We are looking for a Gameplay Designer to build the core loop of our JRPG project in Unity 6.

This remote short-term role requires someone who can:

• Collaborate with gameplay and narrative designers on defining individual mechanics and the player experience throughout the game.
• Define the logic of game mechanics: how events spawn, how attacks work, how damage types interact, how exceptions are handled…
• Prototype mechanics in C# using the existing systems of the project.
• Define and request features for when there aren’t systems for that yet!

It is a contract position expected to last two months with compensation of $500-650 per week and can be done part-time. Upon completion, you can request the next contract and contribute to the production of the assets you will have helped design.

If you are interested in the project but are worried about any of these details, please note that in your application: we value quality, and can negotiate over everything else.

The contract start date will be January 5th.

What project

We are building a mystical investigation game about a murder at a UK university: think social sim (like Persona) with a bit more action in combat and a lot less dungeon crawling (pub crawling may appear).

Our game is about stories people believe about themselves, each other, and the world around. The player lives through the academic year, navigating the all-too-rigid categories of academic subject and year, gender and archetype, declared beliefs and performative actions. Public perceptions and collective anxieties turn into physical creatures, spill into the town and haunt the streets. The player will have to stop them.

We are juggling influences from several games and genres. Social stats play a key role in dialogue (Disco Elysium is an indirect inspiration), but they are derived from your combat abilities. The flow of combat is built around timed input to crit or counter (think Claire Obscure and AlphaDream’s Mario & Luigi series). Combat abilities come from social interactions, and those are necessary for your coursework. To do everything in time and solve the mystery storyline, you need to know the town’s layout and plan your navigation (a tinge of Pathologic). Persona is the ominous presence in the background.

This is a lot of moving parts. We need a capable designer who could design the individual mechanics without losing sight of the larger systems and their interactions. Our ideal candidate would mediate between the gameplay needs and narrative aspirations and balance the atmospheric and high-concept content with a fun 15-minute core loop.

(See a brief style & gameplay document here.)

The project has completed an early production phase: we know our core mechanics and story, our UI is in a good spot, and we have strong concept art for the main characters. Now we are starting to build game assets for a presentable core loop.

Skills and requirements

Please apply by clicking the apply button and filling out the Google form.

Required:

• At least 2-5 years of employment working on Unity games.
• Grasp of C# and Unity APIs.
• Links to your resume and portfolio.
• Link to a short supporting document.

Please, describe three systems or mechanics you worked on that seem particularly relevant to this project. Give a short summary of the project and how it might relate to our challenges. What makes you proud of that product? Why does it come to mind when thinking about this game?

(For example, designing an investigation mechanic in a mystery game; or blocking out a metroidvania area to have interesting navigation.)

• Bonus 1: Experience working with Spine, Cinemachine, or YarnSpinner.
• Bonus 2: Narrative design or any creative writing experience. Games are metaphors, after all.