Game Designer II - DDO

Studio: Standing Stone Games

Location: Needham, MA

Employee Type: Full Time

Pay Range: $50,000 - $65,000

ABOUT OUR STUDIO

Standing Stone Games is a gaming studio based in Needham, Massachusetts (right outside of Boston!), staffed by people who have been passionately working on MMOs for decades. We're proud to develop and operate our two free-to-play MMOs: Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online! We enjoy sharing heroic stories with our players that create a lifetime of memories. We invite you to explore our games, which hold the promise of depth, scope, and unlimited imagination!

Find out more about our studio at https://www.standingstonegames.com/.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Standing Stone Games is seeking a Designer of Systems to join the Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) team. DDO is built on the backbone of hundreds of complex handcrafted instanced dungeon adventures, with a variety of game mechanics that reward players for engaging with them. This position is responsible for designing and building more of those game mechanics. Reporting to the Senior Game Designer II in our Systems department of the DDO team, this position will be part of a team responsible for:

• Itemization
  • Designing and implementing rewards and associated game mechanics.
  • Ensuring that reward mechanisms are harmonious with established gameplay, monetary, or combat power economies.
• Supporting Quest Gameplay
  • Working closely with an internal team of Content designers to update or add tools that Content makers can use in their quests, such as “traps” or “puzzles”.
  • Assisting with modifying creature abilities and combat mechanics to appropriately challenge a variety of playstyles.
  • Creating and implementing festival and live event mechanics.
• Class Updates & Balance
  • Updating and improving character abilities to ensure the right degree of fun and challenge.
  • Implementing and brainstorming new interesting character abilities for the game.
• Collaboration with remote peers & managers
  • Learning proprietary tools quickly, and working within a complex asset development pipeline.

• Writing documentation and working with the Quality team to identify potential test cases for new features.
• Ensuring that your designs are consistent with the established game lore, licensing requirements, and are within overall goals of a given release.
• Participate in remote team brainstorming and planning
• Working remotely with coworkers on creative problem solving and troubleshooting during the development process.
• Communicating progress and status of your work with managers, as well as participating in virtual peer-reviews of in-process work
• Unit testing your work and repairing defects discovered during the development process.
• Iterating on your designs in response to performance indicators and customer feedback.

What craft expertise you’ll have:

• Tools/Technology /Knowledge
  • Required:
    • Strong general computer skills and you are comfortable working with computer software tools, including learning proprietary tools
    • Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite, specifically Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Teams
    • Experience with custom scripting or with programming languages such as Python, Pearl, or Unity.
  • Desired:
    • Proficiency with file version control platforms such as Perforce or similar
    • Some proficiency with Project Management platforms such as the Atlassian suite or similar, specifically Confluence and Jira
    • Experience with Excel Functions
    • Strong understanding of DDO’s existing gameplay mechanics and reward mechanisms

• Craft Design Experience
  • Required:
    • Demonstrated RPG/MMO game mechanics sensibilities
    • Good economics instincts, or strong intuition about how a statistical change can impact other aspects of gameplay.
    • Highly motivated and self-directed, with a desire to take initiative on tasks.
  • Desired:
    • Familiarity with the tabletop Dungeons & Dragons brand.
    • Experience frequently playing video game content as a member of a group, guild, or large raid.

Other Criteria

• Years of Experience, Education, and/or Certification…

• Required: 3 to 5 years designing systems for a live SaaS game title or MMORPG
• Desired:
  • Degree in Game Design, Economics, or Computer Science
  • Experience developing systems for a stable game project far past its initial launch.
• Additionally, you should possess
  • Strong communication skills that contribute to a positive, supportive, and uplifting team atmosphere.
  • Vivid imagination, particularly around new goals for customers to We invite you to get in the game with us and help us make exciting experiences!

ABOUT OUR COMPANY

Daybreak Game Company LLC is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games. Best known for blockbuster hits and franchises such as DC Universe™ Online, PlanetSide®, EverQuest®, and Dungeons and Dragons Online®, Daybreak creates, develops, and provides compelling online entertainment for millions of gamers worldwide. We are the game publisher for Darkpaw Studios, Rogue Planet Gaming Studio, Dimensional Ink Games, and Standing Stone Games. To top it off, we are making games in three of the coolest cities in the United States: San Diego, Austin, and Boston. We make games that bring people together and build lasting communities and are totally devoted to delivering the ultimate gaming experience! Find out more about our company at www.daybreakgames.com.

Be Aware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities

Daybreak Game Company will never ask applicants to provide their social security numbers, date of birth, bank account information or other sensitive information in job applications. Additionally, our recruiters do not communicate with applicants through free e-mail accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or through online messaging apps (WhatsApp, Hangouts). We will never ask applicants to provide payment during the hiring process or extend an offer without conducting a phone, live video or in-

person interview. Please contact Daybreak Game Company’s People & Culture team at people@daybreakgames.com if you encounter a recruiter or see a job opportunity that seems suspicious.

**Daybreak Game Company, LLC. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to Diversity in the workplace.**