Monokel is seeking an Experienced Gameplay-Gamefeel-Developer-Designer-Human (d/f/m, full-time, remote/Germany).

If this title sounds like we don’t know what we’re looking for, you’re wrong. Well, mostly. 😀 

What we’re offering is a really cool job that spans multiple disciplines in a team that loves things that span multiple disciplines. We also prefer looking at people who join us as fully-fledged human beings, not just as people who fill a position, and our experience is that a lot of people can do more than one thing.

We’re looking for an experienced Gameplay Developer to join our troupe of wonderfully kind humans – your job (and hopefully your passion) is to prototype and fine tune gameplay mechanics. 

You’re a designer at heart who can really program? Great! You’re a programmer who is really mostly interested in how a game plays and feels? Equally exciting! You’re a person who’s comfortable wearing two hats and care deeply about creating that moment-to-moment immersion in a game world? Read on!

💅 Your profile 💅

Note: This is a description of our dream candidate - but you can still apply if you don’t meet all the requirements! And yes, you can have a proper title for your LinkedIn page!

“Experienced Generalist-Gamefeel-Developer-Designer-Human” – what does that mean to us?

Experienced: You’ve been developing PC / console games for a while, as proven by the published game(s) you worked on, or your itch.io page, or similar. Along your path you’ve probably touched most aspects of game development - gameplay, systems, UI, asset pipelines, etc…

Gameplay-Gamefeel: You know that a game isn’t just the rules, it’s how it plays. How it feels to play. The weird alchemy of how all the parts interact, how a player mechanic and the player input and the timing of an animation and a specific situation in the level and the game’s progression and all the other parts that could play a role will play a role. You like combing through this because you know how rewarding it is when a game just feels awesome. You want this to feel awesome. You like mastering the depths of this weird ocean, and coming up with little nuggets of gameplay treasure.

Developer-Designer: You’re a maker, a natural prototyper, a *cough* self-starter. Maybe you’re not even a “learned” programmer, but self-taught, because you needed to code to make the games you loved. But years of prototyping and implementing things in engines means you know how to code now. And you’re gonna use that to make games *feel good to play*, dangit!

Human: You’re human. You want to be part of things. You’re enthusiastic about being part of a collaborative and diverse work environment - a small team, where everyone has input in the creative process and the production environment. You value constructive feedback and are able to share your ideas and comments with empathy, becoming an active part in how we shape our games and work environment. When disagreeing with someone, you engage thoughtfully and are able to compromise.

We are currently a fully remote company, but due to funding constraints, you already live in or are able and willing to relocate to Germany for this job. We love meeting new talent, and you are welcome to apply even if this does not fit your life circumstances – but it will almost certainly not be possible.

🧭👵🧙📜 Your experience 🧭👵🧙📜

• 3+ yrs experience as a developer, 1+ shipped title (or equivalent experience)
• A portfolio or résumé that shows a variety of projects and skills
• Strong ability to prototype with a keen sense for detail, game feel, and responsiveness 
• Experience with metroidvanias, and/or platformers, and/or other action-focused gameplay development
• You have either experience designing gameplay yourself, or have worked closely with designers to build strong, moment-to-moment gameplay and gamefeel
• You know your way around Unity, and know a variety of pipelines for asset implementation (e.g. sound and art)
• Experience with agile design workflows focused on fast iteration, testing, and improvement

🎁 Bonus Points 🎁

• A natural, positive communicator and enjoy working in a team
• You understand that playtesting is your friend
• You have built creature/enemy mechanics and/or combat mechanics
• Experience with the Unity physics engine
• Experience working with sound middleware like FMOD
• Experience with agile workflows
• Experience with and interest in other fields and skillsets inside or outside of game development - tell us about your passion(s)!

📝 Your tasks 📝

• Collaborate with designers, programmers, and artists to make the game play and feel great
• Work on player and/or creature mechanics
• Work on platform mechanics and other level-based interactables
• Prototype new gameplay mechanics and the occasional system or tool
• Implement, maintain, and finetune new features and mechanics into the game
• Maintain and polish mechanics and vigorously test them to ensure a great, consistent experience for our players
• Work in small interdisciplinary teams, help define and own your goals and tasks
• Whatever else you want to do! Level Design? Shaders? Optimization? Puppetry?
• Be part of the iterative design process of the game 

💸 Compensation 💸

The salary range for this job is € 36.000 - 48.000, depending on experience and profile.

✍️ How to apply ✍️

• We accept applications until September 1st but reserve the right to hire quickly if we see a perfect match
• Send us a mail with your resume and portfolio

  • Please include the job title in the subject line
  • A cover letter is not required but we’ll read it if you feel like writing one

We know applying for a job can be a shitty process. We’ve all been there. We’re actively trying to answer every application within four weeks of the application deadline. If you haven’t heard back from us by then, feel free to follow up.

The interview process typically takes two to four weeks and will consist of:

• 45 minutes interview with Daniel (CEO/Designer) and Klemens (Gameplay Programmer)
• Rest and reflect. You’ll get an update on whether we’d like to move on to the next step. If you also want to move forward, then…
• You meet the team – 1h conversation, let’s get to know each other
• Rest and reflect. You’ll get an answer from us.

We strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. This is a place where you can be(come) who you are, just drop us a line. Sometimes we don’t fit all the requirements, but we have other things to give, and we learn along the way. 🙂 

Thank you for your interest 🙂