Physics Programmer

Why Naughty Dog?

For nearly 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology. We’ve been busy at the Kennel, most recently releasing The Last of Us Part I, a complete and faithful remake of the original game, rebuilt from the ground up and fully optimized for the PlayStation 5 and PC. As a part of the Naughty Dog legacy, you’ll be continuing the development of extraordinary and enduring experiences for a broad, global range of audiences.

Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome a diverse group of candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together.

Come help us to push the technical limits of video games by implementing new ideas of how to make our heroes and their world feel more real and more alive. As a physics programmer you would work in systems like ragdolls or power ragdolls, drive-able physics-based vehicles, cloth or rope simulation, interactive props or vegetation, improving performance of our collision detection algorithms etc. There is lot of opportunities for growth by collaborating with lot of talented individuals.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement and maintain physics-based systems using Havok Engine, ensuring efficient production and a dynamic user experience.
• Develop, maintain, and improve upon physics-based systems that leads the industry in quality while maintaining robust flexibility for use by game systems designers, technical artists and gameplay teams.
• Maintain and troubleshoot existing interactive objects, collision detection and physics simulations to ensure stability and performance.
• Create interactive objects, collision detection and physics simulations, ensuring adherence to performance, memory, compatibility, and portability requirements.
• Work on low level algorithms and simulations as well as on gameplay features that are built on top of them
• Collaborate regularly with other departments to facilitate and support the invention, design, and implementation of new interactive features, production pipelines, and physics workflows.
• Maintain, debug and optimize code in these systems with full ownership from content creation tools to the runtime.
• Additional responsibilities may be assigned as needed.

Requirements & Skills:

• At least 2 years of experience working in the video game industry
• Strong mathematical skills with an emphasis on 3D math (geometry/linear algebra/trigonometry/Newtonian mechanics) and basic understanding of physics simulations and algorithms.
• Strong knowledge of C / C++ programming languages and debugging experience in multithreaded environments.
• Ability to write concise code that is understandable and performant within existing frameworks
• Familiarity with collision detection and physics simulations.
• Experience with game content pipeline and tools.
• Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively
• B.S. or higher in Computer Science and/or Mathematics or equivalent work experience

Bonus Skills:

• Experience with consoles
• Experience writing physics simulations