This job might no longer be available.
Game Designer
Location: Redwood Shores
At Maxis , we thrive on outrageous thinking. It’s the fuel that inspires the best games in the world. We’re creators and great storytellers. Our mission is not just about amazing our peers – it’s about amazing our fans. Taking risks, collaborating with each other and daring to dream big. Together, we can improve the way millions play every day.
As a Designer on The Sims, you’ll report to the Design Development Director and work with a team of enthusiastic industry craftspeople from all walks of life. You will use your passion and knowledge to design and implement player-first experiences that surprise, delight, and invite millions of Simmers around the world to Play with Life .
The Sims 4 has a very unique player base with 60% of our audience being women between the ages of 18-24. We are looking for someone with deep insights on how to create the best experience for our players.
Responsibilities
- Design and own features from concept to completion.
- Establish player experience goals for designs, implement and tune features to meet those goals.
- Improve designs based on play test feedback, game metrics, team input and community feedback.
- Think creatively using the tools and time available to build unique and fun experiences for players.
- Think about the future when implementing content, resulting in smartly scripted scalable systems and good design patterns and practices.
- Collaborate with all team disciplines, including artists, animators, modelers, engineers, quality assurance, and producers to get support from the team and guide a project from initial design to final production.
- Advocate for the design vision and get the team excited to work on it.
- Balance your design vision with input from your peers to find practical solutions that achieve the intended player experience.
- Become an expert on the game and our community, drawing from our large, varied player base and our past games to make and defend intelligent design choices going forward.
- Help establish best practices for the team and improve process and efficiency.
- Adopt and become proficient in new or proprietary development tools to implement and debug your work.
- Provide feedback to other designers.
Qualifications
- Excellent creative skills with experience creating detailed design documentation and maintaining it throughout a project life cycle.
- Design and implementation experience with game features that focus on open-ended player creativity.
- Experience with games in The Sims PC franchise and other simulation games.
- Effective at working both autonomously and in groups of different profiles.
- Knowledge of and enthusiasm for gaming: playing, deconstructing and creating.
Desirable Skills
- Shipped a AAA HD title.
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent.
- Comfortable with Visio, JIRA, online collaboration suites such as Confluence