Lead Level Designer – AAA Console/PC Games – London – Permanent

Project: AAA Console/PC Games

OPMs client is an independently owned studio on the outskirts of London, and they are all about crafting engaging multiplayer experiences. They are working on several high-profile projects for PC and Console and they need you!

They are seeking a talented Lead Level Designer who will be responsible for the level design of bigger, more difficult areas of the product, owning numerous levels from concept to final product.

To ensure the safety of their staff moving forward, all their employees are now using a work from home model during the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK, and this will continue for the foreseeable future.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Deep understanding of all aspects of level design with specialist skills in several areas such as: visual language, architectural composition, sign-posting, combat and encounter design, flow, game balance, support of game mechanics, on-boarding, difficulty tuning and pacing.
• Extensive experience in games, as a Senior/Lead Designer having at least two shipped AAA current gen or last gen console or PC titles that included a multiplayer component, from concept to final product.
• Leadership experience including the running of a multi-person design team, people-management, mentoring, line-management.
• The ability to work collaboratively with other disciplines and experience of being a key part of a leadership group.
• Experience creating first or third person shooters.
• Passionate about environment design and architectural concepts.
• Experience of level-building using 3D level editing tools such as: Unreal 4, UnrealEd, Hammer, Radiant etc.
• Experience of prototyping gameplay mechanics with UE4, Unity, or similar.
• Experience with source-control applications such as SVN, Perforce, AlienBrain etc.
• Experience writing high quality and thorough design documentation including diagram and flow-chart creation
• Experience in multiplayer level design.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Responsible for the level design of an entire product, pushing end to end implementation across the team.
• Establish and direct the vision for the levels, defining quality targets and ensuring the department are equipped to build epic, memorable, stunning maps.
• Realise and communicate the game vision throughout the studio, ensuring alignment across all disciplines.
• Driving frequent feedback sessions to gather feedback for you and your team and strive to provide constructive feedback to the wider team.
• Have a clear understanding of the technical constraints of the game engine, the capabilities and workflow of the game editor and level design pipeline, driving ideas to help improve them.
• Maintaining a focus on the gameplay aspects of the maps and ensure that focus is shared by the Level Design team and respected by the Environment Art team.
• Presenting your vision for the levels and your work to the team, upper management and the wider company at various stages and be happy to accept critique from all sources.
• Verifying task estimates provided by junior staff and in turn work with your lead to give your own accurate estimates for work as well as logging work in management software.
• Offering input to Production and Management on project schedules throughout development to prioritise tasks for the developers responsible for their assigned feature-set.
• Consistently monitor the bug database and fix issues in a timely fashion to maintain stability and ensure that your team’s levels always remain playable.
• Define and implement feature optimisations and tuning plans demonstrating a strong understanding of metrics and development restrictions; owning the tuning for accountable features or levels.
• As required, effectively communicate with any external partners or publishers, managing those relationships, presenting the creative achievements of the team, negotiating feature requests.
• As required, communicate to the press, communities, and fans in various formats from live appearances to pre-recorded interviews to forum engagement acting as both an evangelist and representative of the product and as an ambassador for the studio.

DESIRABLE SKILLS:

• Strong presentation skills and experience with PowerPoint
• Experience with UnrealScript, Blueprints, Flow Graph, or other visual scripting software.
• Understanding of gameplay event scripting and entity setup.
• Experience with UnrealEd/UDK and Kismet.
• Experience with 3DSMax, Maya, or other professional 3D modelling software.
• Experience with Adobe Photoshop or similar.
• Experience with scripting or programming languages.
• Experience with wiki-based design documentation.
• Experience with scripting or programming languages.
• Undergraduate degree in Video Game Design, Computer Science, Marketing, Entertainment, or a relevant technical training.
• Experience of championing a product including giving presentations to press and at conferences and events.
• Experience running the live phase of a game as a service, including using telemetry and metrics to inform design and content decisions.

Interested in finding out more about the studio and project? Apply now or call me directly today on +44 (0) 1206 214415!