Free Range Games grows games the old fashioned way: we don’t put our team in cages, we work distributedly, and we don’t use toxic work/life trade-offs. Some of our crafters have worked together from PS1 to PS5 and will tell you about carving games one triangle at a time from punch cards.
We are some of the folk behind Spider-man, Tony Hawk, Lord of the Rings, Twitch Sings, Oddworld, Callisto Protocol, Shrek Super Slam, and dozens of mobile and web games. We believe every member of the team has a voice in what the game should be.
We prioritize community, family, and love-of-gaming over process, crunching, and TPS reports. And maybe that’s what you want too.
We are looking for a great, seasoned Level Designer for a 3rd person action, fast paced, coop mp, open world video game. You should be a layout expert, which means you are part artist, very technical, and all designer.
You will work with the content lead as well as the narrative team, world artists, and gameplay teams to create story beats, puzzles, and combat challenges by sculpting the world and arranging kit pieces.
Please include a link to a video of a level you've designed that showcases you skills
Responsibilities:
- Layout small villages/camps, large world zones, and intimate story vignettes.
- Craft geo for arenas/locations based on rough sketches and hand waving from the creative director, while understanding architecture and research concerns.
- Mold the vision of the lead world builder into something that works with fast-moving, super hero-esque gameplay, yet tells a story with the environment
- Use game-specific tools and iterate with the engineers to build better ones.
- Craft within performance and density constraints, understanding lines-of-sight, gameplay metrics, historical authenticity, and artistic vision.
Qualifications:
- Designed levels in a video game we can review, preferably in Unreal.
- 5+ years working on mid-sized to large teams. Ideally, much more.
- Broad knowledge of current action and open world games.
- Can work with remote team without being micromanaged.
- Ability to teach new concepts to others.
- Laid back and brings fun to the team.
Salary Range: $65,000 - $120,000
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
Free Range Games is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Free Range Games makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
E-Verify participant
Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. Free Range Games participates in E-Verify.
Top Skills
What We Do
Free Range Games is a dedicated group of gaming professionals based in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re a small team comprised primarily of the lead developers from Shaba Games studio (acquired by Activision 2002). Together, we have launched numerous successful titles, including Spider-Man, Lord of the Rings, Tony Hawk, Shrek, and Dizzywood. We’re currently developing a number of second-generation social games that bring together the fun of casual social gaming with the high-quality and professional game design that gaming enthusiasts demand.
