Senior Gameplay Programmer (Unreal Engine) - (Fully Remote)

NOTE: Location is fully remote. We have no preference for region, but Atlantic timezones are preferred.

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Overview

ThePlanarDanse game studio is seeking a collaborative and determined Gameplay & Programmer to join our team for our next ambitious project! In short; a compelling & atmospheric narrative in a Studio Ghibli-inspired world.

Game developers that would excel in this position at TPD are those with a passion for interactive experiences and a mastery of Unreal Engine, those with proven ability in delivering wholesale game features & systems from concept to implementation and user-polish, those who know the full lifecycle of a shipped game and can architect & deliver features without excessive oversight. You will be responsible for additional, core features of our next release on PC & Consoles, with a bent towards the systems of AI& pathing, gameplay & upgrades, as well as overall optimization.

ThePlanarDanse is a game studio and IP. TPD has published three games and one book within its IP, and is now seeking to expand with greater budget and size. TPD is a worker-owned, worker-ran game studio, with its day-to-day operations cooperatively-managed with flexible hours by its developers.

The games that TPD makes are those with intricate, serious, and/or dark themes. These can be morbid and gothic, such as in Skulltide; they can be magic-punk and steeped in fantasy realism; they can be surreal and based in human experience. If these such genres and aesthetics are your interest and specialty, and you are looking for a contract with the opportunity for longer employment, send your resume our way!

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Duties

Collaborate with the wider team to complete all project milestones in a realistic timeframe without unnecessary crunch.

Ensure elegant and performant code, primarily C++, including Blueprints only when it is sensible, and aiding in setting a standard for junior BP developers & Level Designers.

Architect & implement AI (NPC) algorithms, an engaging interaction system, and "non-janky" movement.

Maintain a unit test & Perf/QA profile of the game, allowing for automated testing regularly, as well as accepting QA-reported bugs to be fixed.

Participate in brainstorming sessions to contribute creative ideas and solutions.

Stay updated on industry trends and techniques to continually improve skills and contribute innovative ideas.

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Extra Duties (Nice-to-haves)

Demonstrable experience programming (not drawing) a responsive UI within Unreal Engine 5.

Demonstrable experience with shipped real-time titles on PC & Consoles, with work on systems of stealth or combat. VR/XR experience is not equivalent.

Have experience working in horizontally-managed teams and/or self-managed work environments.

Graphics Programming at a deep level—with confidence making engine edits to hasten rendering & streaming pipelines or to fine-tune elements to our specific title.

Experience developing for 9th-generation consoles (PS5/X).

Experience with UE's Gameplay Ability System (GAS).

A love for imagining big ideas... and then making them real!

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What We Offer

Meaningful Game Projects: Our next project is a meaningful single-player RPG, exploration-driven with characters and narrative at heart, akin to a Ghibli take on Spiritfarer.

Game-developer-led Creativity: TPD is committed to developer-ownership over the creative process of its games.

Innovation-Driven Environment: Work on groundbreaking projects that push the limits of what stories are possible in games.

Remote-First Culture: Open to candidates worldwide, with a work environment that values results over micro-management.

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Requirements

Use & mastery of Unreal Engine 5. Applications without demonstrable experience with Unreal will *not* be considered.

Work under previous finished game projects with commercial intent and indie success, (III-AA) or equivalent experience.

Skills with AI systems both in and out of UE, as well as general gameplay system implementation.

Previous experience ensuring coding standards in one's own work and reviewing others.

Peak communication skills and an eye for error and a player's desires, so as to ensure a polished game at the end of development that is fun for the player.

Use of Unreal Engine in an creative capacity with an eye for the performance budget is highly desirable.

Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment while managing multiple tasks effectively and adhering to estimations!

A portfolio showcasing game skills, past projects, specific game features wholly developed, previous coding breakdowns, and general game-development accomplishments.

Join us in creating visually stunning experiences that engage users and expand The Planar Danse as a cooperative studio under developer management!

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Mission Statement of TPD:

"To create a worker-owned, developer-ran gamut of studios whose goal is job preservation—not maximum return on capital—through the creation of unique and narrative-driven games and aided by the efficiencies of self-determination, games which focus on providing value to players rather than extracting value from them. Here, all workers participate in profit sharing and manage the company collectively, which carries through to daily organization of studio tasks. Here, workers are owners."

Please email applications & portfolios to jobs@theplanardanse.com, or apply on this website. Thank you!