Senior Specialist Combat Designer

UK Remote or West Midlands Based – Birmingham/Worcestershire Area

Please Note: We welcome applicants that prefer to work from home, so please get in touch!

Role and Purpose:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Specialist Combat Designer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for designing and refining engaging, responsive, and challenging combat experiences that are central to our title’s gameplay. You’ll work closely with cross-functional teams, including design, animation, and engineering, to ensure that our combat systems are intuitive, immersive, and rewarding for players. This position is ideal for someone who is not only passionate about combat design but also dedicated to enhancing player experience through innovative mechanics and gameplay systems.

Key Responsibilities:

Develop, prototype, and iterate on core combat mechanics, including player controls, enemy AI, and weapon systems.
Design and balance combat features, such as character abilities, weapon interactions, combo systems, and difficulty scaling.
Ensure that combat systems align with the overall game vision and enhance the player’s experience and engagement.
Develop combat systems for 1st person gameplay for both Melee and Ranged weapons for both PvE and PvP environments.
Work closely with game designers, level designers, animators, and engineers to ensure cohesive and polished combat interactions.
Participate in cross-functional reviews and playtests, providing actionable feedback and refining combat elements to achieve high-quality gameplay.
Collaborate with the narrative and audio teams to ensure that combat feels immersive and is well-integrated into the game’s world and story.
Conduct regular playtests to gather feedback, identify issues, and drive iterative improvements in combat mechanics.
Analyse player data and feedback to balance combat elements, ensuring that difficulty, responsiveness, and pacing align with player expectations.
Use data-driven decision-making to optimize and adjust combat mechanics, AI behaviours, and damage models for an engaging and fair experience.
Implement combat mechanics and prototypes using industry-standard tools and engines (e.g., Unity, Unreal Engine).
Collaborate with the engineering team to address technical challenges and ensure smooth gameplay experiences.
Create and maintain thorough design documentation for combat systems, detailing mechanics, user inputs, and design intentions.
Stay up to date with current trends and best practices in combat design, especially in genres similar to our projects.
Propose new and innovative approaches to combat that differentiate our games and enhance player satisfaction.
Contribute to a culture of creativity and experimentation, encouraging the team to explore unique ideas in combat design.

Requirements:

Minimum of 5 years of experience in combat design within the gaming industry, with a portfolio that demonstrates expertise in designing combat mechanics for at least one published title.
Strong familiarity with game engines (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity) and combat prototyping tools, as well as a working knowledge of scripting and/or visual scripting.
Deep understanding of combat mechanics, including melee and ranged combat, enemy behaviours, AI design, player abilities, and controls.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a data-driven approach to balancing and optimizing combat systems.
A keen understanding of player psychology and engagement, with the ability to design combat that is both challenging and satisfying for players.
Strong attention to detail, with a commitment to delivering polished, high-quality combat experiences.

Desirable Skills:

Experience working on AAA titles or high-profile projects.
Familiarity with various combat-focused game genres (e.g., action RPG, fighting games, first-person shooters) and a broad knowledge of combat mechanics in those genres.

Portfolio

Please send through your portfolio and cover letter. If your examples are from previous works with another studio, please make sure samples are cleared for release by copyright owners. Links to an online portfolio are preferable, otherwise we accept showreels via Dropbox or other secure sharing platforms.

Send your application to – careers@flixinteractive.com

What We Offer

Based just outside Birmingham, Flix offers a friendly, nurturing work environment with the opportunity to build games as part of an extremely talented, ambitious studio. The team is made up of welcoming, passionate, active gamers that support one another in all aspects of development.

We also offer the following;