Senior Systems Designer

Who We Are

OtherSide Entertainment is an independent game studio with remote staff throughout North America. Our mission is to create deeply immersive games that draw players into richly imagined worlds; games that empower players to choose their own play-style, making their experience unique and personal; games that encourage players to team up with their friends and weave their own shared narrative; the kind of games that are powered by our players’ vision as much as our own. Together, we aim to evolve the “player-authored” tradition of Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, and Deus Ex – all games developed by the company’s founders, Paul Neurath and Warren Spector.

The Opportunity

We are in early development of original premium PC/console games that will include significant games-as-a-service components. We are looking for a Senior Progression Designer to champion the player journey from babe in the woods to world-shaping demigod on one of these titles (working name Argos: Riders on the Storm).  This involves substantial economy design, planning, and tuning, as well as coordination with key feature owners across various dimensions of player capability.  We are looking for someone who has been through the wringer of standing up an economy, having it collapse, and then recovering at least once.  RPG and Live Ops experience are also highly valuable. 

This position will report to and work closely with the project Lead Designer, who will partner with you on your personal development and career goals.  You will collaborate with our project team leadership as well as working closely with product management and data / analytics..

Job Responsibilities

• Develop and drive the progression pathway for players from new entrant into the world to elder game expert.
• Serve as the internal owner for all game economies that impact on player progression, including systems like resource distribution, crafting materials and rarities, and scaling of difficulty.
• Coordinate with feature owners across design to develop appropriate pacing, tension, chokepoints, and rewards to create a compelling player experience.
• Drive feature development within a multi-disciplinary team format to ensure the game can provide ongoing incentives for player investment over hundreds and thousands of hours.
• Work with engineering and live ops to develop all necessary tools to tune and live operate the game economy across PC and console platforms. 
• Ensure the product is built for being data informed, determining what metrics matter, how they will be measured, and what targets of success are.
• Work with other designers to ensure that ongoing content releases augment rather than replace existing progression pathways.
• Work with our product manager and leads to ensure strong support for our GAAS plans and expectations.
• Champion the dynamic range of server settings appropriate to maintain ideal gameplay..
• Once launched, play a key role in operating the live game as a contributing line of business for the company.

Qualifications

• At least four years of experience in shipping (pre launch) and supporting (post launch) a premium game with a service component on PC and/or console
• Has shipped a premium PC/console game in a Product Management, Economy Design, or related role
• Expert proficiency in spreadsheet software, with advanced modeling and automation skills
• Proven ability to effectively balance the needs of the player experience, the technology, and the business.
• Experience tuning a complex and multi-faceted economy through multiple layers of advancement
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Able to articulate the intended impact/outcome necessary to deliver/solve for a given opportunity or problem, collaborating with the team in determining the best plan to achieve the intended impact/outcome. 
• Outcome oriented, keeping the player at the center of the what and why of what we do. 
• Data Informed in all things: comfortable with statistics and essential data analysis techniques.
• Knows to what degree to bring data to bear on any given situation
• Generally operates by developing and testing hypotheses
• Able to interpret data to lead to actionable insights
• Can manipulate and visualize data to involve others in its application
• Ability to deconstruct competing feature sets and understand the market landscape. Able to propose credible and complete features.
• Communicate effectively in large or small group settings and to senior management.
• Capable of interpreting community feedback as well as metrics
• Passion for dissecting and analyzing games, systems and features, and core engagement loops.
• Full-cycle development experience including early player validation.

Additional Notes

Our people-first approach to game development celebrates diversity and strives to create a safe and inclusive working environment where everyone is treated equally, with dignity, and with respect. We highly encourage candidates from diverse and under-represented backgrounds to apply, even those that may not directly meet every qualification listed for this role. 

Pay Transparency

This is a full-time, remote working role, with competitive compensation and a full suite of benefits available anywhere in the United States. All team members may be asked to occasionally travel for key meetings, as part of their job responsibilities. We're required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. Compensation decisions are dependent on the unique facts and circumstances of each case, but a reasonable estimate of the current base salary range for this role $90,000 - $130,000. 

We review and update our salary range bands at OtherSide Entertainment on an annual basis to provide transparency to the expected base salary ranges on our job posts externally as well as internally. All OtherSiders have access to their pay range for their current positions to understand their growth opportunities. Most in-house employee roles also include discretionary variable bonus compensation as well as long-term incentive. Our recruiter will share more details about bonus and LTI for this role in your screening or throughout your interview process as it becomes available.  Final compensation determinations are dependent on the unique facts and circumstances of each case and will take into account a wide variety of factors, including but not limited to skill, qualifications, accomplishments, experience, credentials, and business needs. We look forward to and welcome discussion on this topic at any time during the interview process.

OtherSide Entertainment is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us.