Principal Player & Combat Systems Designer

ProbablyMonsters is looking for a creative, technical, and collaborative Principal Player & Combat Systems Designer. You will join a team concentrated on building new game concepts and worlds centered around a focused player experience. As part of the Incubation team, you’ll have the freedom to create, experiment, and try new game ideas while forming new franchises and development teams. Everyone on the Incubation team is enthusiastic about helping to shape a culture of collaboration and trust while creating best-in-class games.

We are seeking a Principal Player & Combat Systems Designer who is experienced in designing, implementing, and tuning player gameplay & combat. We are looking for someone who is able to own the design of all player gameplay mechanics, collaborating heavily with the systems, level design, animation, and engineering teams to help deliver exciting moment-to-moment gameplay for a new action-adventure role-playing-game IP.

The salary range for this position is $159,640 to $262,000. This range represents the salary for the position commensurate with experience, knowledge, and demonstrated success in the field.  

WHO YOU ARE:

• Obsessed with the 3C’s (Character, Controls, Camera) and how they impact the overall game feel to ensure player gameplay feels best-in-class.
• Able to clearly articulate how combat, enemy encounter, and level design are used to facilitate player skill mastery and investment.
• You are passionate about third-person action games and are excited about the possibility of bringing your design expertise to the genre.
• Able to understand, align, and adapt to high-level project design goals, fantasy, and audience expectations.
• Someone with strong desire to think outside of the box, building from the games within genres but striving to find new gameplay within them to innovate.
• Collaborative, self-motivated developer, with a desire to grow & share knowledge.
• Capable of creating and updating documentation to pitch & explore designs, achieve alignment, and facilitate communication with different disciplines.
• Strong ability to proactively communicate, especially in a remote environment, particularly with other designers, engineers, and animators.
• Able to drive playtesting; collect & analyze feedback, ceaselessly iterate, and determine when a design meets quality.
• Receptive to feedback from a variety of sources and confident enough to evaluate the best actionable response and what is not necessary to address.
• Excited to play a key role in a new studio and team working as a tight knit team highly focused on delivering exciting gameplay in a new IP.
• You show empathy and respect for our players and fellow team members.

• Act as design expert in development of player gameplay driving critical gameplay systems that creates strong player mastery, partners with core game mechanics and systems, and combat and exploration that is fun to perform solo or cooperatively.
• Be a leader in the identification of challenges with gameplay mechanics, game content, and workflow processes and devise creative solutions in cases where there will be limited information and requires adaptation to resolve.
• Work directly with Leadership to ensure that the vision is being properly executed and clearly executed.
• You'll be heavily involved in partnering with the development efforts of AI combatants from the ground up to fulfill clear design goals that you help to define and evolve.
• Collaborate with the team through all phases of development, including working with production and product management to effectively scope, prioritize, and deliver at the highest quality levels and ensure a cohesive gameplay experience.
• Establish quality benchmarks that drive the team in reach them.
• Exhibit expert game design knowledge, using in-depth professional knowledge, acumen, concepts, and company objectives to develop, resolve complex models and procedures.
• Mentor other game designers to share your experience and insights to help them improve their craft.
• Proactively provide updates on progress and development to the design team including communicating game design progress and decision-making widely to ensure full visibility & strong alignment between disciplines.
• Lead the work of testing features and identifying challenges with gameplay mechanics, game content, and workflow processes and find creative solutions to meet design goals.

• Experience with animation systems and tuning gameplay within the context of combat design in a modern 3D game engine.
• Experience designing and implementing challenging and engaging player gameplay experiences at a shippable AAA quality level.
• A nuanced understanding of third-person character action game principles & ability to clearly communicate them, at both a granular and high level.
• Understanding of how various combat and action role-playing game systems intertwine.
• Able to work with little to no instruction on day-to-day projects and end-to-end assignments utilizing best practices, independent judgement, skills, and previous experience to effectively execute on requests from stakeholders.
• Ability to collaborate and clearly articulate across multiple disciplines.
• Strong conceptual thinking and ability to work on complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors.
• Experience in mentoring other designers and providing insightful feedback on design efforts.
• Recognized as a subject matter expert. 
• Ability to establish department/function goals and objectives.
• Requires a minimum of 12 years of related or equivalent work experience.
• Experience in the design of at least two games on modern consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, PC etc.).

• Previous combat and traversal design experience on a third-person action RPG or melee combat game.
• Experience using Unreal Engine and Blueprint visual scripting to build shippable-quality combat.
• Previous experience in feature ownership within game design of AAA game development.
• Experience in mentoring other designers and providing insightful feedback on design efforts.
• Expertise in C++ or other text-based scripting languages.

• A people-centric culture founded on respect, trust, approachability, and accountability.
• A stable home that values your potential, deeply cares about your work-life balance, and is committed to investing in your craft and long-term career.
• We offer a competitive benefits package, including a sign-on bonus; annual stock option grants; health coverage (medical, dental, vision) paid at 100% for the employee and subsidized by the Company for dependents; Flexible Spending Account eligibility; life, accidental death, and disability insurance coverage; annual 401K contribution by the Company; Employee Assistance Program; and extensive paid time off plus holiday closures.