PlayStation
Senior Game Designer (Combat)
United States, Santa Monica, CA · Senior
Sponsorship not specified$145k-$181kDetected 5 days ago
C#UnityUnreal EngineLeadershipCommunicationCollaborationMentoring
About the role
- Naughty Dog recently released The Last of Us Part II Remastered as well as a current generation remake of The Last of Us Part I for the PS5.
- We're also proud to say that The Last of Us Part I is now available for the first time on PC.
Responsibilities
- Pitch, design, implement, and own enemy NPC archetypes
- Work with AI programmers to develop foundational NPC technology and implementing and tuning enemy AI behaviors
- Work with animators to develop enemy locomotion and traversal, melee moves, ambient behaviors, and other custom abilities. Make every enemy archetype feel unique and memorable
- Collaborate with the Design team to conceptualize, prototype, implement, tune, and balance gameplay mechanics and systems
- Drive communication and collaboration for enemies you design and the levels they are in, ensuring communication across disciplines and meeting deadlines
- Mentor junior designers and contribute to the overall growth of the design team
- 5+ years of industry experience in combat design and/or technical design for games, specifically focused on developing action-adventure or shooter games
- Proficient in using game engines and tools (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity) for combat implementation and design scripting (C#, Lua, Visual Scripting)
- Fluent in modern character action-adventure and shooter combat games. Maintains knowledge of the broader gaming landscape trends
- Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.
Requirements
- For nearly 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology.
- Communicate with animation, programming, and art departments to effectively produce the assets and code support required for the enemies you're owning
Nice to have
- At least one shipped title as a combat designer or similar role.
- Experience with behavior trees or similar NPC AI concepts preferred
- Strong coding ability: Computer Science degree preferred though not required
Skills
- At least one shipped title as a combat designer or similar role. Experience with behavior trees or similar NPC AI concepts preferred
Compensation
- The estimated USA base pay range for this zone (Los Angeles area) is listed below.
- This role may be eligible for additional compensation packages that includes annual bonus and other incentive plans.
- $145,100 - $181,400 USD
Benefits
- Write and maintain documentation that establishes the core vision of the enemy archetypes
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This listing is sourced directly from PlayStation's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.