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Senior Designer
Giant Sparrow
Job Summary
Lead Gameplay Designer for a new game focused on the mesmerizing experience of interacting with wild animals. This role involves deep thinking about what makes interactions feel weirdly alive, unsettling, or intimate, and exploring these concepts through gameplay prototypes. The goal is to create gameplay that feels squishy, intimate, and strange—like a grub crawling on a hand, a starfish waving its arms, or a lizard emerging from its shell—filtered through aesthetics inspired by classic fairytales, Jim Henson, and Junji Ito.
The game presents complex challenges involving animal behavior, physics, rendering, sound design, and animation. The ideal candidate is senior and curious, with experience across a wide variety of game systems, as the problems are interdisciplinary.
Key Responsibilities
- Build rapid 3D gameplay prototypes in C++ to explore potential directions.
- Review prototypes created by other designers.
- Coordinate and provide feedback to a small team of programmers, artists, and animators.
- Watch regular playtests and discuss feedback.
- Mentor junior designers.
- Single-handedly build initial gameplay prototypes and guide the team in fleshing out early prototypes.
- Advocate for impactful gameplay elements while ruthlessly cutting unnecessary features.
Required Qualifications / Skills
- 5+ years of professional game development experience.
- Experience with C++ OR a very strong C# background with an interest in learning C++.
- Strong interest in using gameplay to evoke emotion.
- Technical skills to single-handedly build 3D gameplay prototypes (not necessarily visually polished but emotionally expressive).
Preferred Qualifications
- An interest in science and biology.
- Experience with Unreal Engine and Blueprint scripting.
- Experience with Blender or Maya.
Location
This role can be fully remote or based in Los Angeles, CA.
Application Process
If you think you’d be a good fit, please contact us.
