Game Designer — Systems & Gameplay

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Company description

Ember Crows is an independent game studio based in London.

We founded the studio to create original, story-driven games with distinctive worlds, strong artistic direction and stories worth playing.

We’re a small and ambitious team. We care deeply about what we’re creating, but we also want Ember Crows to be a place where talented people can communicate openly, challenge ideas and enjoy working together.

Website: https://embercrows.com

Game description

We’re working on ‘Names Go Dark’, a dark, narrative-driven third-person action RPG for PC and consoles, built in Unreal Engine 5.

The game is set on Proxima b, a tidally locked planet divided between eternal light and endless darkness, combining science-fiction technology with Slavic mythology and a grounded, atmospheric world.

Great RPGs need great stories, but they also need systems that make the player feel part of that world.

We’re looking for a Game Designer — Systems & Gameplay to work directly with the Game Director and help turn the existing creative vision of ‘Names Go Dark’ into a coherent, playable and production-ready game design.

A major part of the role will be developing and systematising our Game Design Document, identifying what still needs to be solved and working with the development team to turn those systems into gameplay.

Responsibilities

• Working closely with the Game Director to develop and formalise the gameplay vision.
• Consolidating existing concepts, mechanics and design material into a clear Game Design Document.
• Maintaining and developing the GDD as the project evolves.
• Identifying gaps, contradictions and systems that still need to be defined.
• Designing and documenting the core gameplay loop.
• Designing player mechanics, combat, abilities, resources, progression and interactions.
• Defining how different gameplay systems interact with one another.
• Creating clear system specifications, diagrams, flows, variables and implementation requirements.
• Designing enemies, encounters and player-enemy interactions.
• Working closely with the Unreal Engine Gameplay Developer during implementation.
• Prototyping gameplay systems where appropriate.
• Reviewing implemented mechanics against the intended design.
• Organising and analysing playtests.
• Iterating systems based on feedback and actual player behaviour.
• Making sure gameplay, narrative, worldbuilding and progression work together as one experience.
• Helping the team prioritise features and keep scope realistic.
• Maintaining clear, practical documentation that other disciplines can actually use.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of professional experience in Game Design, Gameplay Design, Systems Design or a closely related role.
• At least one commercially shipped game or equivalent substantial production credit.
• Strong experience designing and owning interconnected gameplay systems.
• Experience creating and maintaining practical GDDs and system documentation used by a development team.
• Experience taking gameplay systems from concept through implementation, balancing, playtesting and iteration.
• Strong understanding of gameplay loops, progression, player feedback, risk/reward and balancing.
• Good understanding of third-person action gameplay.
• Strong understanding of narrative-driven RPGs and the relationship between gameplay systems, progression, narrative and worldbuilding.
• Ability to turn high-level creative concepts into clear rules, behaviours, variables and implementation requirements.
• Ability to design systems that reinforce the tone, themes and internal logic of the game world.
• Experience working directly with programmers during implementation.
• Experience working with a modern game engine.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to identify gaps, contradictions and systemic issues within an existing game design.
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of significant areas of the game's design.
• Very good written and spoken English.
• Portfolio, shipped project, design case study or other professional work demonstrating systems you personally designed.

Experience working on AA/AAA productions, RPGs, third-person action games, action-adventure games or similarly complex systems-driven titles is strongly preferred.

We’re looking for someone who wants to design the game, not simply make documents look organised.

If you don’t tick every box but have strong relevant professional work, we’d still like to hear from you.

Nice to have

• Unreal Engine 5 and Blueprint experience.
• Combat and ability design.
• Systemic gameplay design.
• Enemy and encounter design.
• Progression and resource systems.
• Exploration or level design.
• Experience balancing interconnected systems.
• Experience with realistic, cyberpunk, science-fiction or dark atmospheric games.
• Experience developing original IP.
• Strong interest in or knowledge of Central and Eastern European history, culture, mythology and folklore.
• Familiarity with Slavic mythology and folklore.
• Experience with games drawing from real-world history, mythology or regional cultures.

Where from?

The role can be fully remote, hybrid or based in London.

We have access to our Battersea workspace for people who want to collaborate with the team in person.

For remote work, we ask for reasonable overlap with UK working hours so that design and development can move quickly together.

What we offer

• A central role in shaping the gameplay of a new original IP.
• Direct collaboration with the Game Director.
• Real influence over mechanics, systems and the player experience.
• The opportunity to help define the design foundations and GDD of ‘Names Go Dark’.
• Close collaboration with gameplay development, narrative and the wider creative team.
• Flexible remote, hybrid or London-based collaboration.
• A professional but relaxed culture where good ideas matter more than hierarchy.
• Option to participate in Ember Crows’ project-based profit-sharing programme.
• The opportunity to grow with the project and studio.

This is a freelance contract. Compensation, scope and expected commitment will be agreed individually based on the role, experience and availability.

What happens after I apply?

• If, based on your CV, portfolio and previous work, we feel you might be a good fit, we’ll ask you to complete a short design test.
• You’ll have 7 days to complete and submit it.
• The test will be based on a self-contained fictional or isolated gameplay problem and will not ask you to design production content for ‘Names Go Dark’.
• We’ll be looking at how you analyse the problem, structure systems, communicate rules, consider player behaviour and make design decisions.
• We’re not looking for a huge document. Clear thinking and practical design are much more important than page count.
• If we like your test, we’ll arrange a remote interview with the Game Director.
• We’ll ask you to walk us through previous systems you’ve designed and explain how they changed through implementation, balancing and playtesting.
• Following the interview, we may ask for professional references.
• If all goes well, we’ll have a final conversation about the role, project, scope and collaboration before making an offer.
• If we decide it isn’t the right fit, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.

Please note that we will only contact shortlisted candidates.

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