As I have now decided that the main focus of my final
project will be centred on coding, I have started to look into jobs that fit
the areas I’m investigating within it. While I will initially be looking into
generalised coding jobs, I will also more specifically be looking into
developer companies that focus on turn based strategy games. I will be
highlighting different aspects of the job descriptions as follow:
·
Recurring skill requirements
·
Skills
I have base knowledge of
·
Skills
I will be expanding through my final project
Game Designer
Company - Square Enix
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Level focused commission of assets,
positioning and controlling of elements, and coordination of events and quest
triggers
·
Battle focused data configuration and
character battle data, the plan and design specification for combat
abilities, implementation and management of PC actions and abilities, and
resource control
·
Event focused planning and creation of event
design details, creating and preparing motion data via motion capture,
positioning cameras and Layout creation, and implementing event data into
game builds
Required Skills &
Experience
·
A multifacted individual who has the flexibility to take on various
tasks
·
Experience in working on tasks for Game Design
Preferred Skills &
Experience
·
Experience with level editors tools
·
Experience with 3D tools such as MAYA
·
Ability to speak English and Japanese
|
Gameplay Designer
Company – Cignition
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Conceive and communicate game designs
structured for specific learning tasks, focused on K-12 STEM-related
education
·
Design game systems, individual gameplay
features & player progressions
·
Describe user experience stories and create
wireframe screens and flows
Required Skills &
Experience
·
Experience going through a full product cycle –from concept to
shipping, and post launch support
·
Understanding of technical parameters as they
apply to design implementations
·
Ability to analyse data and translate into
actionable tasks
·
Adeptness with spreadsheets
·
Broad knowledge of casual, mobile, and classic game genres
·
Self-Starter, mentality to thrive in a start-up
environment, exploring a new problem space
·
Strong communication and collaboration skills
Preferred Skills &
Experience
·
Experience designing games in a variety of genres (Particularly puzzle games)
·
Hands-on Unity experience
·
Game programming background
|
|
Game Designer
Mediatonic
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Create and maintain design documentation for
assigned projects
·
Create concise specifications understandable
to all team members based off of single slide concepts
·
Design and balance meta-systems and economies
in-game
·
Create high level overviews of new designs and
concepts to convey ideas internally and externally
·
Map data structures that allow for rapid
tuning and iteration with minimal code changes
·
Attempt to save time through natural
cross-over, reuse, or alignment of functionality of various game features
·
Use custom level editing tools and basic
script to design levels, puzzles, and challenges
·
Troubleshoot and help solve design challenges or
problems that arise during the game development process
·
Meet with team members to ensure everyone
understands the plan and goal for feature designs before implementation
·
Review feature implementations and game
mechanics to ensure they are fun, interesting, and in line with the GDD
Required Skills &
Experience
·
3+ years game design experience in a studio environment
·
Proficient in Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
·
Exceptional understanding of game structure and systems
·
Wide knowledge base of past and present games, across all genres
·
Able to communicate ideas clearly and
efficiently
·
Adaptable and able to pick up new skills and
working methods quickly
·
Comfortable working closely with others and looking after creative
teams
·
Exceptional ability to produce clear and workable documentation
|
Technical Designer
Creative Assembly
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Visual script programming and game design
·
Liaise and collaborate with artists,
animators, programmers, and producers
·
Act as a core resource to prototyping and
implementation of features
·
Working within a team
·
Use in-house visual scripting system to design
and script gameplay systems
·
Be resourceful and inventive with the tools
available to implement unique and fun experiences, and re-usable systems
·
Always look for ways to fully exploit the
potential of the used scripting language
·
Must have a mind for numbers and logic, as
will be working on complex systems with large sets of data, lots of moving
parts, and intricate scripting
·
Be able to master the visual scripting system
and be able to mentor other designs in its use
Required Skills &
Experience
·
Experience with visual scripting systems (Unreal, CryENGINE, etc.)
·
Experience with programming and scripting languages (C#, VB, Lua, C++,
etc.)
·
Comfortable in Excel and Word; able to write clearly and succinctly
·
A good communicator
Desired Skills &
Experience
·
Experience as a designer or programmer working
on AAA games
·
Experience with programming and scripting languages (Unity, Python, VB, Lua,
C#, C++ etc.) highly preferred
·
When you talk about games, you love analysing the systems behind them
·
You know not only the “why” but the “how” a game system was implemented*
·
Able to work independently and efficiently, and able to take
instruction and feedback. You understand about working under constraints
|
|
Content Game Designer
Nordeus
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Work with team members to create the in-game
universe
·
Help develop characters and NPCs
·
Develop compelling storylines
·
Plan, set up, and tune single player levels
·
Design items and item crafting processes
·
Define skills and special abilities for
different units
·
Create missions and quests
Required Skills &
Experience
·
3+ years of Game
Design Experience
·
Great sense for gameplay, pacing, difficulty,
and composition
·
Broad knowledge of various genres and games, and an ability to
critically analyse them
·
Passionate game player with in-depth knowledge
of current mobile titles
·
Ability to communicate clearly, and work effectively with others
·
Examples of levels/missions/quests you done
for published games
|
Game Developer – Unity C#
GrandLine Studios
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Work closely with team members to implement
core gameplay features in a variety of 2D/3D mobile gameplay experiences
·
Good working knowledge of Unity 2D and 3D
implementation, and how to optimise performance for mobile
·
Implement, debug, and refine core gameplay
features, collaborating effectively with a small, high energy team of artists
and designers
·
Exhibit strong grasp of Unity development for
cross-platform deployment, including:
o
UI
o
Physics
o
Gameplay AI
o
In-App Purchases
o
Ad Integration
o
Social integration
o
Leadboards
o
Push notifications
Required Skills &
Experience
·
Strong knowledge of Unity and C#
·
Strong, proactive problem-solving and troubleshooting skills – plus be
a continuous learner
·
Extensive knowledge of industry standard software (Unity3D being the
main development software package)
·
Professional, passionate, and collaborative work attitude, with
excellent interpersonal and organisational skills
·
3+ Years of developing games
·
Must have made published games on iOS or android**
Desired Skills &
Experience
·
C++
·
HTML5
·
Knowledge of the Asian market
·
|
|
Game Designer
Space Ape Games
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Help shape and develop a range of new mobile
games
·
Passionate about games and excited to work in
a flexible and fluid environment where the job will evolve over time
Required Skills &
Experience
·
3+ year experience working with games, from concept to delivery, and
live operation
·
Released multiple games, including at least
one on mobile platform
·
Experience designing and balancing multiplayer
systems and economy
·
Passion for marrying user test and player
behaviour data to expert intuition
·
Eye for understanding the target audience,
developing accessible features, and onboarding
·
A burning desire to integrate content directly in game via scripting
languages and tools
·
Comfortable with creating and updating well-thought-out design
documents and communicating vision to the team
·
Ample experience playing current and past mobile games, especially
free-to-play
·
Fun, engaging personality with a passion for games of all sorts
|
Unity Developer
N/A (Agency?)
Responsibilities & Duties
·
Working within Unity3D to develop gameplay,
UI, engine features, and game tools in C#
·
Write clear and reusable code and unit tests
in C#
·
Responsible for the development of front end
engineering along with other elements of the game development process
Required Skills &
Experience
·
Experience developing complex gameplay behaviours
·
Graphics and effects development experience
·
UI development experience
·
Knowledge and experience developing in C#/Unity3D
·
Mobile development experience
Desired Skills &
Experience
·
Ideally from a gaming background, with
experience developing free-to-play games
|
|
*I believe that as I work towards implementing the mechanics
of my final artefact, this skill will be expanded, as I am reasoning “why” the
mechanics I am choosing are needed, and then implementing them, covering “how”
the systems work
**While this is a key requirement I am missing, due to the amount of
studios requiring mobile development and/or knowledge, a thought that comes to
mind is to create my artefact with the intent of it being played on a mobile.
This will require further research into tactical/strategy RPGs available on the
android and iOS markets.
So from
my job search, I have found a handful of companies that do seek two of the main
elements that I will be using for my final project; C# scripting, and use of
Unity. These were not only recurring skills, but key skills required by some
companies. A lot of the companies now seem to require the potential employee to
have some background in mobile gaming, whether it is playing them, or more
commonly, developing them. With the latter note above taken into account, I
believe that it may be worth discussing with lecturers the possibility of
implementing my desired final project artefact to be mobile based.
Some of the key recurring requirements were as follows:
·
Able to communicate well with team members
o
While I can do little to further this skill
through my final project, I will be gaining some skills related to this through
the negotiations with lecturers relating to my final project
·
3+ years of development experience
o
Once I have finished my university course, I
shall have 3 years of experience, working in a studio-based environment, as the
lecturers of the course have attempted to impart this experience to us as
accurately as possible outside a real studio
·
The ability to create clear and thought out
documentation
o
This ability shall be put to the test with my
final project proposal, as I will need to be very clear and concise with what
my plan is, the timeline, and constraints list
·
Broad knowledge of video games as a whole
o
While I personally believe that I hold a good,
broad knowledge of video games already, this is a skill built through
experience, which shall continue to grow as I further develop and play video
games
Overall, I am happy with how my initial job search has progressed.
I feel reinforced that my key area, coding, will be a good skill to focus on,
as it is one required or desired by many development companies. While I could
find little that tied specifically into the tactical/strategy RPG genre, I
believe that being able to demonstrate the ability to create a mission using
the related mechanics would show a strong understanding of both Unity and C#.
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