Lead Gameplay Designer

3 weeks ago


Santa Monica, United States Absurd Ventures Full time

**Summary**

Become the primary vision holder and hands-on contributor for character, controls, and camera design in an open world action-adventure game. The person in this role will lead a team of multi-disciplinary specialists to deliver best-in-class combat and third person action across multiple game modes.

**Responsibilities**
- Drive the design and implementation of all moment-to-moment player-feel gameplay in alignment with direction from a senior leadership team.
- Establish a gameplay vision that serves the player fantasies and creative direction, then evangelize that vision to the broader team.
- Lead designers, engineers, animators, artists, and external co-dev partners to deliver playable progress at regular intervals as part of a rapid iterative process.
- Incorporate feedback from peers, playtests, and senior leadership to refine and pivot as the game demands.
- Go beyond documentation and management to lead from the trenches, with hands-on contributions to the playable experience.
- Establish metrics and best practices for environment and encounter design to support optimal gameplay.

**Qualifications**
- 5 or more years of experience in combat design for an action game
- Experience developing both melee and shooting action mechanics
- Sensitivity to animation systems and how they relate to combat and action gameplay design
- Awareness of casual gamers' needs and ability to reduce barriers to entry with accessible moment-to-moment gameplay
- High attention to detail with the ability to communicate and directly implement precision refinements that take an experience from good to great
- High confidence and comfort in the technical, aesthetic, and design aspects of gameplay and player-feel
- Recent experience with direct implementation in the form of visual scripting, animation, or other individual contributions to action gameplay
- Experience developing non-combat forms of action gameplay (driving, mounts, climbing, traversal, platforming, etc.)
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams is a plus
- Multiplayer combat design experience is a plus
- Experience in UE4 or UE5 is a plus
- Experience working with co-development partners is a plus

**Description**
- Full time job with benefits
- Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA
- Office is located near downtown Santa Monica - near metro and freeways

The base pay range for this position is $125,000- $165,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

**About Absurd Ventures**

Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.



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