Senior Gameplay Designer - Creatures

Senior Gameplay Designer – Creatures  

FULL-TIME | B.C. OR ALBERTA 

Humanoid Studios is a new videogame company founded on the axiom that creative freedom and independence lead to better, more innovative games. We believe in the power of small, agile teams, and a flat organizational structure, where everyone is empowered to make decisions and help drive the project vision.  

We are a Canadian company with offices in Kelowna, BC, and Edmonton, AB. We offer a flexible work environment combining from-home, in-office, and fully remote work – as well as industry-leading compensation and benefits. By joining Humanoid, you will be welcomed into a diverse team of talented developers creating an immersive new universe of story, character, and discovery.  

Role Description  

As Sr. Gameplay Designer at Humanoid, you will work closely with artists, designers, animators, and programmers to design, implement, and own innovative and fun gameplay features and pipelines for our flagship title. Initially you will work with other team members to design and implement prototypes, moving on to develop multiple gameplay features at final quality. This role involves close collaboration with other disciplines to shape the vision of the project, as you integrate gameplay with other facets of the game and iterate towards a cohesive overall experience.   

Focus for this role will be defining and iterating on creatures and creature behaviors within Unreal 5. An emphasis on creating memorable, challenging, and believable creatures is crucial. In production, you will work closely with a team of artists, animators, programmers, and designers to ensure that the quantity and quality of our creatures meets the highest standards while also supporting larger design initiatives such as optimization, tools, and workflow improvements.

As part of our flexible location model, this role can be fully work-from-home, or per your preference, can transition to partially or mostly in-office either in B.C. or Alberta.  

Responsibilities  

• Design, implement, and own features related to the creature creation pipeline from prototypes to final quality 
• Contribute to memorable experiences that support the narrative and the themes of the IP through collaboration with the broader team 
• Define, document, and share best practices related to the creation and usage of creatures and behaviors 
• Actively mentor creative and technical abilities of team members  
• Participate in game design discussions and contribute valuable ideas and feedback to all aspects of the project 
• Remain current with new and innovative technologies, proactively incorporating and improving pipelines and processes  
   

Qualifications:  

• 5+ years' experience as a gameplay designer in professional game development shipping multiple AAA titles 
• A high level of experience in Unreal 4/5 and Blueprints 
• Experience with the Gameplay Ability System 
• Experience guiding multiple creatures through prototyping to final quality 
• Experience working with behavior trees or other creature AI systems 
• Experience with asset inheritance & modular workflows 
• Familiarity with gameplay mechanics in action/adventure/RPG titles 
• Familiarity with non-bipedal creature actions, navigation, and considerations 
• The ability to explicitly define and communicate solutions to complex gameplay and technical problems  
• Self-motivated, with proactive communication skills and the ability to collaborate well with team members of all development disciplines  
• A passion for utilizing gameplay to build incredible memorable experiences