Technical Game Designer

Greathorn Games is a small, independent game studio producing our first game. We’re seeking a talented technical designer to help us build a vertical slice using the powerful gameplay toolkit we’ve developed. As an indie studio where everyone wears a lot of hats, you’ll have the chance to have a huge impact on the game’s direction and fun factor!

This is an independent contractor position; you will be expected to manage your own time and provide your own equipment.

• Design, balance, and implement content and content-based gameplay systems for our first game, Project Night Owl .
• Conceptualize, prototype, and iterate on gameplay mechanics to enhance the fun, contributing your understanding of player motivation to craft a compelling player experience.
• Conduct playtests and analyze feedback to produce actionable tasks for yourself and the team in order to drive the fun factor forward
• Collaborate directly with the gameplay engineering and art teams to bring the game to life, including contributing to the narrative and aesthetic design of the game overall.

• 2 years professional experience using Unreal Engine in a technical design or systems design role
• Able to prototype and iterate on game systems and content in Blueprint.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills; able to coherently communicate design decisions and produce cogent design documents without requiring generative AI assistance.
• Passion for co-operative online multiplayer games
• Though you will work remotely, you must be located in British Columbia.

• Have shipped at least one game title on PC or console, or worked in live operations for at least 1 year on a PC or console title, in any genre.
• Have used Unreal’s Gameplay Ability System professionally.
• Have worked on a multiplayer title in Unreal, and is familiar with multiplayer game development challenges, such as replication and synchronization.
• Have completed and shipped mods, UEFN islands, game jam projects, or similar game development hobby projects

• We wish to secure 40 hours/week of your time, and expect to pay about $37-40/hour (exclusive of GST).
• We expect to need your services for 6 months.
• A contract extension or conversion to a full-time employee role may be offered at the end of the contract.