Who Are We?
We are nDreams, an award-winning independent developer and publisher, delivering world-leading interactive VR experiences. Our new VR projects are a leap forward for the studio and we are looking for talented people to help turn them into a reality.
We’ve just launched our latest title Phantom Covert Ops, a stealth action game redefined for virtual reality, and we couldn’t be more proud of what the team have achieved. Once you’ve seen what we’re up to next, we’re convinced you’ll want to be involved…
We’re looking for a self-driven AI Programmer with an analytical nature who can demonstrate an organised and imaginative approach to problem solving. The successful candidate will have a thorough understanding of character and AI development whilst working closely with our Art and Design teams to create exemplary AI systems for our VR titles. This is an exciting opportunity to join a truly collaborative team, working on titles that push the limits of the latest VR headsets.
If you enjoy working in a collaborative environment, building robust AI systems whilst pushing creativity and immersion to new levels in VR, you should apply for our AI Programmer position today!
What Will You Be Doing?
- Working closely with the design department to ideate, plan, implement and balance core AI systems of our VR games.
- Writing stable, readable and modular C++ code that makes best use of Unreal Engine and its game framework.
- Liaising with animation coders and technical animators to resolve dependencies and interface between animation and AI systems.
- Communicating technical designs for AI systems to code and design leads.
- Collaborating with production to estimate timescales for feature implementation and issue resolution.
- Creating test environments to help designers and others quickly test or review AI quality outside of game systems when necessary.
- Creating tools alongside the systems for easy debugging and iteration.
Requirements
What Are We Looking For?
- Unreal Engine 4 features for AI - A thorough understanding of the Unreal Engine 4 paradigm for character and AI development including its features like Blueprint, Behaviour Trees, EQS, movement and animation systems.
- C++ programming - Ability to write readable, safe and performant code utilising design patterns and software engineering.
- 3D maths and data structures- An understanding of 3D maths and data structures, along with performance-minded development and optimisation skills.
- A knack for making game characters look and feel right – the ability to combine procedural and authored animation, seamless behaviour transitions and audio/visual queues – all in the pursuit of interactive, believable non-player characters.
- Planning/Design skills - An ability to plan and create systems with an organised and imaginative approach to problem solving.
- Collaborative - An empathetic individual who can collaborate with a multi-discipline team, empowering artists and exchanging ideas/technical plans with the design team.
- Self-learning and mentoring - Someone with a desire to research, learn, and improve their own knowledge, and pass that knowledge on to others.
- Communication skills - Excellent verbal and written communication skills with an ability to communicate your work to both technical and non-technical people to help them overcome issues.
- Experience developing robust and clean AI systems – Proven experience using mature AI tools and systems as used in AAA games, with an appreciation of modern AI behavioural and navigational techniques.
Experience
- Proven experience developing high-quality AI behaviours or systems for published PC, console or mobile titles in a professional team or studio environment.
- Experience working professionally with Unreal Engine 4.
- Bonus Experience developing Virtual Reality apps for mobile, console or PC.
Benefits
Why Join nDreams
The team at nDreams encourages an open, creative and diverse culture. As part of our growing studio you’ll be empowered to explore your ideas and put your own stamp on the titles you work on.
We offer some great perks, including flexible core hours, share options, 20 days holiday (increasing yearly to a maximum of 25 days), two duvet days, a day off to celebrate your birthday and various monthly socials (including Breakfast Butty Monday and Free Drink Friday)! Our welcoming, open plan office has some great facilities with a cycle station, showers and more all on site.
Interested?
The position will be remote working for an initial period and based in our modern studio in Farnborough, UK, within easy commuting distance from London and Guildford. Salary is competitive and dependent on your experience.
If you think this could be the role for you, we’d love you to get in touch! Drop us your CV via the link below.
Your data/privacy
By applying to nDreams, you agree to our recruitment privacy policy regarding the use of your data, and that we can contact you about the vacancy that you are applying for. We will retain your data for recruitment purposes only. We promise to keep it secure, not to share your data with anyone else, and to delete your data when it is no longer required.