About Land & Sea

Land & Sea is a UK based, independent games studio from developers of the critically acclaimed Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey. Collectively, the team has accrued a wide range of awards and accolades, including a prestigious Apple Design Award and BAFTA nominations. We’re passionate about creating artful, accessible experiences that resonate deeply with a wide audience. Please view the full press release for more details.

Outline

Role: Experienced Game Designer

Location: Remote (UK/Europe preferred)

Hours: Part time or full time

Duration: 6 Months (with option to extend to FT employment contract)

Current Team Size: 5

We’re looking for an experienced game designer to join our team at Land & Sea! This role will play a key part in the development of an all-new original IP.

We’re a small, remote team working across multiple time-zones. There is a degree of flexibility built into the role, and you are free to define your own schedule, providing reasonable overlap with our core UK hours.

We’re looking for someone who embraces minimalist sensibilities, and values a “less is more” approach to design. You’re not afraid to throw away ideas, and relish the opportunity to reduce scope in favour of preserving clarity and maximising the strengths of a small team. You are someone who cares about details, no matter how small. You take pride in your work and hold yourself to a higher standard than most. You welcome constructive feedback, thrive in a self-directed environment and are comfortable wearing many hats.

Responsibilities

Design and implement gameplay mechanics, levels/environments, puzzles, character interactions, narrative elements, input models and UI layouts, in the Unity game engine.
Think holistically about the overall user experience of our games, ensuring they are designed as clearly and accessibly as possible, and are enjoyable to a wide range of players.
Create and maintain documentation such as outlines, diagrams and visual mockups to help the team understand and execute on a shared vision.
Use your industry experience to expand the knowledge and abilities of the team around, including advising on best design practices, including design methodologies and tools.
Help the broader team identify bottlenecks and implement key improvements to our design processes.
Support the production team to establish accurate feature and tool scope during pre-production.
Weigh in on all areas of development, such as design, narrative, art and audio. As a small team we like to ensure every team member has a stake in the creative decision-making process.

Requirements

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
A strong sense of independence and autonomy.
Technically minded, and detail oriented.
Confidence and ability to make key decisions and identify where to be helpful, even with limited guidance.
Ability to collaborate well, and stay sensitive to the needs of the team.
Highly motivated and adaptable, comfortable working across a variety of mediums and contexts.
Working knowledge of modern game design practices.
Experience realising and testing ideas in the Unity game engine.
Experience communicating design concepts through other tools, such as the Adobe suite, Maya, 3DS Max or Blender.
Experience working on at least one shipped title.

Bonus points

Team or product lead experience (in any role).
You have contributed toward multiple released titles on any modern platform.
Experience working in other modern game engines other than Unity (Unreal, Godot, Lumberyard, Game Marker).
A passion for managing, supporting and mentoring your fellow team members regardless of role.

Additional Information

Land & Sea is based in the South West of England, however this position is remote. While we are open to applicants from around the world, applicants from the UK and Europe are preferred. However, if you meet the requirements and don’t mind ensuring your hours reasonably overlap with ours, please apply, wherever you are!

We are open to a number of possibilities in terms of how this role is structured. For the right candidate, we would consider full-time, part-time and hourly contract arrangements, depending on availability and other factors.

Land & Sea is a small team crafting meaningful, highly polished games that seek to add value to the lives of our players. We are an inclusive studio that seeks to provide a healthy and supportive work environment for our team, and prioritise sustainable work practices such as realistic hours and zero crunch.

We’d love to hear from you if you are interested in this role! We will follow up with suitable applications as soon as possible.

Kind regards
– The Land & Sea Team