About Zugalu

Zugalu Entertainment is a Calgary-based indie game development company. We value ideas and innovation, with each project reflecting our entire team and community of players.

Heavy Lies the Crown will be the first major commercial game released by Zugalu Entertainment.

The company has spent the last six years building the foundation to embark on this project, to ensure its success and take Zugalu Entertainment to the next level.

Video games offer escapism and that magic is needed now more than ever. Life is hard enough, let's all have fun along the way

About the Role

We are looking for a Lead Game Designer to join our team on Heavy Lies the Crown. The Game Designer will work closely with the team to design and polish gameplay features and systems towards the Early Access release of

HLtC in March 2023 and the full release in March 2024. The ideal candidate works well on a small team and has a generalist set of design skills making them proficient in areas ranging from documentation, meeting facilitation, and gameplay balancing.

Current Team Size: 18, Full Time.

Responsibilities

• Be accountable for all feature development quality in design (Logistics, Combat, Multiplayer, etc);
• Write clear, concise and accurate design documentation for dissemination to other departments;
• Work with the Narrative Designer to facilitate the design needs of the story;
• Communicate design objectives, strategies, and general information to other discipline leads in weekly team lead meetings;
• Collaborate with the production manager and other leads on the roadmap of the game;
• Examine and understand the desired player experience, building everything in support of those goals;
• See your work in players hands and iterate over time with player feedback by overseeing the design and balance of systems and mechanics.

Qualifications

• Relevant Experience
• 2+ years experience as a Game Designer in AA or AAA environments.
• Skills and Knowledge
• Knowledge of grand strategy, rts, or logistic city builders;
• Understanding of player motivations and audience types;
• Ability to understand big-picture design while working on individual systems;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and strong interpersonal skills;
• Knowledge of the technical constraints of real time, 3D engines; Experience within Unity is an asset;
• Knowledge of JIRA and of the Google suite is an asset.
• Training
• Bachelor's Degree in Game Design or equivalent.

Apply