E-Line was founded in 2008 with the mission of developing games that fire the imagination, catalyze curiosity, explore meaningful themes, and provide gateways to new perspectives and interests.
Want to work for a company that is actively trying to make a difference and change the world through video games and creative storytelling? We’d love to hear from you!
About the position:
E-Line is seeking a talented and experienced World Builder to join our team and help with the development of Never Alone 2. This position will work directly with the design director, art director, other designers, and programmers on modeling, designing, and implementation of the world of Never Alone 2. Our ideal candidate has experience using Unreal to design and build compelling naturalistic, believable, open world gameplay spaces, with a focus on both playability/level design and look/environment art.
Although E-Line’s headquarters are in Phoenix, we work with game development talent around the world. This is a remote position open to candidates worldwide. However, candidates who can overlap with the Pacific Time Zone working hours will be given preference.
As our World Builder, you will ...
- Propose, prototype, and implement gameplay spaces that tie together systemic open-world gameplay with the game’s narrative and quests to create a sense of place.
- Build landscapes to focus the nonlinear player experience.
- Model and implement set dressing related art assets, especially in the service of create believable spaces or environmental storytelling.
- Collaborate with Production to ensure design work is planned and progressing as expected according to project goals.
- Work with programmers to maintain and optimize assets for frame rate and memory usage in the game world.
- Work closely with the Art Director and Lead Designer to ensure game spaces levels meet quality guidelines.
- Work with our Alaska Native partners to help make the game's world as authentic as possible to their culture and worldview.
We’re looking for someone who …
- Understands and loves creating maps/spaces that offer players choice and challenge, and facilitate engaging creative play.
- Can go through the entire iterative level design process, from 2D paper map, to blockout, to realistic play space, in a way that encourages player expression and problem solving.
- Has experience working on open world or systemic games.
- Has at least 4 years experience.
- Comfortable working in Maya (or similar 3D package) and is up-to-date on art tool workflows.
- Is able to self-manage and can communicate efficiently about task progress, dependencies and priorities.
It’s a bonus if you …
- Have shipped one or more games built with Unreal.
- Have experience using a visual scripting language like Unreal’s Blueprint or other similar systems.
- Have knowledge of Substance Painter and Designer
- Have experience with multiplayer and/or cooperative games.
- Have a love for innovative video games.
Top Reasons to Work with Us
- Being part of an enthusiastic, diverse team who wants to make games with a positive impact.
- Co-create an authentic game experience in collaboration with our Alaska Native partners.
- A positive, healthy remote work environment with flexible hours. We promote a culture free from crunch.
- We provide competitive salaries with full medical benefits and matching 401k, as well as paid paternity/maternity leave, vacation, holidays, and sick/wellness days.
About E-Line Media:
We’re E-Line Media, a video game developer and publisher passionate about harnessing the power of games to help players understand and shape the world.
E-Line was founded in 2008 with the mission of developing games that fire the imagination, catalyze curiosity, explore meaningful themes, and provide gateways to new perspectives and interests. The Company is a mission-driven, for-profit enterprise whose investors seek market-level financial returns and positive social impact. The company’s titles include the BAFTA award-winning Never Alone, Beyond Blue, Gamestar Mechanic, and The Endless Mission. We use what we call an “inclusive development process” to make games with the communities and cultures we explore. We’re hand-in-hand from the start of the process through to the end to bring as much authenticity to the medium as possible.
About the project:
The first game, Never Alone, was developed by E-Line Media and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC), a pioneering Alaska Native organization, with the goal of sharing, celebrating, and extending Alaska Native culture with a global audience. The game explores a story passed down for thousands of years, is in the Inupiat language, and features 26 mini-documentary 'cultural insights' that get unlocked through gameplay.
Never Alone has touched a nerve globally. It has been downloaded over 10 million times, featured in over 1000 articles, and won many awards, including a BAFTA and a PEABODY. The game is featured in museums around the world, including the Smithsonian and MoMa. CITC has converted their revenue in the game into equity in E-Line, and they're E-Line's largest shareholder, and their Chairman is the CEO of the Tribal Council.
We believe players are more than ready for their next adventure with Nuna and Fox, and we are excited to work on the sequel. The second game, Never Alone 2, will build on what players liked about Never Alone 1 (authentic culture, beautiful, evocative world, co-op gameplay with Nuna and Fox, spirit helpers, unlockable ‘insights’), now enabling them to go much deeper in terms of innovative gameplay and cultural exploration. NA2 will take players on a moving, spiritual journey through fun gameplay, developed inclusively with the Alaska Native community.
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E-Line Media values diverse perspectives and voices on our teams. We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.