TranslationThe Role
We are looking for an experienced game designer with some level design skills to join our team in making story-driven adventure, role-playing, and tactical games. You will play a key part of our design process, doing core game design and gameplay-centric level design. Your tasks will be varied, across the full-cycle of game productions, and include design of mechanics, greyboxing and level flow, gameplay logic, onboarding, balancing, bug-fixing and documentation. You will help us set up effective balancing tools (combining game data with external spreadsheets) and implement mechanics and flow, analyze playtests to improve gameplay and do rebalancing, and more. You will be part of a Game Design and Writing team of 5 people.
Current Productions
You will be joining the demo stage of our unannounced upcoming title, a narrative RPG with deeply replayable mechanics in a unique sci-fi setting. You will also oversee the design of our multiple partner-projects under the PortaPlay brand.
The Studio
Bird Island is your friendly neighborhood developer, combining storytelling with non-casual gameplay. We primarily develop premium games grounded in reality but with a fantastic twist. We are artistically ambitious, and make bold games that go beyond entertainment to say something about our world. We work mostly on our own IP but have some work-for-hire on the side. The company has an ongoing partnership with the French developer/publisher DON’T NOD (Life is Strange, Tell Me Why, Vampyr, etc).
Our work culture is focused, sociable and friendly. We value open discussion and respectful feedback, sharing ideas and opinions, taking initiative and thinking ahead. We encourage every person in our team to have their own creative autonomy, where work with directors and other stakeholders is an open conversation around shared goals.
Bird Island is an English-speaking team of around 17 people with a semi-flat structure (small departments for art, sound, tech, narrative, and design, each with a single lead). We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage people of any and every background to apply.
Life at Bird Island
Our studio is located at the very heart of Copenhagen, in a lovely neighborhood and extremely accessible by public transport and by bike from anywhere in the city. We work 9 to 5, five days a week, with flexible hours; we value a relaxed workstyle and healthy work-life balance, and strive to minimize stress and overtime. We do not work nights or weekends - your private time is precious. Vacation days are according to the Danish standard, and the entire company goes on a summer hiatus in July.
We are studio-first workplace, but we allow ourselves to work from home every now and then, if someone needs a quiet day to focus on a big task, or if the plumber is coming. We provide lunch every workday and we eat together at noon. We’re not a “fampany” that will take over your free time, but we do have casual Friday-beers (and non-alcoholic alternatives!), and celebrate a few traditions together, like a summer BBQ, or a Christmas lunch.
Requirements
- 2 years or more of industry experience
- Decent Unity and spreadsheet skills
- Strong analytic sense
- Collaborative spirit
- Practical experience with balancing
- Practical experience with analyzing tests / player feedback
- Several completed projects on your portfolio (some of them can be hobby/student projects, demos, jam games etc.)
Bonus experience
We would love it if you have an interest or experience with the tasks below, but it is not required. If you don’t tick off all the boxes below, we still highly encourage you to apply!
- Design Documentation and Presentation
- Light scripting
- Graph-based scripting (Blueprints/Bolt/Playmaker or similar)
- Narrative, Level, or Quest Design
- Economy and Progression Design
- Tactical Combat Design
- Experience from other creative fields
Pipeline and Organization
We are working in Unity with a suite of custom gameplay scripting tools. We work in self-organized teams in a flat hierarchy structure. Work is mainly on-site from our office in the center of Copenhagen. Crunch is something we actively strive to avoid, and rely instead on proper planning, individual responsibility, and empowering team-members who come up with opinions and solutions.
Practical info
- Full-time and permanent employment
- Salary and terms depend on qualifications
- Can begin from March 2023
- On-site in central Copenhagen, occasional work-from-home days are possible
How To Apply
Please apply with a C.V. and a portfolio (preferably including links to projects that can be played / showcased in video) via the link below:
https://forms.gle/t639CMjc6DSSFa7w7
If you have any extra questions:
- shalev@portaplay.net (questions about game design)
- hansvonknut@portaplay.dk (questions about work terms)
Deadline for applications is 1 March 2023