path for you to grow at Timbre
• 8 learning days per year and unlimited access to Udemy online courses
• A values driven culture with direct access to leadership and industry veterans with a wealth of knowledge to share
Timbre’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Timbre Games is located in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Canada and on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Although our roots are in Vancouver, we work with a remote, distributed team across Canada. If you are interested in an opportunity at Timbre Games but are not presently residing in Canada, please note that we may be able to offer assistance in immigrating / relocating under the right conditions.
Timbre Games is an equal opportunity employer and considers all candidates for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran’s status (including protected veterans, as may be required by federal law), sexual orientation or any other category protected by law. We celebrate all backgrounds and attributes that make us unique and amazing - in this world and the ones we create!
At Timbre, we try to be mindful and not set unrealistic requirement expectations in order to apply. If you don’t tick all of the boxes of the role that you’re excited about, we encourage you to send your resume to our General Application inbox on our careers page, or, follow Timbre on LinkedIn to stay in touch with our newest openings.
Accommodations will be provided as requested by candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
If what we’ve shared above resonates with you, connect with us today!
Apply for this job
Location: Timbre Games, Vancouver
Country: Canada
Date found: 2023-03-17