As a Game Designer, you will design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity aid in crafting in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to innovate and iterate player-focused designs that'll delight millions around the world.
As a Game Designer III specializing in AI you will build and iterate on the core foundations of our AI. Creating believable and readable AI characters that present challenging and exciting combat puzzles for the player to solve is the key area of focus for this role. A strong core AI foundation will be the bedrock for a huge variety of interesting enemies, allies, and encounters. We are still small, so this requires plenty of hands-on work creating, iterating, and tuning levels and mechanics. You are comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where goals and constraints are mostly team driven and where change, big and small, is a critical part of the process. You will report to the Combat Design Lead on the team.
Responsibilities:
- Own and drive overall enemy systems and experience
- Lead small cross disciplinary teams (2-5 people) to build core AI systems that drive our NPCs and combat enemies
- Mentor other mechanics designers in good AI design and implementation practice
- Collaborate with player ability designers on low level combat features and verb ecosystem
- Collaborate with level and encounter designers to deliver compelling content experiences
- Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions. Articulate trade-offs and risks between different options.
- Playtest the game and help push for continued improvements for existing designs and fresh prototypes.
- Seek opportunities for new design spaces in collaboration with Product Managers and Design Leadership.
Required Qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience in professional Game Design
- 3+ years of experience working with enemy AI foundations like behaviors, movement, coordination, and combat
- You have demonstrated proficiency in scripting in at least one engine in a shipped title
- Shipped or worked on at least one AAA+ online game
- Can create complex mechanics and systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects
- Deep level of understanding of multiplayer PvE games (ARPG, MMOs, etc.)
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience working on a live product
- Experience designing friendly or non combat AI
- Experience designing AI for open world systems
- Experience designing cooperative combat scenarios
- Is familiar with the LoL IP
Our Perks:
We offer medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children. Life insurance, parental leave, plus short-term and long-term disability coverage are also available. Riot will support your retirement benefits with a company match, and double down on your donations of time and money to non-profit charitable organizations. Balance between work and personal life is encouraged with open paid time off, and a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your personal relationship with games.
It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history (LAMC 189.00)
