Job Description
Why PlayStation?
Gameplay Programmer - Berlin or Helsinki
We are Neon Koi. We are a PlayStation Studio. Our mission is to make action games with epic stories that foster lasting connections with players around the world. Our aim is to amass a stellar portfolio over the next decade by focusing on building highly collaborative, experienced and empowered teams in Helsinki & Berlin.
We offer you the chance to join a rapidly growing international team of passionate and talented game makers, just like yourself. As an early employee of a young company, you will have a genuine opportunity to contribute significantly to our culture and operations.
Neon Koi is formerly known as Savage Game Studios.
This role can be based in Berlin or Helsinki.
Why do our people love it here?
Our team can be summed up as being hungry, humble, and people-smart. We genuinely love what we do and aim high. To succeed as a diverse international team spread across two locations (Helsinki & Berlin), effective collaboration and communication are key. While we are all talented individuals, the sweetest achievement is succeeding together as a team.
Fair Play - To us, fairness stands for treating people justly, and not letting your personal feelings bias your decisions about them. We strive to preserve a culture, which doesn't have glass ceilings or hidden decision-making processes. A transparent culture where teams can thrive and get rewarded for the work they put in and the results they achieve.
When people don't play by the rules, we act swiftly. At the same time, we reward individuals and teams who embrace our values.
Powerful Together - We believe that excellence is reached by effective team collaboration and ongoing, open feedback.
We are constantly curious to learn from each other. Understanding and hearing each others' perspectives enables us to make the best decisions. We get inspired by each other to strive for higher standards and ultimately become a better version of ourselves.
You can rely on each other when facing difficult challenges. We encourage everyone to speak up, ask for help and bring up hard conversations. Most importantly, we put a lot of effort into hiring the right people who enjoy spending time with each other.
Players First - We work for the players. Understanding them at deeper levels than just demographics is crucial for our success.
We're player informed. Ultimately we, and not our players, are responsible for making the right decisions for our games. We realize that what players want and what they need may often differ.
We're committed to creating a diverse team. If you feel that you might be interested in the role, even if you don't hit 100% of the criteria, please don't let that put you off. Get in touch with us. We believe in passion and potential.
The Role
We are on a hunt for a Gameplay Programmer to join an exciting mobile shooter project currently in development.
As a Gameplay Programmer, you will be delivering systems with a high level of code quality, polish, and performance. You will collaborate between departments on design features, tools and implementation details. Working across multiple teams on performance and debugging. Gameplay Programmers take full ownership of a problem/system and take it to completion. At Neon Koi, your work will make our games fun and our studio successful.
This role is based in either Berlin or Helsinki.
Responsibilities
• Collaborate on game design through rapid prototyping while ensuring that strong architectural and algorithmic decisions are made.
• Work closely with art and design to create and iterate on gameplay features.
• Prototype and iterate features based on constructive and collective team feedback.
• Optimize code and fix bugs in existing gameplay systems.
• Contribute ideas toward all aspects of the game's production and development.
• Write robust, maintainable code.
Requirements
• 5+ years of experience as a programmer in a game development project
• A keen analytical mind, with strong problem-solving skills
• Strong C++ skills and the ability to code and architect gameplay mechanics and tools
• Well versed in games and the ability to articulate what is strong/weak about the design of existing games (an interest in online games is preferred)
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience working on a live service game
• Self-motivated, strong work ethic, and able to work independently
• Creativity in problem-solving and the ability to think outside of the established solutions
• Keen interest in games
The ideal candidate will also have:
• Shipped a mobile game, preferably using UE5
• Math/Physics/Computer Science or related degree
• A keen interest in keeping up to date with the latest Unreal has to offer
• Strong game design sense as it relates to player controls and character behavior.
Why join us?
Although we're a new company, we're committed to making this a great place to work, so this is only the beginning of our benefits:
• Annual bonus
• Paid lunches
• Budget towards commuting costs
• Gym or sporting subscription to spend as you wish
• Home internet or mobile phone plan
• Educational budget: for language learning, self-training, attending conferences, buying games and books etc
• Financial and practical assistance with relocation through our relocation partner and a relocation budget
• Twice yearly off-sites, this year we held one in Berlin and one in Helsinki
• PBG - Pizza, beer and games on the last Friday of every month
• 30 days holiday plus additional days for Wellness and between Christmas and New Year
• Discounts on PlayStation products and games
We're an equal-opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Equal Opportunity Statement:
Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.
We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.
PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.
Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gxjjkz-3-143-3-161-42 in your application.