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Game Design Leadership - Gameplay, Unpublished Fighting Game

In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends, which has since gone on to become the most played PC game in the world and an important driver of the dramatic growth of esports. Delivering unparalleled in-game experiences for a global audience while also building new games gives Game Designers exciting and complex problems to tackle. Game Designers at Riot craft the systems, mechanics, and content that make up a resonant player experience. We explore how to best push the boundaries of that experience to create new and engaging moments for players.

As a Lead / Principal Game Designer, you'll report directly to the Head of Design, and you'll be front and center in defining the direction of our game. You'll partner with leads from multiple disciplines to ensure that our game is the best it can be, leaving no conceptual stone unturned. You'll be a champion for design excellence, and level up those around you. You’ll apply rigorous critical thinking and a strong dose of imagination to engineer the fun of thrilling in and out-of-game experiences for R&D project(s) we are collaborating on. You'll work with every tool at hand and collaborate with multiple interdisciplinary teams to create player-focused designs that'll delight millions around the world.

Project L is our new fighting game! As a designer on this team, y ou will be an expert in core combat design, someone that can explain and predict the long-term effects of nuanced implementation decisions. You will help establish the core gameplay experience for the player, and together with an experienced team of industry veterans will expand the foundations upon which the entire game experience is built. You’ll work closely with other discipline leads to prioritize and develop major components of the experience, and in turn will expand the understanding of the craft not only for those that report to you, but for the entire project as a whole.

Responsibilities:

• Manage a small team of designers, providing mentorship and overall career growth
• Assess and guide the holistic thematic vision of the gameplay experience, ensuring that all individual pieces combine into a greater whole
• Develop and validate major pillars of our product strategy, exposing new opportunities
• Apply a scientific approach to design - identify what is compelling, how that translates to other contexts, and articulate why it works
• Openly share work with other developers on the team and seek feedback
• Combine co-worker and player feedback to calibrate design direction
• Articulate and consider a broad range of possible solutions and resulting effects to collaboratively build the best solution
• Deeply understand the relevant audiences for the product and calibrate your design judgement to reflect appropriate taste for these audiences

Required Qualifications:

• 5 years+ experience as a game designer
• Broad mechanics and systems design ability, coupled with the ability to work in ambiguous problem spaces
• Experience developing animation dependent combat systems or encounters

Desired Qualifications:

• Substantial direct experience in the prototype/early stages of a game
• Experience developing a competitive or multiplayer game
• Experience managing direct reports

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).

Don’t forget to include a resume and cover letter. We receive many applications, but we’ll notice a fun, well-written intro that shows us you Dare to Dream and Execute with Excellence.