Senior Game Designer (Combat)

What you will do

• Pitch, design, implement, and own enemy NPC archetypes
• Work with AI programmers to develop foundational NPC technology and implementing and tuning enemy AI behaviors
• Work with animators to develop enemy locomotion and traversal, melee moves, ambient behaviors, and other custom abilities. Make every enemy archetype feel unique and memorable
• Collaborate with the Design team to conceptualize, prototype, implement, tune, and balance gameplay mechanics and systems
• Communicate with animation, programming, and art departments to effectively produce the assets and code support required for the enemies you’re owning
• Write and maintain documentation that establishes the core vision of the enemy archetypes
• Drive communication and collaboration for enemies you design and the levels they are in, ensuring communication across disciplines and meeting deadlines
• Effective and respectful communicator and collaborator, both with other designers and members of other departments
• Facilitate playtesting and feedback sessions to iterate on combat systems and fine-tune them based on player experiences
• Mentor junior designers and contribute to the overall growth of the design team

What skills you will use

• 5+ years of industry experience in combat design and/or technical design for games, specifically focused on developing action-adventure or shooter games
• At least one shipped title as a combat designer or similar role. Experience with behavior trees or similar NPC AI concepts preferred
• Strong coding ability: Computer Science degree preferred though not required
• Proficient in using game engines and tools (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity) for combat implementation and design scripting (C#, Lua, Visual Scripting)
• Welcomes feedback on their work and embraces the “let’s try it” mentality
• Proficient and effective communication skills, including diagramming and sketching
• Fluent in modern character action-adventure and shooter combat games. Maintains knowledge of the broader gaming landscape trends
• Knowledge of narrative structure and how it intersects with gameplay and combat
• A keen eye for detail in character action games, able to tune gameplay systems to make them feel smooth and impactful
• Strong leadership and mentoring skills

Pay

The estimated USA base pay range for this zone (Los Angeles area) is $145,100 - $181,400 USD.