Senior Game Designer, Systems - R&D Shanghai

Riot Games was established in 2006 by entrepreneurial gamers who believe that player-focused game development can result in great games. In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends to critical and player acclaim. As the most played video game in the world, over 100 million play every month. Players form the foundation of our community and it’s for them that we continue to evolve and improve the League of Legends experience.

We’re looking for humble but ambitious, razor-sharp professionals who can teach us a thing or two. We promise to return the favor. Like us, you take play seriously; you’re passionate about games. We embrace those who see things differently, aren’t afraid to experiment, and who have a healthy disregard for constraints.

That's where you come in.

As a Game Designer, you will design, tweak, and optimize the player experience. Your analytical skills, player insight, and creativity help craft in- and out-of-game experiences that engage and surprise players. You will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and work with every tool at hand to create and iterate player-focused designs that will delight millions around the world.

As a Senior Game Designer, Systems in Research & Development working on an early stage product, you will help decipher one of Riot’s next big bets. The ideal candidate is strong in Gameplay Mechanics, Emergent Gameplay, Progression System, or Game Balance. You will partner with other designers, artists, and engineers to improve and iterate player-focused designs that aim at delivering a groundbreaking experience. We are still a small team, so this requires plenty of hands-on work creating, and tuning systems/mechanics. You are comfortable operating in an ambiguous environment where goals and constraints are mostly team driven and where change, big and small, is an essential part of the process. You will report to the Game Director of the project.

As a Rioter in China, you'll join a team of internationally and culturally diverse professionals that share our prioritization of player experience, rejection of convention and maniacal passion for gaming. 

To reinforce Riot’s collaborative culture in our China offices, we’ve decided to do away with the constraints of traditional hierarchical title structures that are more common in the region. Titles don’t really matter at any of Riot’s offices, but we chose to take this extra step in our China offices to foster a space where teamwork thrives. We believe that removing this constraint will promote individual autonomy, ownership, collaboration, and a focus on results. We promise you won’t need a title at Riot to make an impact.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and improve mechanics and systems that satisfy players and increase confidence in the game concept
• Seek opportunities for innovative system design solutions within the genre. Create and provide multiple potential designs and solutions. Articulate trade-offs and risks between different options
• Create high level principles and best practices for future system design work
• Utilize rapid prototyping and playtesting where applicable to validate solutions
• Leverage basic prototype tools to create value, and identify how we can extend these tools going into the future
• Lead small cross disciplinary teams to build systems and mechanics that deliver on product goals
• Create clear design documentation that can be evaluated and implemented by non-designers
• Work collaboratively with the design team and other disciplines to create a great holistic experience. Collaborate, receive feedback, and iterate towards the highest quality product

Required Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in professional Game Design
• Strong and experienced in at least one of the following areas: Gameplay Mechanics, Emergent Gameplay, Progression System, Game Balance
• Experience as a feature team owner or system design lead and made significant contributions to the core game systems for at least one shipped game

• Can create and improve complex mechanics and/or systems with attention to the player impacts and downstream effects
• Deep understanding of combat design and able to integrate system design and combat design to deliver a coherent experience

• Fluent in Mandarin Chinese

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working in a lead system design role
• Experience with early-stage games and prototyping, work under delayed gratification, be patient, and pursue excellence
• Experience working within a cross disciplinary team through all phases of game development
• Experience mentoring other designers
• Significant proficiency (3+ years experience) with Unreal
• Familiar with the League of Legends universe and IP
• Fluent in spoken and written English

Don’t forget to include a resume and cover letter. We receive a lot of applications, but we’ll notice a fun, well-written intro that shows us you take play seriously.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in gaming.