Staff Gameplay Designer - Social (Contract)

1 month, 4 weeks ago
Contract
Lead
Software Development
PlayStation

PlayStation

PlayStation leads interactive entertainment with innovative consoles, games, and media, delighting fans globally since 1994.

Household Durables
100K+
Founded 1995
$8M raised

Description

  • Build and maintain avatar movement and core sandbox systems that support cooperative social gameplay and player expression.
  • Develop avatar customization systems that expand player investment, progression, and self-expression.
  • Design and implement reusable sandbox mechanics, including 3C character, camera, and controls systems.
  • Create NPCs that strengthen IP quality, consistency, and sandbox design principles.
  • Collaborate with audio, effects, and animation teams to communicate gameplay affordances clearly to players.
  • Prototype, explore, and implement player avatars and their verbs for the social area of a competitive PvP game.
  • Work closely with the Design Team to drive a cohesive gameplay vision.
  • Help build the systems that enable the game to function as a social third place.

Requirements

  • Strong understanding of how modern multiplayer social games use intuitive and expressive action sandboxes to create memorable player experiences.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively with designers, artists, programmers, audio professionals, QA, and producers in a flexible work environment.
  • Broad T-shaped rapid prototyping skills with enough multi-disciplinary knowledge to quickly stub out gameplay ideas.
  • Strong technical scripting skills and understanding of how to structure game design tools to unlock player expression, content variety, and execution speed.
  • Strong understanding of character motion and animation, including momentum, timing, and their impact on communication and tone.
  • Proven ability to build alignment and own feature direction while maintaining empathy and collaboration.
  • Ability to operate autonomously, handle ambiguity, and give and receive feedback in uncertain situations.
  • Ability to create plans and evaluate them against player and market experiential needs.
  • Outstanding oral and written communication skills.
  • Understanding of systemically consistent, combinatoric game design that can create surprise and laughter.
  • Experience as a Staff Sandbox/Gameplay Designer on AAA or large-scale online action games, including designing, documenting, and building character customization systems (preferred).
  • Experience delegating work or ownership of an area to multi-disciplinary peers (preferred).
  • Experience with social or cooperative game design and balancing for an active player base (preferred).

Benefits

  • Hourly base pay range of $76 to $115 USD.
  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Eligibility for benefits offered by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
  • Background checks are conducted at the offer stage for all new employees.
  • Candidate privacy protections and data handling details are provided in the Candidate Privacy Notice.

Interested in this position?

Apply directly on the company website

Apply Now

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