We're looking for a talented Encounter & Level Design Lead to join our team, which collaborates remotely from around the world. Our members range from industry newcomers to veterans with 15+ years of experience. Team members come from a diverse set of backgrounds, but share a common passion for building player-focused, community-powered games.
At Hypixel Studios we are looking for applicants that are demonstrably passionate about their hobbies, have the drive and commitment to deliver results with minimal supervision, have international-level professional competency in their skill sets, and can demonstrate involvement with other interesting projects throughout their lives.
As the Encounter & Level Design Lead for the Hytale team, you will report to the Creative Director while collaborating across disciplines to design and deliver dynamic encounters and levels that bring our experiences to life. You will also use your experience to lead and mentor other designers, improve workflows, and empower our creators to push the limits of their creativity.
Who you are:
- You have a passion for creating evocative, diverse encounters and maps that immerse and challenge our players across a broad range of PvE and PvP experiences
- You’re a positive, proactive problem-solver and help lead by example while contributing to the studio culture with the actions you take on the team
- You are an excellent communicator: you love providing feedback, sharing knowledge and mentoring team members
Some of your role:
- Demonstrate best practices and hold others to excellence in level design in solo PvE, co-op PvE, and PvP experiences
- In solo PvE
- Architecture and landscapes that delight the player, draw the eye when required, and subtly or actively support gameplay as needed
- Combat experiences that satisfy and teach new players, encourage optimization and experimentation with veterans, and challenge experts
- In co-op PvE
- Encounter mechanics that dynamically engage a group, reward their specializations, and encourage them to leave their comfort zones
- Smart scaling of complexity that engages groups of inconsistent size and skill
- In PvP
- Arenas and battlegrounds that push individuals and teams to master competitive mechanics
- Strong advocacy for fairness and competitive integrity
- Collaborate in international, interdisciplinary teams to drive design concepts to implementation and through additional iterative cycles
- Jam with other designers on major gameplay systems such as quests & loot for a cohesive and holistically satisfying game experience
- Mentor level designers in their craft, delivering feedback to aid in their growth
- Partner with production to develop high-level execution plans, drive agreement on improvements to pipelines, processes and techniques
- Playtest the game and champion healthy feedback culture, pushing continued improvements for existing designs and fresh prototypes for first and third party experiences
- Provide creative and technical direction to creators and external partners
Desired traits:
- 5+ years of experience in professional Level and/or Encounter Design
- Experience with using environments to shape the player experience, enhance combat systems, create intuitive navigation, and bolster social connections between players
- Effective collaboration skills across disciplines
- Great communication and self-organization skills
- Excellent problem solving skills; you take complex problem spaces and break them down into functional and actionable solutions
- Experience managing and mentoring others
- Shipped or worked on at least one AAA+ online game
Bonus traits:
- Experience shipping titles across multiple platforms (PC/Console/Mobile)
- Experience in 3D Modeling, Sculpting, Texturing, Animation
- Experience with designing for procedural world generation
- Knowledge of Agile best practices in game development
- Knowledge in Technical Art and scripting principles
We can offer:
- A chance to work on a new game project with an extremely motivated team
- Opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally
- A stable and secure work environment
- The ability to work remotely
