About Us:
PlayQ is a rapidly growing global entertainment and technology company delivering high-quality mobile titles and innovative game development solutions to a worldwide audience. Our games have been downloaded more than 60 million times across the globe, with millions of users playing every day!
Our dedicated teams, based in downtown Santa Monica, CA, work together to craft the clever, visually stunning, and unforgettable experiences that our players love. Our emphasis on individual leadership means each team member has the opportunity to make a big impact, while our commitment to creative freedom gives them the ability to create whatever they can imagine.
It’s this mindset that has led us to develop our own IP, infuse games with rich storytelling, build our own development tools, and solve the deepest technical challenges - all in the name of disrupting the mobile gaming landscape.
Job Overview:
PlayQ is looking for an outstanding Game Designer to contribute to our continuing development of world-class mobile games at our headquarters in Santa Monica.
This position offers the rare opportunity to collaborate closely with our data and production teams to design and implement new game features and events.
In this role, you will be working hands-on with a variety of development tools to implement compelling content, including missions and cutscenes, to achieve specific design goals.
The ideal candidate is both creative and analytical, able to collaborate with a team and work autonomously to deliver high quality work to fixed deadlines. The person we are looking for has professional experience doing visual scripting for encounter, mission, and/or cutscene implementation and is a self-motivated achiever who possesses a strong attention to detail and a passion for mobile game design. Success in this role requires embracing the challenge of designing and implementing content that is both engaging and accessible.
Responsibilities:
- Work in Unity, using a variety of implementation tools, to create, test, and optimize compelling missions, cutscenes, and reward structures by fixed deadlines
- Contribute to design brainstorms, discussions, feature assessments, and competitive analyses
- Prepare design documentation for new features and systems as necessary
- Help to test and evaluate new features during implementation
- Collaborate with data and production teams to conduct A/B tests that vet and verify proposals and iteratively improve level performance
- Deeply understand game mechanics and the myriad options available by which to adjust the user experience, game difficulty, and progress pacing
- Maintain an expert’s awareness of the broader casual F2P game market and, in particular, level-based F2P puzzle titles
- Work with producers and other designers to maintain the high standard of quality across all content
- Ability to balance accessible creativity with rigorous testing and tuning processes
- Ability to be creative within constraints: how many amazing things can you build with a pile of Legos before you need to ask for more pieces?
Requirements:
You are passionate about F2P games, mobile games, puzzle games, all games, game design. You understand and embrace the casual market and the challenges of designing games that are accessible and have broad appeal.
- 2-3 years of professional game design experience
- Bachelor's degree
- Examples of shipped games we can play
- Game design sensibilities with the ability to find the fun regardless of genre
- Experience using Unity engine
- Experience with scripting or visual scripting to implement game content (ex. missions, encounters, cutscenes, etc.); with an understanding of basic programming logic such as IF statements and loops etc.
- Comfortable working with configuration setups to fine tune game features and systems
- Be an active player of casual puzzle games, with up-to-date awareness of the current market and familiarity with core mechanics, game loops, IAP, and social features
- Previous experience and acquired skill in level balancing and optimizations based on metrics data
- Ability to employ whole game thinking, keeping the small and big picture in focus and anticipating the full impact of design decisions
- Superior oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage both creative and technical audiences
- Ability to effectively manage time and work efficiently in a deadline driven live ops environment
- Ability to work independently and solve new problems with minimal supervision
- Confidence in taking full ownership of a design, game system, or content area and defending big decisions
- Willingness to accept and provide constructive criticism
- Familiarity with Google Apps for Business (Mail, Docs, Calendar), Photoshop, and other software (Skype, Dropbox, etc.)
Bonus Points:
- Excellent mathematical and analytical skills
- Mobile live ops experience
- A/B testing experience
- QA experience
Perks:
- Competitive compensation and equity options
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and long term disability insurance
- Flexible time off
- 401K plan with company match
- Stocked kitchen with free snacks and beverages of your choice
- Catered weekly team lunches
- Brand new penthouse office space equipped with outdoor patios offering beachfront views
- Monthly team outings and volunteer opportunities
- Help build and support awesome GAMES. For a living! Who doesn't love games?
Interested? Please get in touch!
