Gameplay Programmer in Unity! 2D Isometric Colony Sim/RPG Hybrid

Posted: over 2 years
Programming
Full-Time
40,000
Anywhere

[Summary]

The Gameplay Programmer will join our existing team’s coder in implementing features such as Melee Combat, the Visual doTween Animation Editor described below, setting up Finite State Machines for animations and AI, and other tasks as they arise.

This job is Remote. Based in the USA, but globally available.

This is a salaried position, paid bi-weekly. If you are looking for a short contract, please apply for the short toolset contract.

This job is for a Unity Developer skilled in C# with some UX experience.

Full time is 22-28$/hr. Possible share of stake after the first year or when trust has been proven.

We are also willing to opt for a Short Toolset Contract which could be as high as 44$/h, over at most 2-3 months, or until the tool and complimenting state machine is completed.
[Intro]

We’re Radian-Helix Media, llc. We’re a self-funded team with a fantastic VC, a passionate team of artists & designers, and a history of making impressive large-scale projects. 
We began our gamedev journey as modders, making [Fallout: New California] and [RimWorld: Save Our Ship]. Out of that has come a wealth of experience and a massive community following. 

[Project Morningstar] is our first stand alone game, building on those experiences. 

We're working in Unity, currently  seeking an additional C# programmer to help accelerate the project with our existing coder.
The game is single player, aimed at PC, keyboard & mouse, controller support.

[Where We're At in Development]

Past Pre-Production, in early development, about a year and a half into production. We have a wealth of art assets, enough for a vertical slice. The pipeline for art is rock solid with our two artists ready to expand on content creation ASAP. User Interface is also well established and undergoing an overhaul to make it more modular. Many foundational systems such as serializing game assets and sorting buildings/characters on an isometric grid have been solved.
Example of the User Interface and tooltips -- all assets shown are original by our team
[Why We’re Hiring]

Our lead programmer is also our VC, and he has been less available for full time work lately while keeping us funded.
We have a design for an animation tool for our unique use case that needs an experienced coder to develop. This Visual doTween Editor will help our art team make animations and export them to XML files readable by our FSM.

This can be done on a short contract while we continue looking for a full timer.
Mockup of what final output should look like in game!
Mockup Diagram of the Needed Interface. Design documents available.
Setting up a finite state machine for character animations is a major task we’d like to delegate to a competent developer. Our characters are designed to swap between eight directional sprites depending on where the player’s mouse or AI’s focus is located, with the held weapon performing finer rotation in an aim arc. Because our animations will include so many different functionalities - translate/rotate, animated sprites, 8-directional changes, and enabling/disabling trail effects - we will also need a bespoke animator tool that can be used by the art team. Since the tool and the FSM that will be driven by its output are such deeply intertwined systems, we’d like the same developer to work on both.
This will likely be the first task assigned, and be continually revisited for years as we add additional functionality such as multi-segmented creatures and new weapon types.
Example XML & some code is available on request. We did a first pass of this already but it just needs another toolset coder to remake it from scratch for usability.

[Qualifications]

  1. Prior professional experience developing games in Unity, preferably as a member of a small team
  2. Experience coding complex, interdependent systems in C# with a focus on runtime efficiency
  3. Experience optimizing Unity games’ performance using profiling tools
  4. Experience with specialized components of Unity such as DOTS, the Jobs System, and Burst
  5. Having previously developed a 2D hack-n-slash combat system, whether professionally or as a hobby project, would be very helpful
  6. Similarly, having developed a Colony Sim or RTS will set you apart from other candidates
  7. General modding experience will help you fit in with our team’s culture. We started as modders making games we were passionate about, and that passion hasn’t gone away
  8. English language fluency 
  9. Legal to work in the US
  10. No prior full time commitments
  11. Excellent communication skills, a friendly attitude, and passion for making the next generation of games!
Your resume should include at least one finished product. If you haven’t finished a professional project before, nor have any assets up on the Unity store with a history of support, then you likely do not qualify.

[Responsibilities]

  • Development of core gameplay systems including melee and ranged combat, character logic driven by finite state machines, and bespoke tools for use by our art team (and eventually by modders)
  • Looking for places to utilize techniques such as Burst and DOTS as we push the limits of how many characters can be simulated in the game world
  • Providing feedback to artists on how to improve our workflow to help you do yours
  • Daily communication by text
  • One weekly team voice meeting on Slack or Discord, 1 hour
  • NDA signed and followed
  • Follow standard employee behavior
You’ll never need to worry about marketing, social media, or anything else not immediately related to doing your job as a programmer -- unless you want to. All the media, community engagement, and business is handled by our team lead.

Remember to report your hours. Stay in contact within business hours. Be reachable in those business hours. Communicate at the start and end of day with your tasks and what was accomplished. We have a single voice meeting per week, usually on Friday at 1pm US Central Time.

The team lead and designer / producer is always available to communicate, 24-7, and the art team is always eager to help. 

[Further Details]

This job is fully remote. No country restrictions. (Other than the obvious: North Korea, Iran, Russia, etc.)
Hours are based on US Central Time.
Communication is fully in English. You do not need to speak perfect English, but you should be able to handle complex technical topics. 

[Contact]

You may also DM on our Discord.

You may also comment here!

By all means, if you have a suggestion for our animation plan, please post it. I've been waiting for someone to say, "you could just do this and this to work around your use case."

So far it's the best solution we can think of to handle our issues. :p But there's always a better way!

Job Expired

About Radian-Helix Media, LLC

Started in 2011 as a container for feature film visual effects work on NEM Gate, the company went from doing green screen vfx in Thomas's dad's living room to AAA Hollywood production houses. In 2015 we began to transition to video games, making mods as a training device, and released Fallout: New California and RimWorld: Save Our Ship 2. Now with the skills to release huge projects, our first game builds on that to create a powerful new experience in Project Morningstar. We're self-funded, and fully indie. No publishers or strings attached.


Radian-Helix Media, LLC

Company Website

United States of America

Jobs Posted: 0


 

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Radian-Helix Media, LLC

Company Website

United States of America

Jobs Posted: 0