Senior Systems Designer - Combat & Progression - Riyo Games

Senior Systems Designer – Combat & Progression – Riyo Games

Published On: 5 September 2024Categories: Careers

Riyo Games is currently looking for a Senior Systems Designer who is passionate about JRPGs to join our team. You will leverage strong creative, analytical and communication skills to create and iterate the systems that power our JRPG, Threads of Time. Combat and progression are at the heart of our game, and you will play a pivotal role in crafting a rewarding, engaging, and memorable experience for players.

About Riyo Games

Our mission is to craft retro-infused JRPGs that awaken cherished childhood memories. Our growing studio is assembling a dream team of talent from across the globe to build the games you’ve always dreamed of growing up. Join us on this epic quest to make fun, narrative-rich games in an inclusive, supportive and fun studio environment!

You’ll be working on Threads of Time, a 2.5D JRPG inspired by Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy where you get to travel from the pre-historic era to the end of time!

- Become part of a veteran team that includes legendary developers who have worked on iconic titles such as Xenoblade Chronicles, Secret of Mana, and more

- 4 weeks paid vacation (1 week of which is taken in late December)

- Collaborative environment with opportunities to contribute to the game’s creative design and take ownership of features

- Competitive salary and benefits including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance

- Opportunities to help you strengthen your skills or learn something new

- Workplace that appreciates and values diversity and inclusivity

Required Skills

Responsibilities:

Create combat and progression systems that answer the needs of the Creative and Design Directors about the targeted experience for the player
Bring your designs through every phase of development from concept to finish, using feedback and testing to refine them
Hold and communicate the vision for your work to collaborators in other departments
Create new systems and features while balancing and tweaking existing ones
Work closely with the programming team to implement and iterate designs
Collaborate with art, code, audio, animation, and visual effects to deliver combat systems that epitomize the creative vision of the game
Design detailed progression systems and tune them for specific goals
Research retro and modern JRPG design conventions to ensure authenticity of the experience
Work within Unreal Engine 5 to implement and tune combat and progression systems
Establish and enforce design practices, constraints, and metrics
Standardize, document, and communicate game systems to the team. Regularly update documentation to offer useful reference for the whole team

Requirements:

At least 5+ years’ experience in the games industry working as a combat/systems designer, shipping at least one title
A passion for JRPGs is a must
Proactive and able to own design areas from initial creation through to implementation
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Familiarity and proficiency with scripting
Strong communication and interpersonal skills
Organized and able to write concise documentation
Self-motivated, with the ability to prioritize and deliver quality work within deadlines
Able to recognize great game feel and how to manifest player fantasy into gameplay mechanics