You love gaming communities, and you understand how they work, what they care about and how they respond to situations. You can write a terrific press release and you create infectious excitement amongst gamers everywhere, whether through forum posts, personal emails, or in-person events.  You are both thick-skinned and flame-retardant.  You love games… live games, and are games.  Being the frontline interface with the gaming community for a brand new game is extremely exciting to you.  

A Typical Day

Today begins by spending a few minutes checking the forums and seeing what the community is talking about.  You hear about a bug, delete or close a few posts, and notice a 5 page post with feedback on some new content.  You send the bug off to development, and start to organize the feedback.  Half-way through, you get a call and are asked to edit some patch notes and put together a press release & post for them.  Afterwards, you go to a website meeting to schedule and plan content updates over the next month.  In the afternoon, you have an exciting meeting with the design team where you get a few community questions answered, pass on a few suggestions, one of which the designers want to implement immediately.  You then sit down and write a quick blog entry to share some of the answers you found.  You cap off your day by having an online interview with a fansite.

Who You Work With the Most

You work every day with the fans of our game.  You also work closely with development so that you understand things going on in the game as well as they do.  Your day to day work is highly interwoven with that of the web team, and you also coordinate efforts with PR.

What You’ve Done Before

• 2+ Years of being either a fansite webmaster of a large, successful site, or a community manager of an MMO
• Excellent writing skills
• Great personality, especially in online form
• Working knowledge of how websites work
• Extreme passion for games and MMOs
• Fluent in both French and German and knowledgeable about the gaming communities in both cultures.

You look at massively multiplayer online games as a collection of systems and code. You love watching players encounter the new features and systems you’ve written, allowing them to interact with the world and perhaps even create new things within it.  Item creation, guild systems, spells and abilities – anything the players can interact with is in your purview. During the design process you’re all about prototyping game systems, and both before and after release you want to make sure the logic on the server that governs these systems is sound.  Building upon the fundamental server architecture, you and the other gameplay programmers code the systems players will utilize over and over again.

A Typical Day

You spend your morning working with the design team going over a prototype for a player character inventory management system. It’s important you determine what underlying technology is necessary if you’re going to make the system work. After coming up with a basic plan you meet with the server and AI engineers to make certain the technology groundwork exists to implement the feature. You outline a basic specification and the wiki and pass it around for input. While you are waiting on feedback, you hit the bug database and knock off the last remaining issues with the last system you implemented.

Who You Work With the Most

You collaborate with the other programmers before implementing any new features or procedural changes, trying to get the best idea on how to tackle any issue. You also spend a lot of time working with the design team. You’re part game designer yourself, but with your programming knowledge you’re able to ask questions and steer the game designers toward feature solutions that take advantage of your existing code and technology. When they propose a feature, you can come back with mechanical solution suggestions that make sense, both to the programmers and the designers.

What You’ve Done Before

• 3-5+ years C/C++ programming experience
• 5+ years game development experience
• Experience working closely with designers
• Excellent and self-driven optimizer
• Passion for games

Where you’re concerned, no database is ever fast enough or reliable enough. You enjoy designing and tuning databases to meet the unique requirements of a massive team-based action shooter, a MMO like nothing else on the market, and all its various components. Working with the latest in open source database technology, you craft custom solutions that are flexible, adaptable and fast. In the end, it’s all about collecting and organizing raw, untamed data and coaxing out the most valuable information; coming up with the tools that let even the least database-savvy members of your team view the data they need to see and organize it in the manner necessary to accomplish their missions. If you can do all that and keep the data secure and flowing unhindered, you’re happy.

A typical day

You’ve just tracked down the query from the latest game feature that, under certain high load conditions, was tanking the database. After a few hours, you think you’ve optimized it so that it not only addresses the problem but improves performance significantly. Now it’s time to sit down with the senior server programmer and develop a test case to make sure your fix works. Afterwards, you start to work on the bots that will stress test the databases by simulating player load.

Who you work with the most

The Senior Server Programmer and the Director of Technical Operations work together with you to architect fast custom database solutions using open-source database tech. Everything has to be custom tailored to the unique needs of your MMO’s database traffic, but that’s what keeps things interesting.

What You’ve Done Before

• 5+ years hands-on experience as a MySQL DBA on Unix-based (Linux) system in a mission critical environment (DataCenter including 24×7 operations)
• Intimate knowledge of MySQL architecture, best-practices and tuning philosophies
• Strong knowledge and hands on experience related to mission critical backup and recovery
• Advance Linux or Linux-like systems administration, performance and filesystem tuning
• Production experience implementing and managing replication
• Able to write scripts in an administrative language (Python, Ruby, or Shell)
• Proven ability to work well in a crisis and under pressure
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• Passion for gaming

Creating dynamic web applications using tools like AJAX, Javascript, and Web Standards is something you’re willing to do for fun, but it’s even better when you can get someone to pay you. You love Web 2.0 applications and have a million ideas on how to create dynamic websites for MMOs. The best part of web development is the rapid turnaround: you can get new features deployed quickly and see how people like it within hours. You keep this fact in mind as you develop tools for our game designers, allowing them to decipher what’s happening in the game, and for the rest of the team by providing them access to the collected data and a means to sort it into useful categories.

A Typical Day

The designers are always trying to keep abreast of balance issues among the character classes, so you’ve developed a web-based design tool that helps them view the death rates among the classes. You modify the UI you created originally to compare level progression speed between different classes and races, so the designers should be able to easily draw the information the need from the database. If you can sync up the player-driven economy database, you’ll have a fully integrated database structure
anyone at the company can use. It’s a challenge, but that’s why you come to work every day.

The database and server logs you check every afternoon seem to be running smoothly. You run a few tests and spot checks to confirm your program results are accurate, and meet with the senior cluster engineer to make sure his newest database elements are fully integrated with the web-based UI. If you incorporate the latest round of interface and bug feedback from the designers and other tool users on the team you’ll have had a pretty full and productive day.

Who You Work With the Most

Since you’re developing web-based tools, you need to work closely with the lead web designer. The director of technology and the clustering database engineer need to know what you’re doing, too, as once they’ve developed new technology it’s up to you to improve upon it and investigate new potential uses for the engine. You’re always
working to improve the UI and display for the database, so you have to communicate regularly with other team members and get their feedback. It isn’t up to them to learn
your way of accessing the database; it’s up to you to develop tools that help them get the information they need.

What You’ve Done Before

• 3+ years developing database driven web applications
• 3+ years developing in Linux/Apache environments
• 1+ years in CSS driven, hand-coded HTML
• Keen interest in developing Web 2.0 applications
• Familiarity with AJAX, Javascript and XML
• Interest in Ruby
• Passion for games and MMOs

You thrive on all aspects of the creative game process; working with artists, sound engineers and designers. Seeing your work come to fruition and being able to make an immediate impact on the game is rewarding to your sense of functionality and engineering. Designing products while adhering to the technical requirements of the project is something that you do very well. The ability to to identify roadblocks up ahead and create solutions to overcome them and other possible problems is a natural extension of who you are. Implementing the UI in Lua and familiarity with Red 5’s GUI comes easily to you.

A Typical Day

Working with one of Red 5’s cross development feature teams, you are the point person on implementing new UI products into the game. After meeting with the designers and ironing out the art work, you use your programming skills to assure that their vision is brought to life. Communicating with the audio team is the final slice before rendering your product and reviewing it with other members on the engineering team to ensure code quality and solid documentation.

Who You Work With the Most

Most of your day is spent working with artists and designers creating fantastic in-game UI that makes the game shine, while adding to the overall designer’s vision of its functionality.

What You’ve Done Before

• Solid engineering/programming background in C++ as well as OO design principles
• Previous Lua experience
• Familiarity with GUI engines and their functionality
• Strong communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively in a passion-filled environment
• Previous game experience and strong FPS interest are plusses
• Unrelenting passion for game

You are the architect of the environment in the game, building visually stunning areas where players can’t quite decide whether to stare in awe at their surroundings or concentrate on killing each other. It’s your responsibility to make sure the environments aren’t just attractive, but functional as well – providing interesting tactical choices that draw attention to important aspects of the game play experience. In addition to crafting the play spaces, you also excel at making the world come to life by populating it with objects, NPCs and encounters. By working closely with other artists, designers, and programmers, you devise ways to structure your landscapes so players can use all their characters’ abilities and all their own game play skills to discover and overcome challenges and opponents.

A Typical Day

After reviewing the latest art assets and character abilities, you discuss with designers ways you can structure any given region to take advantage of particular character abilities and highlight important mission storylines. You begin laying out the general theme for the area, noting combat “choke points” and non-combat challenges that can occur in the environment, as well as collaborating with other artists in the creation of new doodads and other game elements to plug into the map. Additionally you’re putting the final touches on a multi-player PvP map that incorporates different aspects of gameplay. You organize sessions where you, along with a few artists and designers (and anyone else available), log in and run around the map. You’ll demonstrate how your world design highlights the art and game elements, check the area for bugs and missing features and finally develop alternative tactics for exterminating one another in virtual reality. In addition to crafting your own playable spaces you will also work shoulder to shoulder with other world builders, coaching them on their work and helping make the game the best that it can be.

Who You Work With the Most

You work hand-in-hand with other game designers, environment artists, 3-D artists and concept artists, making sure your areas fit consistently and seamlessly into the world at large. By coordinating your efforts with the design team, you’re able to build environments that showcase different game elements at all the appropriate times and introduce new challenges that correspond with new abilities and new items. Since the artists and the modelers create visual assets you’ll use to design the levels, making sure they know the needs of the game is vitally important to the task at hand. What excites them, excites you, and will likely excite the players at the end of the day.

What You’ve Done Before

• Experience with UnrealEd, Radiant, or equivalent level-building tool
• Playable level portfolio
• Proficient skills in Photoshop and 3D-Max
• Experience with scripting missions, npcs and events
• Strong sense of architecture
• Strong sense of geography
• Familiarity with texturing and lighting for next-gen engines
• Passion for games and multiplayer shooters

The first time you used a website, you knew that you couldn’t wait to build your own. Your passion for emerging technologies, design trends and usability advancements has driven you to create a multitude of awesome web sites that push the limits of what a browser is capable of. You dive into the issues of cross-browser compatibility while utilizing the latest cutting-edge clientside scripting tools.

A Typical Day

You are on a cross-departmental feature team responsible for creating an Army Management tool that will work both in-game as well as on the community website. You sit down with your team to discuss the feature and what the requirements will be before diving into a deeper discussion with the web designer about how the user will need to interact with the site. While waiting for art assets, you start prototyping the site in HTML to get a feel for the user experience. Meanwhile, there have been a few bugs reported on the community website that require your attention. You hammer those out before submitting your prototype to your feature team for feedback.

Who You Work With the Most

You spend most of your day with the rest of the web team and community team creating features for in-game and the web. You also work closely with the game designers to work out how a web feature might work or what the ultimate player experience should be.

What You’ve Done Before

• Extensive knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, CSS and client-side frameworks (e.g. jQuery, Prototype, Scriptaculous, etc).
• Experience developing object-oriented software in an MVC architecture.
• Demonstrable expertise in building consumer-facing web applications in Ruby/Python/PHP/etc.
• Knowledge of modern UI/UX practices.
• Thorough understanding of cross-browser compatibility.
• Some experience with graphic design programs (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, etc).
• Passion for games.

Send resume and cover letter to:

Red 5 Studios Email: jobs@red5studios.com

When you browse the web, you can’t help but redesign every site you see. You’re always tweaking and improving the designs you work on to create better user experiences or try out new design elements you’ve heard about or seen in practice. You have an inate ability to design interesting user interfaces that users are able to latch onto and understand. You have a complete understanding of the latest design trends and think “Web 2.0″ is nothing more than a press buzzword and the future hasn’t been written yet for what the web is able to deliver.

A Typical Day

As part of the next milestone, you’ve been tasked with creating a web interface to allow armies to manage their teams online and in-game through the same tool. You sit down with a web developer, a front-end developer and a game designer to discuss the details. After sketching out a basic wireframe, you gather feedback and start working on a prototype in Photoshop. Meanwhile, a the front-end developer needs some new user interface for the beta feedback form that’s going out this afternoon. You mock up some new UI elements for him to use.

Who You Work With the Most

You spend most of your time working with the web team and the community team to come up with additional website features and create unique experiences for the game community. You also spend time working with the designers and UI programmers to provide in-game features that are loaded from the web, making sure that the game is fully connected to the dynamic world.

What You’ve Done Before

• Online portfolio of advanced web and user interface designs.
• Advanced knowledge of digital imaging and illustration with Adobe Photoshop or equivalent.
• Some experience with translating designs to HTML and understanding of web limitations and advances in new technologies.
• Good understanding of web performance requirements.
• Superior knowledge of current web-design trends and techniques.
• Understanding of dynamic content design principles.
• Passion for games.

Send resume and cover letter to:

Red 5 Studios Email: jobs@red5studios.com

You breathe life into the worlds we create. Whether you’re animating a character with two legs or six legs, you make their movements believable and memorable. From the smallest, nuanced gesture to all-out action, your understanding of weight and timing transcends the 2D confines of an animation program, making the player truly connect with their characters and the enemies they fight.

A Typical Day

After a refreshing cup of morning coffee, you sit down and look at the animation work you did yesterday. Is it just you or does that run cycle look a little “floaty”? You call over another animator to get a second opinion – yup, looks like it could use a little more weight. He suggests that after lunch you and he grab a camera and shoot some reference video of that particular run. Later in the afternoon, you take an hour to sit down with one of the modelers and talk about some of the high-level weapons being designed. What could we animate to make them look cooler?

Who You Work With the Most

You and the other animators are a tight-nit group that are regularly critiquing each other’s work. It is vital that animation tips, tricks and techniques are shared within the team. By developing a rapport with the artists and the designers, you’re able to understand where they’re going with different ideas as well, making sure your animations reflect the personalities of the characters and monsters you create.

What You’ve Done Before

• Outstanding animation skills. The ability to give life to both creatures and mechanical objects.
• Experience shipping games with great keyframe animation
• Outstanding animation skills. The ability to give life to both creatures and mechanical objects.
• A thorough understanding of animation using 3DS Max
• Experience rigging using Puppetshop a plus
• Experience with Morpheme or Endorphin a plus
• Great people skills, able to work in multi-disciplinary, team oriented environments.
• A sense of fun.