Senior Combat Designer

Description

Who We Are:

At Visual Concepts, we believe great games are made by diverse and empowered teams with a shared passion for play. As one of the world’s top game development studios, we have shipped over 100 mullti-sku titles to critical acclaim and commercial success. Our teams are independent and entrepreneurial. Our studios in Agoura Hills, Novato, Orange County, Budapest, Shanghai, and Seoul are committed to artistry and technical innovation, offering top candidates the opportunity to learn and grow with some of the smartest and most creative minds in the industry. 

What We Need:

Do you live and breathe combat design? Do you decode games into strikes, blocks, reversals, range, damage and combos the moment you pick up the controller? Do you love designing archetypes, inventing amazing signature moves and infusing combat with personality and spectacle? If so, we’d love to have you join us to help deliver amazing experiences for our players.

Our Agoura Hills studio is looking for a Senior Combat Designer for the next iteration of the WWE 2K franchise. In this role, you’ll help define core combat philosophy as we translate the amazing spectacle of the WWE into the arsenal of moves our players will take into the ring. You’ll script movement trees, architecting advantage and vulnerability into range, combinations, setups, baits and throws. You’ll dream up signatures and spectacular finishers, differentiate archetypes, and balance a massive roster of Superstars to help deliver accessible, deep, spectacular combat. You’ll work in a creative environment with a diverse team of designers, artists and engineers, touching everything from combat to camera to the emotion and spectacle of one of the greatest shows on Earth.

What You Will Do:

• Develop a combat vision integrating intuitive control, kinetic move sets, meaningful differentiation and strategic depth
• Work with design, animation and engineering teams to conceive, implement and polish character vs. character combat
• Play and reference both classics and contemporaries to build on what works while driving new innovations in combat design
• Design and implement systems for combat depth, strategy and spectacle
• Identify and document tools and systems that make creating character vs. character combat more efficient

Who We Think Will Be A Great Fit:

• 4 or more years of game design experience, 2 or more in a combat designer role
• Experience implementing and tuning animation and timing windows for attacks, blocks, branching actions, hit reactions and other related combat actions
• Experience scripting combat in LUA or similar framework
• Experience conceiving and differentiating characters, developing signature moves, and balancing asymmetrical fighter types
• Experience working across disciplines, including animation, art, VFX, audio and engineering to produce a great result
• Outstanding written and verbal communication and collaboration skills

Advanced Qualifications:

• Experience and love of combat driven by character stats and role-playing elements
• Experience designing and improving gameplay editing tools
• Direct experience and understanding of key distinctions of wrestling games
• Programming/technical experience