Technical Gameplay Designer (Player Abilities and Combat)

Gardens Interactive • Los Angeles, CA

2d • $172,100 - $206,400 • Remote

About The Position

At Gardens Interactive, we believe that games have the power to connect people and foster meaningful relationships. Our studio is dedicated to creating critically acclaimed and commercially successful live-service games through a sustainable and collaborative development process. As a Technical Gameplay Designer focused on Player Abilities and Combat, you will own player-facing gameplay features such as weapon, tool, item, and armor abilities, buffs, and modifiers that shape how players move through, interact with, and experience our world. Your work will contribute to combat, traversal, social, and other moment-to-moment gameplay systems, helping ensure our mechanics feel expressive, readable, and rewarding in a multiplayer environment. While this is not a dedicated combat designer role, experience with and an understanding of combat design is important, as many of these abilities meaningfully influence combat feel, balance, and player expression.

Requirements

• Passion for systemic gameplay and creating meaningful player expression through combinatoric and emergent gameplay mechanics.
• Senior-level experience designing gameplay mechanics, abilities, or progression features in shipped games.
• Technical experience working in Unreal Engine, including Blueprint scripting or gameplay systems frameworks.
• A solid understanding of combat design fundamentals, even if combat has not been your primary specialization.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate design intent and tradeoffs.
• Thoughtful playtesting and iteration habits, balancing creative goals with system health and player experience.
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada.
• Willingness to work within North America time zones.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working on multiplayer or live-service games, with an appreciation for iteration and long-term balance.
• Familiarity with layered gameplay mechanics such as buffs, passives, modifiers, or status effects.

Responsibilities

• Align with leadership and management on creative goals and desired outcomes.
• Own the design and iteration of player-facing abilities and modifiers tied to weapons, tools, items, armors, and related systems.
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary partners such as engineering, animation, audio, art, and VFX to align abilities with combat, traversal, progression, social goals, and technical constraints.
• Balance and tune gameplay features with an understanding of multiplayer dynamics and emergent player and multiplayer behavior.
• Advocate for the player experience, ensuring abilities feel intuitive, expressive, and fun over time.
• Work in Unreal Engine, using Blueprints and other tools to design, prototype, and iterate on player abilities, such as weapons, tools, items, armors, buffs, and gameplay modifiers for an online multiplayer game.
• Implement and maintain gameplay features from early concept through polish in close collaboration with engineering and other technical design partners.
• Playtest, tune, and refine abilities that influence combat, traversal, exploration, social interactions, and player expression to support engaging and readable multiplayer experiences.

Benefits

• Competitive Salaries and Pay Transparency
• Stock Options
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage (100% for Individuals and 90% for Dependents)
• Life Insurance, Short Term & Long Term Disability, and numerous other benefits
• 401k contributions (USA) / RRSP plan + DPSP contributions (Canada)
• Paid Parental Leave
• Biannual Company Retreats
• Continued Education Allowance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed