Systems Designer

Technically sharp with a strong design sense the Systems Designer will be called on to help drive the look and feel of the gameplay systems for a Serious Games project. You will partner with programmers, artists and other designers, driving idea conception, guiding design iteration, and helping to implement and maintaining these systems throughout preproduction, production and launch. Areas of responsibility will include: combat mechanics, player systems and interaction mechanics, AI design, class design, camera design, and hostile forces design

Job Responsibilities

• Collaborates with artists and programmers to develop AAA quality visual and visceral systems experience including but not limited to visual flow of combat, player movement mechanics, cameras, NPC AI, and boss designs.
• Drives systems playtesting: setting up and running the tests, gathering the feedback, and driving the task lists to iterate upon.
• Regularly give formal presentations to leads supporting their designs.
• Work with the Designers, Client and Producers to understand and provide feedback on the creative vision for all features and systems in the game.
• Ensure that all system designs are maintained and updated on a regular basis to reflect ongoing changes.
• Develop design reference guides and a “design bible” for use by internal and external teams.
• Implement all of the systems using the tools that are available and help to develop and iterate proprietary tools

Skills

• At least four years experience in the game industry
• Ability to think creatively and analytically. An in-depth understanding of how gameplay works and how to create fun, meaningful experiences for the player.
• Ability to create innovative game systems and mechanics with to then balance these complex game systems
• Strong knowledge of Programming or scripting languages (Perl, Python, Lua, UnrealScript, MaxScript, C, C++ ...)
• Strong math and statistical analysis skills
• Thorough understanding of player behaviors, motivations and profiles
• Be able to take direction and reach consensus.
• Must be goal-oriented, with a proven track record of accomplishments.
• This designer should be very familiar with word, excel, visio, and will be expected to maintain any sort of systems model that is created.
• Patience and a strong sense of humor
• Passion for games and ability to articulate that passion clearly and analytically. A broad knowledge base of console games for all of the major platforms is essential.

Pluses

• Previous experience doing system design work for computer or board games.
• Familiar with numerous pen and paper roleplaying systems
• Proven ability to think holistically, and understand how adjusting game balance will adjust far-reaching parts of the game design.

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