Category: Talks

Workshop de Godot (no Porto)

“O NCGM convida-te a participar no workshop a realizar-se dia 28 de Fevereiro às 15h na sala … na FEUP.
Neste workshop, direcionado para iniciantes em Godot, iremos criar em conjunto um jogo! Pelo que irás explorar todo o processo para a criação de um pequeno jogo desde programação, VFX e UI.
O objetivo deste workshop é ganhares bases para te orientares sozinho com o software.
Inscrições abertas até dia 27 de Fevereiro.”

+infos(oficial): https://linktr.ee/ncgm

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Ofertas de trabalho (em fevereiro)

Procura-se um Lighting Artist (hibrido ou presencial, em Lisboa), em que:

We are looking for you to have:
Minimum 3 years coof mmercial production experience in a lighting or technical art role
Strong understanding of latest games art fundamentals of real-time lighting, physically based rendering, materials, and post-processing
Portfolio or demo reel that demonstrates a keen eye for detail, knowledge of color theory and the ability to use light, shadow and color to create a variety of tones and moods
Working knowledge of Photoshop and 3ds Max or equivalent
Great communication, ability to follow creative direction, self-driven organization, and time management skills
Bachelor/Undergraduate degree or equivalent

In addition, ideally, you might also have:
Extensive UE5 knowledge, with project examples
Keen interest in playing games and game development beyond art
Prior experience with helping mentor your colleagues

+infos(oficial): https://www.funcom.com/funcom-zpx/

Procura-se um Lead Games Designer (hibrido ou presencial, em Lisboa), em que:

We are looking for you to have:
A bachelor’s degree
5+ years of experience in the game industry working in a game design capacity
2+ years of experience leading/managing a team
Shipped titles in a professional capacity
Extensive understanding of design processes including NPC design, feature design, level design, content design, as well as experience implementing features and content
Passion for leadership and mentoring
Clear, effective communication skills across teams and cultures
Motivation and drive to collaborate and advance positive change in a studio environment
The ability to work diligently while thinking critically and resolving complex issues

In addition, ideally, you might also have:
Experience working on survival or MMO games
Worked on games in a live environment
Enjoys playing survival games
Familiarity with Dune and the Dune IP

+infos(oficial): https://www.funcom.com/funcom-zpx/

A Saber em Gaia procura um Multiplayer Programmer

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Level Designer (Almada/Portugal) pela Kwalee, no modo híbrido, em que:
“Responsibilities
Collaborate with the creative team to develop and execute captivating interactive narratives for our game.
Utilise your strong understanding of cinematography and movie directing techniques to craft cinematic moments within the game.
Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the game’s narrative structure, characters, and world.
Script compelling dialogues, cutscenes, and interactive sequences that enhance the overall player experience.
Collaborate with other designers, artists, and programmers to ensure a seamless integration of storytelling elements into gameplay mechanics.
Conduct playtesting and iterate on the game’s storytelling elements based on feedback and player experience.
Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in interactive storytelling, cinematography, and game design to push the boundaries of our games

Requirements
Proven experience (minimum 3 years) in game development, with a focus on interactive storytelling and game design.
Strong scripting skills using industry-standard tools and languages.
Working knowledge of the Unity engine is a must.
Knowledge and understanding of cinematography principles, camera work, and movie directing techniques.
Excellent creative and storytelling abilities, with a keen eye for detail and an understanding of narrative structure.
Ability to effectively collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and communicate ideas clearly.
Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to adapt to changing project requirements.
Positive attitude, self driven and able to work alone or as part of a team.
Passion for video games, storytelling, and a deep understanding of player engagement.
Based in one of our office hubs, following our hybrid model with 3 days per week on-site.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Economy Designer (Almada/Portugal) pela Kwalee, no modo híbrido, em que:
“Responsibilities
Working closely with designers and the analytics team to develop the right inputs, and measurements for evaluating a game’s economic patterns.
Creating models for various interpretations of the game economy and forecasting player behaviours to find the right global maxima approach.
Collaborate with the Art Leads to find the right information hierarchy and UI conventions to get information across to the user in a tone and style appropriate to each game.
Working with the analytics department to understand the results of your work and the impact it has on player behaviour.
From paper to playable you will be able to visualise the desired UX, both in UX tools or in Unity.
Providing feedback based on your expertise on a wide range of games.

Requirements
A minimum of 2 years experience in an economy design or balancing role within gaming.
Can create models in industry standard tools to model player behaviours and the resultant economy impacts of those.
Can devise the parameters and measurements for effective AB testing of game economy variations.
Experience of mobile game live ops, A/B testing and analytics.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven and able to work alone or as part of a team.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (Almada/Portugal) pela Kwalee, no modo híbrido, em que:
“Responsibilities
Working as part of the design team and working closely with them to make our games as fun as they can be.
Taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, creating game design documents, diagrams and flowcharts.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Requirements
A minimum of 5 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

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Global Game Jam 2024 (1ª edição do ano)

Vai decorrer entre os dias 22 e 28 de janeiro a primeira edição do evento mundial Global Game Jam. Este ano e em Portugal existem eventos organizados nas seguintes localidades:
Porto – LINK
Porto – LINK
Aveiro – LINK
Covilhã – LINK
Leiria – LINK
Porto Salvo – LINK
Lisboa – LINK
Lisboa – LINK
Carnaxide – LINK
Almada – LINK
Faro – LINK

Os eventos são gratuitos, não decorrem todos os dias, dependendo da proposta de cada organizador :)

+infos(oficial): https://globalgamejam.org/

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Ofertas de trabalho (em janeiro)

A Saber em Gaia procura vários profissionais: Technical Director, Network Multiplayer Programmer, Tools Developer, Gameplay Developer e HR Director

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Concept Artist (Lisboa/Portugal) pela Mr Kite, no local, em que:
“Job Summary
As a Character Concept Artist at Mr Kite, you will play a crucial role in shaping the visual identity of Today. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of artists, designers, and writers to create unique and visually stunning characters that resonate with our audience. This is an opportunity to contribute to the creation of memorable characters that will leave a lasting impact on the world of entertainment.

Responsibilities
Conceptualization:
Generate visually compelling and original character concepts that align with the project’s artistic direction and narrative.
Translate design briefs and storytelling elements into expressive and relatable characters.
Collaboration:
Work closely with the Art Director and the Creative Director, and other team members to ensure consistency in artistic vision.
Provide constructive feedback and contribute to brainstorming sessions.
Sketching and Rendering:
Create detailed character sketches and concept illustrations that showcase personality, emotion, and distinctive traits.
Produce polished and refined character designs suitable for further development.
Iteration and Feedback:
Iterate on designs based on feedback from team members and stakeholders.
Collaborate with other artists to refine and enhance character designs throughout the production process.
Research and Trends:
Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and artistic techniques.
Incorporate fresh ideas and innovative approaches to character design.

Qualifications
Proven experience as a Character Concept Artist in the videogame industry.
Strong portfolio showcasing a range of character designs and concepts.
Proficiency in digital illustration tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or similar software.
Understanding of anatomy, form, and composition.
Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
Ability to adapt to various art styles and project requirements..”

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (Oeiras/Portugal) pela Miniclip, no local ou hibrido, em que:
“What will you be doing at Miniclip?
Design and craft mission gameplay experiences and game features that deliver strong player engagement, retention, and monetization.
Take ownership of mission gameplay design and implementation, collaborating cross-discipline to create new and exciting scenarios and moment-to-moment gameplay.
Participate as a key member of the product team across the product life-cycle, working on games in production, and live titles, owning and creating high-impact gameplay content updates for our existing portfolio of games.
Plan and execute mission designs within Unity using our proprietary tools and editors, from inception to finished product.
Review and iterate gameplay designs and mission implementation both during production and post-release, incorporating feedback from key stakeholders and directing mission changes to balance game content based on analytics data.
Help identify and deconstruct new markets and opportunities, expanding the portfolio of the company and staying at the cutting edge of the mobile gaming industry.

How will you work with the team?
Collaborate across the team to expand and iterate internal tools used for mission and gameplay implementation.
Present and articulate your designs across the team, upholding and championing the game vision and core pillars.
Support the team with subject-matter expertise on mobile & social game design.

What are we looking for?
4+ years’ experience of gameplay and systems design, monetisation and live ops on freemium mobile games..
An excellent knowledge and understanding of gameplay design, complex game economy systems with multiple currencies, and progression systems.
Experience across the product life-cycle, from prototyping, through production, to updating a live free-to-play game.
Strong knowledge of the mobile & social game space, with an exceptional understanding of current design techniques to deliver excellent engagement, retention, and monetisation.
Understanding of and experience with reviewing game analytics, developing insights based on data to make better informed design decisions.
Strong grasp of mobile user-experience design, and ability to consider & empathise with many different types of players.
Creative problem solver, with proven ability to create compelling gameplay.
Relentlessly self-critical: always sees the pros and cons of each approach, and works tirelessly to improve design solutions. Prolific with high-quality, well-thought-through proposals.”

+infos(oficial):LINK

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Ofertas de trabalho (em dezembro)

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (hibrido, Almada/Portugal) pela Kwalee, em que:

What’s In It For You?
Hybrid working – 3 days in the office, 2 days remote/ WFH is the norm
Flexible working hours – we trust you to choose how and when you work best
Profit sharing scheme – we win, you win
Private medical cover – delivered through BUPA
Life Assurance – for long term peace of mind
On site gym – take care of yourself
Relocation support – available
Quarterly Team Building days – we’ve done Paintballing, Go Karting & even Ninja Warrior
Creative Wednesdays – come together to play games, share the latest trends and celebrate the success of teammates

What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working as part of the design team and working closely with them to make our games as fun as they can be.
Taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, creating game design documents, diagrams and flowcharts.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 5 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.”
+infos(oficial): LINK
Procura-se um Game Designer (hibrido, Almada/Portugal) pela Kwalee, em que:

What’s In It For You?
Hybrid working – 3 days in the office, 2 days remote/ WFH is the norm
Flexible working hours – we trust you to choose how and when you work best
Profit sharing scheme – we win, you win
Relocation support – available
Quarterly Team Building days
Creative Wednesdays – come together to play games, share the latest trends and celebrate the success of teammates

What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working as part of the design team, taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, from an initial pitch all the way to global launch.
Keeping track of market trends and coming up with game ideas that will be well received by the ever-changing hybridcasual gaming audience.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 2 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (remoto/Portugal) pela Fortis Games, em que:

About The Role
Work with product leadership to design major systems and features for new game concepts.
Help direct and mentor other members of the product team.
Share learnings with the broader product team and contribute to the overall development of our product strategy and portfolio of games.

What You’ll Achieve
You will design core systems in our new games that are critical to their success by:
Creating proposals that articulate how these features and systems uphold the game’s design pillars and drive the desired player behaviors
Delivering clear, concise, and thorough specifications to cross functional teams responsible for implementing these systems
Providing team members with direction on how content should be created, tuned, and live operated within these systems
You will become an expert in the opportunity spaces, genres, and game mechanics you explore during prototyping and share your learnings with the broader product team to advance our collective knowledge.
You will develop an independent design philosophy that upholds the key tenets of Fortis’ approach to products while adding your own unique approach to thinking about emerging patterns in service design.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful
A holistic view of game systems and the downstream effects of all design decisions throughout both the product and player lifecycle.
A firm understanding of fundamental design principles, metagame systems, game economies, and player psychology that allows you to design from first principles.
Ability to articulate the nuances of abstract concepts and how they apply to complex, interrelated systems.
Ability to synthesize feedback from team members, user playtests, and other validation efforts into product insights and rapidly iterate on designs.
Extensive knowledge of games as a service and live operations – you know what good looks like and can build efficient design processes, workflows, and tooling to enable it.
Enthusiasm for directing, mentoring, and otherwise elevating the people around you to do their best work.
A natural curiosity and eagerness to learn – we believe this is essential to our ability to stay ahead of the market and value this over years of experience.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Designer (Braga/Portugal) pela Exeedme, em que:

Responsibilities
Develop gamification strategies for our existing features like matchmaking, tournaments, gacha games, in-game items trading, raffles, and subscriptions.
Research and advise on new features to enhance user experience and engagement.
Gather gamers’ feedback and identify improvements to be made.
Gathering and evaluating user requirements, in collaboration with leadership, product managers and developers.
Work closely with the development team to ensure design and function are perfectly integrated.
Innovate on user acquisition and retention mechanics.
Illustrating gamification ideas using storyboards, process flows and sitemaps.
Develop workflows that detail the product economy and the impact of new features.
Collaborate with product, marketing, and UX teams to implement effective gamification elements.
Be diligent and ensure quality of work in a fast paced, team based highly iterative development environment.

Who are you
Degree in Game Design, Computer Science, Psychology, or related fields.
Experienced gamification expert with 3+ years in game design or related fields, focusing on user engagement and retention.
Strong understanding of current gamification trends and ability to develop engaging mechanics.
Proficient in collaboration with product, marketing, and UX teams, with excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Skilled in managing time effectively and presenting concepts to teams and stakeholders.
Empathetic towards gamers and web3 users, using constraints creatively for problem-solving.
Familiar with blockchain technology in gaming and proficient in software tools like Figma, InVision, Storybook, Adobe Creative Suite, or similar.

Bonus Points
Experience with Notion
Experience in Product Design
Experience working on video games for PC/mobile, competitive gaming platforms
Experience in web3 products
Ability to work onsite in our Braga, Portugal offices.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Econimic Designer (remoto/Portugal), em que:

What’s In It For You?
Hybrid working – 3 days in the office, 2 days remote/ WFH is the norm
Flexible working hours – we trust you to choose how and when you work best
Profit sharing scheme – we win, you win
Private medical cover – delivered through BUPA
Life Assurance – for long term peace of mind
On site gym – take care of yourself
Relocation support – available
Quarterly Team Building days – we’ve done Paintballing, Go Karting & even Ninja Warrior
Creative Wednesdays – come together to play games, share the latest trends and celebrate the success of teammates

Are You Up To The Challenge?
As a Game Economy Designer you will be responsible for finding the optimal balance in our games of them being Free to Play but Beneficial to Spend, helping to make sure our game economy is healthy and doesn’t get out of hand over time.

Your Team Mates
Your team is a diverse and creative group of designers from all around the world. Some are based in one of our offices, while others are working remotely. Instead of just being small cogs in a big machine, designers are given a large degree of freedom and responsibility over every game we make. What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working closely with designers and the analytics team to develop the right inputs, and measurements for evaluating a games economic patterns.
Creating models for various interpretations of the game economy and forecasting player behaviours to find the right global maxima approach.
Collaborate with the Art Leads to find the right information hierarchy and UI conventions to get information across to the user in a tone and style appropriate to each game.
Working with the analytics department to understand the results of your work and the impact it has on player behaviour.
From paper to playable you will be able to visualise the desired UX, both in UX tools or in Unity.
Providing feedback based on your expertise on a wide range of games.

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 2 years experience in an economy design or balancing role within gaming.
Can create models in industry standard tools to model player behaviours and the resultant economy impacts of those.
Can devise the parameters and measurements for effective AB testing of game economy variations.
Economics Degree or similar academic background
Coding / prototyping skills to be able to create a simulation of the game economy.
Experience of mobile game live ops, A/B testing and analytics.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven and able to work alone or as part of a team.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (remoto/Portugal), em que:

About The Role
Work with product leadership to design major systems and features for new game concepts.
Help direct and mentor other members of the product team.
Share learnings with the broader product team and contribute to the overall development of our product strategy and portfolio of games.

What You’ll Achieve
You will design core systems in our new games that are critical to their success by:
Creating proposals that articulate how these features and systems uphold the game’s design pillars and drive the desired player behaviors
Delivering clear, concise, and thorough specifications to cross functional teams responsible for implementing these systems
Providing team members with direction on how content should be created, tuned, and live operated within these systems
You will become an expert in the opportunity spaces, genres, and game mechanics you explore during prototyping and share your learnings with the broader product team to advance our collective knowledge.
You will develop an independent design philosophy that upholds the key tenets of Fortis’ approach to products while adding your own unique approach to thinking about emerging patterns in service design.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful
A holistic view of game systems and the downstream effects of all design decisions throughout both the product and player lifecycle.
A firm understanding of fundamental design principles, metagame systems, game economies, and player psychology that allows you to design from first principles.
Ability to articulate the nuances of abstract concepts and how they apply to complex, interrelated systems.
Ability to synthesize feedback from team members, user playtests, and other validation efforts into product insights and rapidly iterate on designs.
Extensive knowledge of games as a service and live operations – you know what good looks like and can build efficient design processes, workflows, and tooling to enable it.
Enthusiasm for directing, mentoring, and otherwise elevating the people around you to do their best work.
A natural curiosity and eagerness to learn – we believe this is essential to our ability to stay ahead of the market and value this over years of experience.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

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Vencedores dos Prémios Playstation talents – 9ª edição

Os vencedores da Playstation talents – 9ª edição, referente a 2023, foram:
Melhor Jogo de 2023
Hexrite (Phabula)

Jogo mais Inovador
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)

Melhor Arte
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)

Melhor Utilização das Plataformas PlayStation
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)

Melhor Jogo Infantil
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)

Prémio Imprensa
Hexrite (Phabula)

Melhor Narrativa
Who Done E.T. (Manalchemy)

Games for Good
The Fisherman: A Codfish Tale (Loading Studios)

A cerimónia (o video):
LINK

Para registo, a lista dos vários finalistas foram:
Melhor Jogo de 2023
Hexrite (Phabula)
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)

Jogo mais Inovador
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)
Campus Conundrum (Weird Zenith)
The Ecosphere Project (Ecosphere Project Team)
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)

Melhor Arte
Hexrite (Phabula)
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)
Kurofune: Descobrimentos Portugueses (3PA Studios)

Melhor Utilização das Plataformas PlayStation
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)
Campus Conundrum (Weird Zenith)
Who Done E.T. (Manalchemy)
Tom in the Treehouse (ImaginaryX)

Melhor Jogo Infantil
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)
The Ecosphere Project (Ecosphere Project Team)
Campus Conundrum (Weird Zenith)

Prémio Imprensa
Hexrite (Phabula)
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)
Unseen Value (Marema Studios)

Melhor Narrativa
Who Done E.T. (Manalchemy)
Tom in the Treehouse (ImaginaryX)
Witness Veil The Passenger (Dead Cool Kids)
The Fisherman: A Codfish Tale (Loading Studios)

Prémio PlayStation Talents Especial Games for Good
The Fisherman: A Codfish Tale (Loading Studios)
The Ecosphere Project (Ecosphere Project Team)
Kurofune: Descobrimentos Portugueses (3PA Studios)
Dejima Delivery (Crimson Capy)

+infos(oficial): http://premiosplaystation.com/

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Prémios Indie X 2023

Este ano a Indie X juntou-se ao “colegas” da IndieDevDay espanhóis e foi criado o evento Gamiberica – Iberian Games Summit. Este evento decorreu durante o Meo XL Games na Exponor.

Contudo existiram também os prémios Indie X 2023 e os prémios foram:
Most Fun Game
Spiritfall – LINK

Best Art Direction
Phoenix Springs – LINK

Most Innovative
Cassette Beasts – LINK

Games for Good
We. The Refugees: Ticket to Europe – LINK

Best Portuguese Game
Demon Spore – LINK

Best of the Show
Europa – LINK

+infos(0 video do evento): LINK

+infos(oficial): https://indiex.online/

+infos(na steam): LINK

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Ofertas de trabalho (em novembro)

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (Oeiras/Portugal), em que:

What will you be doing at Miniclip?
Design and craft mission gameplay experiences and game features that deliver strong player engagement, retention, and monetization.
Take ownership of mission gameplay design and implementation, collaborating cross discipline to create new and exciting scenarios and moment-to-moment gameplay.
Participate as a key member of the product team across the product life-cycle, working on games in production, and live titles, owning and creating high-impact gameplay content updates for our existing portfolio of games.
Plan and execute mission designs within Unity using our proprietary tools and editors, from inception to finished product.
Review and iterate gameplay designs and mission implementation both during production and post release, incorporating feedback from key stakeholders and directing mission changes to balance game content based on analytics data.
Help identify and deconstruct new markets and opportunities, expanding the portfolio of the company and staying in the cutting edge of the mobile gaming industry.

What are we looking for?
4+ years’ experience of level and gameplay design for action/shooter titles, preferably on mobile.
An excellent knowledge and understanding of level and gameplay design.
Experience across the product life-cycle, from prototyping, through production, to updating a live free-to-play game.
Strong knowledge of the mobile & social game space, with exceptional understanding of current design techniques to deliver excellent engagement, retention, and monetisation.
Understanding of and experience with reviewing game analytics, developing insights based on data to make better informed design decisions.
Strong grasp of mobile user-experience design, and ability to consider & empathise with many different types of players.
Creative problem solver, with proven ability to create compelling gameplay.
Relentlessly self-critical always sees the pros and cons of each approach, and works tirelessly to improve design solutions. Prolific with high quality, well-thought-through proposals.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Designer (Almada/Portugal), em formato hibrido em que:

What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working as part of the design team, taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, from an initial pitch all the way to global launch.
Keeping track of market trends and coming up with game ideas that will be well received by the ever-changing hybridcasual gaming audience.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 2 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.
We don’t like egos or arrogance and we love playing games and celebrating success together. If that sounds like you, then please apply.


+infos(oficial): LINK

A empresa Fortis Games tem uma proposta para o lugar de “Game Designer em modo remoto” em que:
“What You’ll Achieve
Designing, implementing, balancing and tuning content
Delivering clear, concise, and thorough specifications to cross-functional teams responsible for implementing these features and content
Document and share learnings
You will become an expert in the systems and features you work on and become a resource to team members in your areas of mastery.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful
An understanding of fundamental design principles, metagame systems, game economies, and player psychology that allows you to design from first principles.
Great sense for game balance, progression, and pacing and an exceptional attention to detail.
Enthusiasm for solving tough problems and strong critical thinking skills.
Ability to synthesize feedback from team members and rapidly iterate on designs.
A natural curiosity and eagerness to learn – we believe this is essential to our ability to stay ahead of the market and value this over years of experience.
We expect all team members to be students of their craft and the game spaces they’re working in.
You should be educated on the latest trends and have a strong perspective on how they relate to our current and future projects regardless of your title or role.”

+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

A empresa Fortis Games tem uma proposta para o lugar de “Senior Game Designer em modo remoto” em que:
“About The Role
Work with product leadership to design major systems and features for new game concepts.
Help direct and mentor other members of the product team.
Share learnings with the broader product team and contribute to the overall development of our product strategy and portfolio of games.

What You’ll Achieve
You will design core systems in our new games that are critical to their success by:
Creating proposals that articulate how these features and systems uphold the game’s design pillars and drive the desired player behaviors
Delivering clear, concise, and thorough specifications to cross functional teams responsible for implementing these systems
Providing team members with direction on how content should be created, tuned, and live operated within these systems
You will become an expert in the opportunity spaces, genres, and game mechanics you explore during prototyping and share your learnings with the broader product team to advance our collective knowledge.
You will develop an independent design philosophy that upholds the key tenets of Fortis’ approach to products while adding your own unique approach to thinking about emerging patterns in service design.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful
A holistic view of game systems and the downstream effects of all design decisions throughout both the product and player lifecycle.
A firm understanding of fundamental design principles, metagame systems, game economies, and player psychology that allows you to design from first principles.
Ability to articulate the nuances of abstract concepts and how they apply to complex, interrelated systems.
Ability to synthesize feedback from team members, user playtests, and other validation efforts into product insights and rapidly iterate on designs.
Extensive knowledge of games as a service and live operations – you know what good looks like and can build efficient design processes, workflows, and tooling to enable it.
Enthusiasm for directing, mentoring, and otherwise elevating the people around you to do their best work.
A natural curiosity and eagerness to learn – we believe this is essential to our ability to stay ahead of the market and value this over years of experience. ”

+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

A TLF Entertainment em Lisboa procura UX/ UI Games Designer:
“Responsibilities:
Design seamless and responsive user journeys for mobile, desktop and platforms.
Create flawlessly pixel-perfect user interfaces and interactive prototypes.
Embrace the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and ensure our solutions seamlessly evolve with each iteration.
Engage in user research and actively support customer development efforts.
Collaborate closely with the product team to define requirements for new features and user flows.
Innovate and iterate to introduce fresh ideas, concepts, and improvements to our product.
Forge strong partnerships with our development team, providing clear explanations and clarifications on functionality when necessary.
Stay at the forefront of industry trends and emerging innovations.

Skills/knowledge required for the position:
A minimum of 3 years of experience in web product design.
An impressive portfolio showcasing your design projects.
A deep understanding of UX principles and an unwavering commitment to meeting user needs.
Proficiency in designing user interfaces and crafting interactive prototypes.
Familiarity with modern design tools; we primarily use Figma and you will use it too.
Background in Native iOs and/or Android app design will be considered as a strong plus.
A user-centric approach, prioritizing customer needs over personal preferences.
A data-driven decision-making approach, with a strong emphasis on the customer’s perspective.
A positive, solution-oriented attitude when tackling complex challenges.

We are offering:
Hybrid work
Lunch allowance provided by the company
Extra paid leave (25 days per annum)
Quarterly and semester team events
Weekly Friday beers and monthly activities
Health and dental insurance since day 1
Wellness benefits reimbursement
Transport allowance
Birthday gift and cake
Growth individual plan
Engagement platform with tons of events and challenges to win great prizes”

+infos(oficial): LINK

A Saber em Gaia procura Build Programmer:

“Responsibilities will include:
Support all the games developed by Saber Interactive Porto.
Improve our build pipeline with scripts and process for speed up and automate the build process and maintain our TeamCity projects.
Create and maintain our Telegram Bot built in Python to give the team more tools to work with also maintain the automated tests for the Bot and Scripts developed in Python.
Help the development team to figure out why builds are not working properly, specialy when related to Patches and DLC contents.
Work together with Release Management team to identify and solve any issues that may appear during a new submission.
Implement and maintain automated tests in Unreal using the Gauntlet plugin.

The ideal candidate will have:
An undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent
At least 1-3 years of programming experience (C#, Python) or related experience
Experience with CI/CD tool such as TeamCity, Jenkins, GitLab or similar
Experience with automated test
Knowledge in C/C++ & Unreal Engine 4 or Unreal Engine 5
Knowledge of Gauntlet plugin is a plus
Resourcefulness (you may not always have the answers, but you know where to find them)
A collaborative and innovative spirit
Solid communication and interpersonal skills (you’re comfortable talking to content creators and code-owners alike)
An investigative approach to problem solving – you’re not one to just scratch the surface; you care to get to the root cause of issues and come up with long-term solutions to resolve them”

+infos(oficial): LINK

A Saber em Gaia procura Technical Artist:


“Responsibilities:
– Setting up and maintaining production pipelines and workflow
– Develop and test tools that the artists will use to improve and assist their work in production
– Work with Art Leads, Technical Directors, and QA to ensure that all the assets conform to technical requirements
– Use the best tools and methods for improving and facilitating the graphic workload
– Share best practices and conduct training sessions with the team to ensure the proper use of tools and methods
– Integrate, validate, and optimize graphic data in the engine by using scripts if needed
– Ensure that graphic bugs are fixed according to their priorities and provide support to the other artists
– Produce and maintain documentation on tools, methods, training, processes, and engine limits for consultation and future reference.
– Help and spearhead the QA Team to ensure that assets are 100% bug-free and shippable
– Gatekeeper of Tech Art constraints, pushing for top visual quality and performance
– Optimization and Profiling

Qualifications:
– Knowledge in the following areas of game development:
– Modelling & Texturing
– Scripting/Tools Development
– Lighting
– Shaders (GLSL/HSLS)
– VFX
– Rendering & Post Processing
– Procedural
– Strong understanding of Graphic Rendering Pipeline for next-gen technologies
– Experience working with Game Engines (Unreal) is a plus
– Strong Technical Background on the Art Production Process and Workflows
– Programming Knowledge (C++, Python) with strong Data Structures
– Strong communication and Interpersonal Skills
– Background in 3D development software (3DS Max, Maya, Blender)
– Eagerness to learn current developing next-gen technologies for games
– Able to work under pressure, learn new skills, and develop a good relationship with the team
– Experience in collaboration between artists, programmers, technical directors
– Strong organizational skills
– Creative at finding solutions”

+infos(oficial): LINK

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Livros que contam histórias de game designers

Encontrei estas referências para alguns livros que contam as histórias de alguns Game Designers. É uma coleção já com alguns autores que presumo que não vá ficar por aqui. Para já gostava de ter acesso a dois deles. Da coleção surge:

Hideo Kojima, Progressive Game Design from Metal Gear to Death Stranding
Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda
Todd Howard, Worldbuilding in Tamriel and Beyond
Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight, Adventure Games, Hidden Objects
Brenda Laurel, Pioneering Games for Girls

  

+infos(oficial): LINK

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Ofertas de trabalho (em outubro)

A Mr.Kite em Lisboa (remoto) procura:

Art Director:
“About:
The visual representation of Today is as vital as the gameplay itself. We need an Art Director who not only has an impeccable artistic vision but also understands the intricacies of bringing that vision from concept to engine. It’s about ensuring every art piece is technically feasible, consistent in quality, and perfectly integrated within our game world. If you’re adept at bridging the creative and technical realms of game art, you’re the leader we’re seeking.

Responsibilities:
Define and lead the artistic vision of Today, ensuring that every piece of art is consistent, high-quality, and aligned with the game’s ethos.
Oversee the entire art pipeline – from concept sketches to final in-engine assets – to establish technical and aesthetic guidelines for in-game art
Collaborate closely with the Creative Director and Product Designer, bringing a harmonious blend of creative ideas to fruition.
Lead the art department, offering guidance, feedback, and mentorship while working closely with production support to manage the team’s output.
Liaise with engineers to ensure that the art aligns with technical requirements, optimizing for both aesthetics and performance.

Qualifications:
Proven experience as an Art Director / Art Lead in the gaming industry, with expertise in transitioning art from concept to engine.
Proficiency with 3D industry-standard tools like Maya and/or 3D Studio Max
Strong leadership skills, with the ability to drive artistic vision and oversee a team of artists through the entire production pipeline.
Deep understanding of the technical aspects of game art creation and integration into Unreal Engine.
Excellent collaboration skills, with a track record of working closely with both creative and technical teams.
A dedication to pushing artistic boundaries while maintaining technical integrity.”

Game Designer:
“About:
We’re on a mission to create an innovative world where players can express, build, and connect in new and exciting ways. Our game design is inspired by simulation games (e.g. The Sims, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley), and open world games (e.g. Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, Subnautica). If you’re passionate about these kind of games and understand what makes them resonate with millions, you’ll find a home with us.

Responsibilities:
Design, prototype, and iterate on game mechanics to ensure optimal user engagement
Understand the nuances of progression, NPCs, mini-games and resource management to ensure players are constantly engaged and challenged.
Work closely with the creative director & art director to ensure the game’s vision is being achieved
Collaborate with art & engineering teams to ensure game mechanics are feasible
Use data analytics tools to assess player behavior, tweaking game mechanics based on feedback and data.

Qualifications:
Shipped at least one majorly successful title in a lead design role.
Experience in designing free-to-play games with an emphasis on resource management and/or NPC relationships
Strong technical proficiency with game design documentation, tools and software.
Proficient in data analytics and ability to draw insights from player behavior.
Experience in using Unreal Engine for ideation and enhancing design documentation.”

Principal Engineer:
“About:
While the fusion of game design and AI is integral, it’s the harmonious blend of all game components — from gameplay to graphics, networking to physics — that defines our vision for Today. We’re building a game where every component matters, ensuring a cohesive and top-tier player experience. As we push the boundaries of what’s possible, we’re looking for leaders ready to tackle the challenges and innovate alongside us.

Responsibilities:
Lead the technical direction of the game, ensuring a robust foundation for all game systems, spanning AI, graphics, physics, and networking.
Standardize and optimize feature & mechanics implementation in Today Project. Implement clean high-quality C++ code, blueprints, and optimization tools.
Mentor and collaborate with a diverse team of engineers, fostering an environment of innovation and technical excellence.
Engage with other departments, ensuring that the technical strategy aligns seamlessly with the broader game vision.
Champion the integration of pioneering technologies and methodologies to keep Today at the pinnacle of the gaming industry.
Address and solve high-level technical challenges, optimizing both performance and scalability.

Qualifications:
Comprehensive experience with Unreal Engine 5, possessing an intricate understanding of its tools and capabilities.
High degree of proficiency with C++.
Demonstrable experience having shipped multiple games, with at least one in a lead engineering role.
A balanced grasp of various game development domains, including AI, with the prowess to meld them seamlessly.
Exceptional problem-solving skills, adept at navigating complex technical challenges.
A deep-rooted passion for gaming, combined with a drive to innovate and set new industry benchmarks.”

Network Engineer:
“About:
We’re building interconnected worlds that will host a bustling community of players. Drawing from the vast, shared universes of titles like No Man’s Sky and the intricate social hubs of VRChat, our goal is to create a seamless and expansive online environment. As Islands are crafted and communities flourish, the backbone of it all is a robust and reliable network. If you’re someone who understands the challenges of maintaining online spaces and thrives on ensuring players can connect without a hitch, we’re looking for you. Dive in, and help us architect the digital bridges that will connect thousands of Islands and millions of residents.

Responsibilities:
Design and implement scalable server architectures to support a growing number of players and their intricate virtual worlds.
Collaborate with game developers to integrate online features, ensuring smooth and synchronous gameplay experiences.
Implement and maintain security protocols to safeguard player data and prevent unauthorized access.
Monitor network performance, identifying bottlenecks and optimizing data transmission.
Stay updated with the latest advancements in network technologies and best practices, ensuring Today remains at the forefront of online gaming.

Qualifications:
Proven experience in networking for online games or lite MMOs.
High degree of proficiency with C++
Deep understanding of client-server architectures, load balancing, and network optimization techniques.
Proficiency in network diagnostic tools and software.
Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and address real-time networking issues.
Familiarity with the specific challenges of networking for social simulation and building games.”

Blockchain Engineer:
“About:
Our vision is a seamless blend of engaging gameplay, advanced blockchain technology, and a thriving token economy. As we forge new pathways in gaming, we’re integrating our proprietary tokens and leveraging the potential of NFTs. We’re in search of a Blockchain Engineer who’s adept at both tokenomics and the NFT landscape, ready to lead in this technical domain and shape an unparalleled gaming experience.

Responsibilities:
Design, develop, and optimize smart contracts using Solidity, focusing on the integration of our proprietary tokens and the management of NFTs within the game.
Spearhead the tokenomics strategy, ensuring the stability, utility, and value proposition of our tokens in and out of the game ecosystem.
Collaborate with game designers to weave blockchain elements, especially token-based transactions and NFT interactions, into the core gameplay.
Implement layer-2 scaling solutions and sidechains to enhance transaction speeds and reduce costs.
Work closely with the security team to conduct regular audits and vulnerability assessments, safeguarding our blockchain components, tokens, and NFTs.

Qualifications:
Deep expertise in Ethereum-based development with hands-on experience in Solidity, Web3.js, token development, and NFT platforms.
Proven track record in designing and implementing tokenomics for gaming or similar applications.
Familiarity with layer-2 solutions like Optimistic Rollups, zk-Rollups, and sidechains.
Comprehensive understanding of decentralized systems, consensus algorithms, and cryptographic principles.
Experience with integrating blockchain functionalities within game engines, emphasizing real-time token and NFT interactions.”

Game Economist:
“About:
We’re pioneering a dynamic in-game economy that seamlessly blends traditional free-to-play models with the cutting-edge potential of blockchain and NFTs. Today contains a rich marketplace where players trade, invest, and interact in ways previously unimagined. If you have a deep appreciation for game economies and see the potential of integrating blockchain, you’re in the right place. We’re looking for someone who understands the nuances of player behavior, the intricacies of virtual economies, and the transformative power of NFTs.

Responsibilities:
Design and oversee the in-game economic systems, ensuring a balance between player engagement, monetization, and fairness.
Collaborate with game designers to ensure economic mechanics align with the overall vision.
Analyze player behavior, spending patterns, and market trends to refine and optimize the game’s economic model.
Work alongside blockchain engineers to integrate NFTs, ensuring a seamless and rewarding player experience.
Forecast and model potential economic scenarios, preparing strategies for various market conditions.

Qualifications:
Extensive experience in designing and managing virtual economies, especially in social simulation or building games.
Proficiency in economic modeling tools and data analytics.
Strong understanding of free-to-play, micro-transactions, in-app purchases, and the potential of blockchain in gaming.
Ability to collaborate and communicate complex economic concepts to a multidisciplinary team.”

+infos(oficial): LINK

A Saber em Gaia procura Material Artist, Lead Envirnment, HR Director, Tech Designer, Physics Designer, Physics Programmer, QA Tester:

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Designer – Casual Games (Almada, hibrido/Portugal), em que:

As a Game Designer you have a talent to create fun and exciting game experiences for our players. You’ll be an expert in all things Casual and an impressive track record of designing successful hybridcasual, casual or hypercasual games.

What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working as part of the design team, taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, from an initial pitch all the way to global launch.
Keeping track of market trends and coming up with game ideas that will be well received by the ever-changing casual gaming audience.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.
Supporting the Executive Producer on the project in delivering a reasonable and fun experience to our players

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 2 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.”

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Junior Level Designer (Lisboa/Portugal), em que:

Arkadium is seeking a creative and passionate Junior Level Designer to join our Product Team. As a Junior Level Designer at Arkadium, you will work closely with our experienced team to craft engaging and enjoyable casual levels that captivate our players. This is an excellent opportunity to kickstart your career in the gaming industry and be part of a company dedicated to producing high-quality and fun games. This role reports directly to the Lead Game Designer.

Responsibilities
Craft fun and engaging levels for a variety of free-to-play casual puzzle games, such as match-3, mahjong, trivia, word games, and others
Playtest, iterate and balance level designs based on internal feedback, user interviews, and game analytics
Brainstorm and propose tweaks to the gameplay experience while keeping engagement, retention, and monetization potential in mind
Outline and document gameplay experiences aligned with the product vision for each level, in terms of layout, mechanics, pacing, difficulty, variety, and fit in the overall level progression
Create specification documents outlining how game features and gameplay mechanics work
Work with the Lead Game Designer to define level design guidelines and best practices
Collaborate frequently with a variety of other teams, including product managers, engineers, artists, and QA
Stay up-to-date with industry trends and casual game design best practices.

Requirements
A bachelor’s degree in game design or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Enthusiasm for casual games and a solid grasp of the elements that make them enjoyable and engaging.
Familiarity with mobile casual puzzle games and a strong interest in exploring innovative methods to enhance player engagement within this genre.
Exceptional problem-solving abilities coupled with meticulous attention to detail. Demonstrated capacity to iterate and refine designs based on feedback and data.
Strong analytical skills, capable of weighing the pros and cons of each decision.
A positive and constructive mindset that focuses on solutions rather than merely identifying problems.
Proficient in both written and verbal English communication, facilitating effective collaboration with team members.
A foundational understanding of how games function from a technical perspective.
Experience using Unity Engine is a plus.”

+infos(oficial): https://corporate.arkadium.com/careers/we-are-hiring/

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Ofertas de trabalho (em setembro)

Procura-se um Game Designer, Action Games (Lisboa/Portugal), em que:

We’re looking for a Game Designer to focus on the action/midcore part of our games portfolio. We are the leading company worldwide in casual instant games and this is an opportunity to make a real difference in the direction of the company as we expand the genres we work with on this exciting new games platform.
As Game Designer you are responsible for working with the Game Product Manager to transform the vision for the game into gameplay, game features and content. You’ll be basing your work on KPI targets, building feature and content specs, and assessing the results of game experiments and improvements.
We are looking for someone with experience a design position on an FPS or online action game, who has a passion for new platforms and games-as-a-service OR someone with games-as-a-service experience and a passion for playing FPS or online action games.

Challenges & Responsibilities
Create the game design for one or more action/midcore games in our portfolio
Work closely with the Game Product Manager to turn KPI targets into delightful features and content for our audience
Spec out game features for engineers to build, and review quality before release
Drive the consumer testing strategy (quantitive and qualitive) with the publishing team

We are looking for someone with
Passion for building online actions games for a global audience of passionate gamers
Experience with live game design and the data-design-test-deploy loop
Comfort with working simultaneously at a high level of design as well as at a low level tweaking and tuning features and content
Drive for moving at high speed with KPI targets but also a soft consumer focus for our audience
Passionate, self-driven, and able to work with minimal supervision toward a common team or company goal;
Proficient in English – we’re a global team.


+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Designer – Casual Games (Almada/Portugal), em formato hibrido em que:

What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Working as part of the design team, taking responsibility for multiple mobile game projects, from an initial pitch all the way to global launch.
Keeping track of market trends and coming up with game ideas that will be well received by the ever-changing casual gaming audience.
Designing compelling game mechanics using modern mobile design principles.
Creating, balancing and tuning game mechanics, game difficulty and UI flow.
Creating levels and additional content using Unity, for new and existing games.
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.
Supporting the Executive Producer on the project in delivering a reasonable and fun experience to our players

Your Hard Skills
A minimum of 2 years experience in a game design role with at least one published relevant game
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation and advertising techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Absolute passion for playing and making video games, especially mobile games.
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.
Positive attitude, self driven, able to work alone or as part of a team.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.
We don’t like egos or arrogance and we love playing games and celebrating success together. If that sounds like you, then please apply.

+infos(oficial): LINK

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Ludology, podcast sobre board games

Um podcast bastante interessante sobre board games, um dos temas que é apresentado é sobre o game design

+infos(oficial): LINK

Relatório acerca das empresas de videojogos em Itália

Surgiram noticias que já foi elaborado e apresentado o relatório acerca das empresas de desenvolvimento de videojogos em Itália, e referente ao ano de 2022.
Comparativamente com o ano de 2021 existiu um aumento de mais de 50% no número de empresas empregadoras que trabalham nesta área, sendo que continuam a dominar as empresas que têm entre 11 a 20 empregados. A idade média da malta que trabalha nesta área ronda os 30 anos, sendo residual aqueles que têm mais de 40 anos.
Também o número de mulheres cresceu e  ronda os 24% e outro grande destaque é que o trabalho que tem sido desenvolvido centra-se mais na área de jogos para PC (84%), mobile (54%) e consola (38%).

É de realçar que tem existido por parte do estado italiano ou dos municípios um forte apoio financeiro para que estas empresas tenham apoios e criem raízes nessas localidades, contudo as queixas continuam a relatar a pesada burocracia e taxas existentes neste país.

+infos(fonte da informação): LINK

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Prémios Playstation talents – 9ª edição

Quem pode participar:
“Poderão participar nos Prémios Play Station Talents 2023 em Portugal pequenos estúdios, estudantes universitários e jovens programadores portugueses, assim como empresas portugueses que tenham faturado menos de 100.000 € em 2022.”

É necessário preparar:
“A documentação deve incluir:
uma build jogavel/vertical slice;
um vídeo de apresentação do jogo com um máximo de 5 minutes de duração;
o documento de concept design (em formato .pdf, sem limite de páginas);
os currículos dos membros do equipa.”

As categorias:
Categoria principal:
o Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor jogo

Categorias Secundárias
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Jogo mais inovador;
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor Arte;
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor Utilização das Plataformas PlayStation;
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor Jogo Infantil;
Prémio PlayStation Talents da Imprensa;
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor Jogo de Competição Online;
Prémio PlayStation Talents para Melhor Narrativa;

Categorias Especiais
Prémio PlayStation Talents Especial Games for Good: em parceria com o evento Games for Good organizado pela Universidade Europeia”

Dos prémios de 2023 consta:
“Na categoria principal, o projeto vencedor do Prémio PlayStation” para Melhor Jogo de 2022 em Portugal irá receber apoio económico para o desenvolvimento e publicado do jogo por parte do PlayStation® Ibéria através de:
10.000€ em dinheiro para o desenvolvimento do videojogo,
A publicação do jogo no PlayStation Network,
Acesso a ferramentas de desenvolvimento PlayStation,
Uma campanha de promoção e marketing em canais PlayStation”, avaliada em 50.000€.
Espaço físico em Lisboa para trabalhar no projeto durante 10 meses.

O calendário consta:
“O prazo para envio de candidaturas termine no dia 10 de setembro as 23h59. Durante o més de outubro serão anunciados os projetos finalistas. Os vencedores serão anunciados no inicio do próximo ano.”

+infos(oficial): http://premiosplaystation.com/

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Ofertas de trabalho (em agosto)

Procura-se um Material Artist (Gaia/Portugal), em que:


Collaborate with art leadership and teams to establish, organize, and maintain our material library across all game content. You will be creating high-quality, physically-based materials to establish visual targets and support art efforts in our projects.

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um 3D Game Artist- Casual/Hypercasual (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

What You’ll Be Doing
Create environment and 3D art assets for games.
Optimize models for real-time rendering in Unity 3D
Provide reference art for game design and UI.
Design UI/UX elements
Contribute to developing in-game tools.
Manage and integrate assets into versioned repositories.
Seek feedback and collaborate for high-quality outcomes.

What We’re Looking For
Previous Unity experience.
At least 3 years of professional mobile game art experience (2D and 3D).
Proficiency in UI/UX design, Photoshop, Unity, and Blender (or other 3D software).
Familiarity with repository management, asset optimization, and pipeline creation.
Good English communication skills.
Ability to integrate art into Unity projects for testing.

You might also have
Experience in HybridCasual games
Familiarity with version control (GitHub).

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Lead Environment Artist (Gaia/Portugal), em que:


Responsibilities will include:
Lead a team of internal and external Environment artists
Collaborate with the Art Director, game designers, engineers and producers to balance creative vision with production realities and ensure artistic goals are met within technical performance targets
Sculpt/model UV & texture meshes in a PBR pipeline
Verify the quality of objects in the game, and make improvements where necessary to fit technical constraints and artistic direction
Be an active mentor and role model for the art team. Work to maintain morale and create an atmosphere of creativity and enthusiasm.
Be directly responsible for delivering art assets with top notch quality from team

The ideal candidate will have:
Experience in Autodesk 3D Studio Max (modeling and texturing tools);
Senior games industry experience with industry 3D packages
Experience working on published AAA games
Expert knowledge of Maya, 3DSMax, ZBrush and Substance Painter
Excellent knowledge of Art production on AAA games (PBR, Shader and optimization)
Strong portfolio showing 3D art and composition skills, demonstrating a high level of artistic creativity
Showing pro-activity and interacting with other colleges and departments to solve problems and improve workflow/pipelines
Expert knowledge of 3D pipelines and asset management
Familiarity with game development cycle and engines
Great understanding of architecture and urbanism
Good organization and time management skills

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Material Artist (Gaia/Portugal), em que:


Responsibilities will include:
Collaborates with art leadership and art teams to establish, organize and maintain our material library across all game content.
Creates high quality physically based materials using Substance Designer/Painter to establish visual targets and support art efforts across all game content.
Establishes organized material workflows in Substance Designer/ Painter. Collaborates in implementing and maintaining material pipelines.
Collaborates with other artists to build and integrate assets into visually consistent, high quality, and optimized environment art.
Anticipates and identifies production challenges to leads and Technical Directors.
Researches new tools and techniques to create more efficient and visually appealing environments.
Works with technical artist to develop advanced shader and material sets
Creates environment assets and scenes while considering hardware and design limitations and overall art vision of the project
Creates documentation supporting techniques and process and encourages the sharing of knowledge and ideas
Mentors less experienced members of the team

The ideal candidate will have:
Minimum of 5 years of experience in AAA game development or credit on at least one AAA title as material artist.
Expert skills in Substance Designer/Painter
Solid understanding of PBR rendering and the interaction between materials and lighting
Portfolio demonstrating a wide variety of tiled and one-to-one materials created using both procedural and 3d sculpted techniques and showing attention to detail, plausibility and an aesthetic eye
Prior knowledge and experience crafting 3D environment assets and scenes demonstrating:
Solid understanding of color theory and experience creating balanced color palettes with strong appeal
Good sense of form, volume, structure, and silhouette
Strong understanding of composition and balance
Solid understanding of efficient low poly mesh techniques
Strong UV layout techniques
Understanding of Texel density, memory limitations, etc.
Ability to follow concept/reference and ability to work with wide range of styles with minimal concept and direction.
Experience with high poly sculpting and modeling software such as Z-Brush & Maya
Experience with 2D image creation software such as Photoshop, Painter, 3D coat, etc.
Experience with world editors and level construction software
Excellent communication/collaboration skills.
Able to manage and organize work in order to meet deadlines.
Fluid and eager problem solve

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um HR DIRECTOR (Gaia/Portugal), em que:



+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

What will you be doing at Miniclip?
Design and craft mission gameplay experiences and game features that deliver strong player engagement, retention, and monetization.
Take ownership of mission gameplay design and implementation, collaborating cross discipline to create new and exciting scenarios and moment-to-moment gameplay.
Participate as a key member of the product team across the product life-cycle, working on games in production, and live titles, owning and creating high-impact gameplay content updates for our existing portfolio of games.
Plan and execute mission designs within Unity using our proprietary tools and editors, from inception to finished product.
Review and iterate gameplay designs and mission implementation both during production and post release, incorporating feedback from key stakeholders and directing mission changes to balance game content based on analytics data.
Help identify and deconstruct new markets and opportunities, expanding the portfolio of the company and staying in the cutting edge of the mobile gaming industry.

What are we looking for?
4+ years’ experience of level and gameplay design for action/shooter titles, preferably on mobile.
An excellent knowledge and understanding of level and gameplay design.
Experience across the product life-cycle, from prototyping, through production, to updating a live free-to-play game.
Strong knowledge of the mobile & social game space, with exceptional understanding of current design techniques to deliver excellent engagement, retention, and monetisation.
Understanding of and experience with reviewing game analytics, developing insights based on data to make better informed design decisions.
Strong grasp of mobile user-experience design, and ability to consider & empathise with many different types of players.
Creative problem solver, with proven ability to create compelling gameplay.
Relentlessly self-critical always sees the pros and cons of each approach, and works tirelessly to improve design solutions. Prolific with high quality, well-thought-through proposals. ”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Principal Game Designer (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

About The Role
Drive the product vision for a new game concept from ideation and prototyping through production and launch.
Help build, lead, and nurture the growth of a team of talented Product Managers and Game Designers.
Share learnings with the broader product team and contribute to the overall development of our product strategy and portfolio of games.

What You’ll Achieve
You will identify an opportunity space and work with product leadership to build a game concept that clearly articulates how we can win in this space.
You will lead the prototyping efforts to prove out the concept and find its best expression by:
Carrying the product vision and defining the game design pillars that guide the team’s major decisions
Driving discussions and maintaining alignment on the team as you navigate through complex and ambiguous design spaces
Ultimately architecting a set of systems that meet your prototyping goals and give us strong conviction in the commercial viability of the game
You will have helped build and mentor a highly effective and engaged product team who push themselves and one another to their fullest potential.
You will become an expert in the opportunity spaces, genres, and game mechanics you explore during prototyping and share your learnings with the broader product team to advance our collective knowledge.
You will develop an independent design philosophy that upholds the key tenets of Fortis’ approach to products while adding your own unique approach to thinking about emerging patterns in service design.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful
A holistic view of game systems and the downstream effects of all design decisions throughout both the product and player lifecycle.
A firm understanding of fundamental design principles, metagame systems, game economies, and player psychology that allows you to design from first principles.
Ability to communicate your creative vision in a way that inspires and motivates teams.
Ability to articulate the nuances of abstract concepts and how they apply to complex, interrelated systems.
Ability to synthesize feedback from team members, user playtests, and other validation efforts into product insights and rapidly iterate on designs.
A razor-sharp focus on what matters and the discipline to ruthlessly prioritize against it.
Extensive knowledge of games as a service and live operations – you know what good looks like and can build efficient design processes, workflows, and tooling to enable it.
Enthusiasm for directing, mentoring, and otherwise elevating the people around you to do their best work.
A natural curiosity and eagerness to learn – we believe this is essential to our ability to stay ahead of the market and value this over years of experience. ”
+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer, Combat (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

Mission
Create and improve systems in order to make a cohesive, seamless, real-time combat experience. Through these, create a set of well balanced, exciting characters that form the foundation of a strategically exciting game. Release engaging content inside architected systems at a steady rate, for a wide variety of players. Become a strong, foundational designer who governs from first principles.

Outcomes
Create a combat experience that feels well balanced, cohesive and supports the broader gameplay
Develop a strong methodology for creating balanced combat systems using hypotheses and testing
Create design documents to articulate the most important pillars and aspects of the gameplay experience, class creation and cohesive combat
Consider and evaluate data from gameplay in meaningful ways in order to improve the combat experience
Develop a strong understanding of the interrelationships between different buckets of content & systems, and articulate clearly to other members of the design team
Maintain a rigid schedule for combat quality and accessibility improvements
Analyze and adjust content quality and depth to avoid depreciating returns in design
Understand and incrementally improve internal content generation systems for all types of model data
Provide proposals and improvements for combat systems, broader design and live ops roadmap with content consumption in mind.
Create design overviews to articulate improvements in design thought, through incremental improvements of these documents via feedback
Help the design team in sounding out the fundamentals of new systems & new games

Competencies
Synchronous combat design experience
Working knowledge of Unity
Experience in balancing numerically using spreadsheets
Keen interest in games as a service and their workings
Understanding of the systems that drive progression in MMOs/RPGs”
+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

Procura-se um 3D Artist (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

What You’ll Be Doing
Create environment and 3D art assets for games.
Optimize models for real-time rendering in Unity 3D
Provide reference art for game design and UI.
Design UI/UX elements
Contribute to developing in-game tools.
Manage and integrate assets into versioned repositories.
Seek feedback and collaborate for high-quality outcomes.

What We’re Looking For
Previous Unity experience.
At least 3 years of professional mobile game art experience (2D and 3D).
Proficiency in UI/UX design, Photoshop, Unity, and Blender (or other 3D software).
Familiarity with repository management, asset optimization, and pipeline creation.
Good English communication skills.
Ability to integrate art into Unity projects for testing.

You might also have
Experience in HybridCasual games
Familiarity with version control (GitHub).”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Game Designer (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

Responsibilities:
Collaborative game design: Work closely with the Head of Game Design and cross-functional teams, including artists, developers, and managers, to conceptualize and implement game designs that align with the overall creative vision and project goals;
Game mechanics and systems: Design and iterate on game mechanics and systems that offer engaging and enjoyable player experiences, while also contributing to the overall game balance;
Storytelling and narrative: Contribute to the creation of compelling narratives and game worlds that immerse players in captivating storytelling experiences. Develop characters, quests, and lore that resonate with our player community;
Level and environment design: Collaborate on designing and structuring game levels, environments, and puzzles, ensuring a seamless and balanced gameplay flow;
Game balancing and tuning: Analyze gameplay data and player feedback to fine-tune and balance game systems, ensuring fair and enjoyable experiences for players of all skill levels;
User Experience (UX) design: Collaborate with UX/UI designer to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience by refining UI/UX elements and interfaces;
Collaboration: Foster a collaborative and innovative work environment that encourages creativity and growth;
Market and competitor research: Stay up-to-date with gaming industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitor games, leveraging this knowledge to inform the design and development process.

Requirements:
Proven track record: At least 3-5 years of experience as a Game Designer, with a strong portfolio showcasing successful projects and a demonstrable ability to design engaging gameplay experiences;
Extensive game design knowledge: Deep understanding of game design principles, mechanics, and player psychology. Proficiency in various game design tools and software;
Creativity and innovation: A natural flair for creative thinking and the ability to generate innovative ideas that push the boundaries of gaming;
Strong communication skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of conveying complex ideas and design concepts effectively;
Team player: Proven ability to work collaboratively in a team-oriented environment, with a positive attitude and a willingness to receive and provide constructive feedback;
Passion for gaming: A genuine love for video games and a desire to create exceptional gaming experiences that resonate with players worldwide;
Adaptability and problem-solving: Ability to adapt to evolving project requirements and solve design challenges effectively;
Educational background: A degree in Game Design, Game Development, Computer Science, or a related field is preferred, but relevant work experience will also be considered.”
+infos(oficial): https://infinitygames.io/

 

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BoardGame: Halls Of Hegra

 


“From an abandoned fortress you command a group of Norwegian volunteers fighting numerically superior German forces at the start of WW2.”

mais um jogo de tabuleiro com um tema interessante, relacionado com a WW2 mas desta vez com um cenário de resistência. Infelizmente o preço é algo proibitivo neste momento pois os 47,55€ dão para ver outros coisas e que são jogos solitários.

+infos(bgg): https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/336131/halls-hegra

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Humble Book Bundle (campanha)

Humble Book Bundle: Game Design and PuzzleCraft 2023

Mais uma campanha por parte da malta da Humble Bundle, desta vez vários livros para aprender a desenvolver jogos de tabuleiro e puzzles
“A gamesmith & puzzlecraft masterclass
Hone your board game and puzzle design acumen with this ebook bundle packed with wisdom from the minds behind some of the world’s most revered games! Puzzlecraft will provide you a profound understanding of this fascinating discipline, along with step-by-step instructions to create your own conundrums. In Think Like a Game Designer, you’ll get expert guidance on the steps required to turn your passion into a viable career. With Mindspaces, you’ll dive into a handcrafted collection of crossword puzzles designed as therapeutic exercises, along with a series of essays to draw out your creativity.”

da lista consta:
Think Like a Game Designer
Dealer’s Choice
Game Theory in the Age of Chaos
Letters to Margaret
The Edible Games Cookbook
Puzzlecraft DLC
Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design
Meeples Together
Boardgames That Tell Stories 2
How to Run a Puzzle Hunt
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design DLC
Hamlet’s Hit Points
Letters to Margaret: You Can’t Make Up This Stuf
The Bones: Us and Our Dice
Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
Puzzlecraft
Boardgames That Tell Stories 1
Intro to GMPuzzles
Mindspaces
Lords of Vegas: How It’s Made and How It’s Played
Things We Think About Games
Puzzlecraft Workbook
Mindspaces Physical Pre-Order Bonus

+infos(oficial): LINK

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Campanha ou não da Polygon

 

três packs interessantes se for para um cenário 3D, a pensar mais à frente, mas fica a referência:
POLYGON – Fantasy Kingdom Pack, 189,95 euros
Simples Fantasy – Cartoon Assets, 81,95 euros
POLYGON – War Pack, 54,95 euros

(estranho que a sale seja apenas em dólares)

+infos(oficial): https://syntystore.com/

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Ofertas de trabalho (em julho)

Procura-se um Game Artist Intern (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

About The Position
As a Game Artist Intern, you will play a key role in creating art for our new projects and our existing games. You will work closely with other artists, designers and programmers to create assets for our existing games and art styles as well as be part of building new projects. You will get the opportunity to work on our own established IPs as well as working with some of the biggest brand clients worldwide.

Life at The Gang – Fun, playful, fearless and always going forward!
We strive to deliver awesome digital experiences and have fun while doing it, always learning and moving forward. Working at The Gang you will have a lot of ownership over your tasks and be empowered to test your ideas and grow in a playful and supportive group.

Starting date: Depends on your internship period.

Reporting to: Art Managers

Location: Working 100% remote from home, with the option for hybrid/in-office work at our Lisbon office. Discord and Slack are your best friends.

Work time: Full time, company time zone CET
Responsibilities
Create assets like environments, props, VFX, animations etc. from scratch from initial design to final in-engine implementation
Learn how to optimize your assets and creations for streaming-based games
Build and create new experiences together with your team that will be played by a broad audience
Participate in problem solving and verifying the quality of your work together with your team and manager
Plan your daily tasks together with your team and manager
Have a role in a highly collaborative group with room to diversify your skills
Communicate and collaborate within a cross-functional team
Work closely with other 3D artists and follow provided directives and artwork

To be successful in this position
You are a self-driven versatile artist and a good team player
You are able to analyze and follow established art direction, create optimized assets from the design stage to final implementation, and convey it to others
You can create assets from scratch from initial design to final in-engine implementation in a timely manner
You communicate and collaborate clearly and effectively within a cross-functional team

Required Qualifications
1.5-2+ years of game art development school, with an internship as part of your degree programme
Demonstrable proficiency in a 3D modeling package such as Blender, Maya or Max
Knowledge of working with texturing in softwares like Photoshop and/or Substance painter
Experience working in a games engine, such as Unity or Unreal
Good understanding of technical constraints and game optimization
Proficiency working in a cartoony or stylized art style
Knowledge of working in agile and iterative workflows, like Scrum or Kanban
Fluency in English, both written and verbal

Desired Qualifications
Skills with animation, rigging or VFX
Skills creating 2D assets and UI
Previous familiarity with the Roblox platform”
+infos(oficial): https://careers.thegang.io/#section-jobs

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer, Combat – Demeter (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

Mission
Create and improve systems in order to make a cohesive, seamless, real-time combat experience. Through these, create a set of well balanced, exciting characters that form the foundation of a strategically exciting game. Release engaging content inside architected systems at a steady rate, for a wide variety of players. Become a strong, foundational designer who governs from first principles.

Outcomes
Create a combat experience that feels well balanced, cohesive and supports the broader gameplay
Develop a strong methodology for creating balanced combat systems using hypotheses and testing
Create design documents to articulate the most important pillars and aspects of the gameplay experience, class creation and cohesive combat
Consider and evaluate data from gameplay in meaningful ways in order to improve the combat experience
Develop a strong understanding of the interrelationships between different buckets of content & systems, and articulate clearly to other members of the design team
Maintain a rigid schedule for combat quality and accessibility improvements
Analyze and adjust content quality and depth to avoid depreciating returns in design
Understand and incrementally improve internal content generation systems for all types of model data
Provide proposals and improvements for combat systems, broader design and live ops roadmap with content consumption in mind.
Create design overviews to articulate improvements in design thought, through incremental improvements of these documents via feedback
Help the design team in sounding out the fundamentals of new systems & new games

Competencies
Synchronous combat design experience
Working knowledge of Unity
Experience in balancing numerically using spreadsheets
Keen interest in games as a service and their workings
Understanding of the systems that drive progression in MMOs/RPGs”
+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

Procura-se um Principal Game Designer – Demeter (trabalho remoto/Portugal), em que:

Mission
Create and improve systems in order to make a cohesive, seamless, real-time combat experience. Through these, create a set of well balanced, exciting characters that form the foundation of a strategically exciting game. Release engaging content inside architected systems at a steady rate, for a wide variety of players. Become a strong, foundational designer who governs from first principles.

Outcomes
Create a combat experience that feels well balanced, cohesive and supports the broader gameplay
Develop a strong methodology for creating balanced combat systems using hypotheses and testing
Create design documents to articulate the most important pillars and aspects of the gameplay experience, class creation and cohesive combat
Consider and evaluate data from gameplay in meaningful ways in order to improve the combat experience
Develop a strong understanding of the interrelationships between different buckets of content & systems, and articulate clearly to other members of the design team
Maintain a rigid schedule for combat quality and accessibility improvements
Analyze and adjust content quality and depth to avoid depreciating returns in design
Understand and incrementally improve internal content generation systems for all types of model data
Provide proposals and improvements for combat systems, broader design and live ops roadmap with content consumption in mind.
Create design overviews to articulate improvements in design thought, through incremental improvements of these documents via feedback
Help the design team in sounding out the fundamentals of new systems & new games

Competencies
Synchronous combat design experience
Working knowledge of Unity
Experience in balancing numerically using spreadsheets
Keen interest in games as a service and their workings
Understanding of the systems that drive progression in MMOs/RPGs”
+infos(oficial): https://careers.fortisgames.com/

Procura-se um Game Artist Intern (trabalho em Lisboa/Portugal), em que:

Required Qualifications
1.5-2+ years of game art development school, with an internship as part of your degree programme
Demonstrable proficiency in a 3D modeling package such as Blender, Maya or Max
Knowledge of working with texturing in softwares like Photoshop and/or Substance painter
Experience working in a games engine, such as Unity or Unreal
Good understanding of technical constraints and game optimization
Proficiency working in a cartoony or stylized art style
Knowledge of working in agile and iterative workflows, like Scrum or Kanban
Fluency in English, both written and verbal

Desired Qualifications
Skills with animation, rigging or VFX
Skills creating 2D assets and UI
Previous familiarity with the Roblox platform”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um UI/UX Designer (trabalho em Oeiras/Portugal), em que:
“What will you be doing at Miniclip?
Designing and implementing UI for our mobile games.
Working closely with art lead, game designers, producers, project owners, and developers to define user issues and come up with the best solutions.
Assisting in a range of artistic tasks including GUI creation, sketches, 2D illustrations for in game and marketing purposes.
Ensure the integrity of the brand with attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship.
Display knowledge of shape, colour and composition with a good general art foundation.
Adopt different graphic styles depending on the project or task.
You will also be involved in making important decisions about the overall look of the game, taking ownership for screen designs, and developing art elements that enhance player experience and engagement.

What are we looking for?
3+ years of art design using tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator or similar.
Strong skills in creating 2D graphics for UI elements, such as icons, frames and buttons.
Confident and deep knowledge of Figma.
Be driven, flexible, and comfortable in a fast-paced environment with frequently changing business needs.
Able to build relationships and establish trust, respect, competence and confidence effectively and quickly.
Very pro-active and able to identify and solve problems across multiple platforms and pipelines.
Ability to work effectively with small to large teams in a deadline-driven environment.
Problem solving attitude.
Keen attention to detail whilst maintaining the ability to meet deadlines.
Fluent in English.

Big plus
Passion for entertainment and mobile games is a big plus.
Bonus if you can thumbnail and conceptualize ideas quickly.
Bonus if you have good knowledge of After Effects, 3D software and Unity”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Senior Game Designer (trabalho em Oeiras/Portugal), em que:

What are we looking for?
4+ years’ experience of level and gameplay design for action/shooter titles, preferably on mobile.
An excellent knowledge and understanding of level and gameplay design.
Experience across the product life-cycle, from prototyping, through production, to updating a live free-to-play game.
Strong knowledge of the mobile & social game space, with exceptional understanding of current design techniques to deliver excellent engagement, retention, and monetisation.
Understanding of and experience with reviewing game analytics, developing insights based on data to make better informed design decisions.
Strong grasp of mobile user-experience design, and ability to consider & empathise with many different types of players.
Creative problem solver, with proven ability to create compelling gameplay.
Relentlessly self-critical always sees the pros and cons of each approach, and works tirelessly to improve design solutions. Prolific with high quality, well-thought-through proposals.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Lead Mobile Game Designer (trabalho remoto em Almada/Portugal), em que:

A Kwalee procura alguém com:
What Does The Job Actually Involve?
Planning, managing and overseeing of hybridcasual game projects
Motivate, inspire and mentor a small team of designers, encouraging a culture of constant learning
Support your team members on solving complex design, technical and implementation issues
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Your Hard Skills
Track record of working either on successful hybridcasual games or alternatively has worked on both casual and hypercasual games
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Experience managing a team
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.

We don’t like egos or arrogance and we love playing games and celebrating success together. If that sounds like you, then please apply.”
+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um 2D Game Artist (trabalho remoto em Portugal), em que:

A Libretrend procura alguém com:
Responsabilidades:
Criar designs de personagens atraentes e visualmente distintos para os nossos jogos.
Criar animações suaves e cativantes para os personagens, incluindo movimento, ataques e expressões faciais.
Produzir artes conceituais detalhadas para ambientes, objetos e cenários, ajudando a estabelecer a identidade visual única dos nossos jogos.
Colaborar estreitamente com a equipa de desenvolvimento para garantir a integração perfeita dos ativos de arte no jogo.
Participar nas discussões criativas e contribuir com ideias inovadoras para aprimorar o design visual e a narrativa dos jogos.

Requisitos:
Experiência comprovada em design de jogos 2D, incluindo criação de personagens, animações e arte conceitual.
Domínio de ferramentas de design, como 2DToolkit, Unity, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, ou software equivalente.
Capacidade de criar arte original em diferentes estilos e adaptar-se a diretrizes de estilo existentes.
Forte compreensão de princípios de design, cores e composição.
Excelente habilidade de comunicação e capacidade de trabalhar de forma colaborativa com uma equipa remota.
Portfólio online que demonstre habilidades em design de personagens, animações e arte conceitual.

Benefícios:
Oportunidade de fazer parte do lançamento de uma nova linha de jogos 2D de uma empresa reconhecida por sua inovação e sucesso em outros setores.
Flexibilidade de horário e ambiente de trabalho remoto.
Remuneração competitiva com base na experiência e no desempenho.
Oportunidades de crescimento e desenvolvimento profissional contínuo.
Trabalhar com uma equipa talentosa, dedicada e com uma cultura inclusiva e diversificada.

Se é um(a) artista apaixonado(a) por jogos 2D e está animado(a) para embarcar nessa nova aventura conosco, envie seu currículo, portfólio dando destaque às habilidades relevantes e experiência posteriores.”
+infos(rede social): LINK

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Vencedores dos Prémios Playstation talents – 8ª edição

Os vencedores da Playstation talents – 8ª edição, referente a 2022m foram:
Melhor Jogo de 2022    
Have We met? (Maria Beatriz Barreiro)

Jogo mais Inovador
Cogito Ergo Sum (Miguel Soromenho Pereira)

Melhor Arte
Grandma’s Recipes (Butter Games Studio)

Melhor Utilização das Plataformas PlayStation
Diana’s Lyre (ExplodeToad Studio)

Melhor Jogo Infantil
Grandma’s Recipes (Butter Games Studio)

Prémio Imprensa
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio)

Melhor Narrativa
Have We met? (Maria Beatriz Barreiro)

Prémio PlayStation Talents Especial Games for Good
Lousã (Rio Studios)

A cerimónia:

Para registo, a lista dos vários finalistas foram:
Melhor Jogo de 2022
Have We met? (Maria Beatriz Barreiro);
Juunishi Zodiacs (Joana Aleixo);
Lousã (Rio Studios);
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio);

Jogo mais Inovador
Cogito Ergo Sum (Miguel Soromenho Pereira);
Lousã (Rio Studios);
Diana’s Lyre (ExplodeToad Studio);
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio);

Melhor Arte
Grandma’s Recipes (Butter Games Studio);
Entrudo (Twinkle Frog);
Juunishi Zodiacs (Joana Aleixo);
Bracara Augusta: Shadow of the Past (Marema Studios);

Melhor Utilização das Plataformas PlayStation
Diana’s Lyre (ExplodeToad Studio);
Cogito Ergo Sum (Miguel Soromenho Pereira);
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio);
Bracara Augusta: Shadow of the Past (Marema Studios);

Melhor Jogo Infantil
Grandma’s Recipes (Butter Games Studio);
Entrudo (Twinkle Frog);
Diana’s Lyre (ExplodeToad Studio);
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio);

Prémio Imprensa
Kapukuri (Ghostly Cats Studio);
Mind your Mind (MoonX Studio);
Lousã (Rio Studios);
Bracara Augusta: Shadow of the Past (Marema Studios);

Melhor Narrativa
Have We met? (Maria Beatriz Barreiro);
Diana’s Lyre (ExplodeToad Studio);
Juunishi Zodiacs (Joana Aleixo);
Cadaval: From Grape to Wine (Bino Studios);

Prémio PlayStation Talents Especial Games for Good
Lousã (Rio Studios);
Entrudo (Twinkle Frog);
Cadaval: From Grape to Wine (Bino Studios);
Grandma’s Recipes (Butter Games Studio);

+infos(oficial): http://premiosplaystation.com/

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Ofertas de trabalho (em junho)

Procura-se um Physics Engineer (em Vila Nova de Gaia), em que:

A Saber Porto procura alguém com:
Responsibilities Will Include:
Partner with your team lead to discuss project needs and ideas + assess technical feasibility.
Work closely with AI, gameplay, and engine teams to transform a vision into accurate and authentic simulation experiences.
Explore opportunities to push the capabilities of our physics engine to its fullest potential.
Develop new and maintain existing physics features; writing, reviewing, and rewriting high-performance code.
Collaborate with technical directors to discuss memory budgets and system limitations.
Support artists and programmers in resolving complex problems, debugging, optimizing CPU and memory usage, etc.
Be the owner of the physics library, keeping it up to date and organized.
Document and share your physics programming knowledge + recommend our best practices.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have:
An undergraduate degree in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent
At least 1-3 years of programming experience (physics, gameplay, AI, or engine an asset) or related experience *
Proficiency in C/C++ & advanced mathematical and analytical capabilities
Resourcefulness (you may not always have the answers, but you know where to find them)
A collaborative and innovative spirit
Experience with physics middleware (Havok and PhysX an asset)
Solid communication and interpersonal skills (you’re comfortable talking to content creators and code-owners alike)
An investigative approach to problem solving – you’re not one to just scratch the surface; you care to get to the root cause of issues and come up with long-term solutions to resolve them

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Worskshop Leader de Desenvolvimento de Jogos (em Coimbra), em que:

Tendo por base o modelo pedagógico estabelecido, os Workshop Leaders de Desenvolvimento de Jogos trabalharão diretamente com os alunos do Centro TUMO Coimbra para:
Desenvolver workshops de Criação de Jogos a partir dos materiais TUMO conjugados com a respetiva experiência e criatividade;
Avaliar os trabalhos dos alunos no final de cada workshop;
Avaliar as atividades de self-learning semanalmente;
Orientar os alunos, dando-lhes feedback construtivo para a sua evolução;
Promover a aprendizagem de uma forma colaborativa e proativa.

QUALIFICAÇÕES E PERFIL:
Estamos à procura de pessoas inspiradoras, criativas, “tech savvy” e sobretudo entusiasmadas pelo sector da Educação, que queiram fazer parte de um projeto desafiante, inovador e com grande impacto nos nossos jovens. Estas são as qualificações, competências e perfil específico que procuramos:
Licenciatura e pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento de Jogos ou 3 ou mais anos de experiência de trabalho semelhante/na área;
Domínio do programa Unity e C# (fator eliminatório);
Fluência em inglês e português, escrito e falado (fator eliminatório);
Excelentes competências pessoais e de relacionamento;
Experiência em educação e de trabalho com jovens (plus);
Postura responsável e confiável, tanto no trabalho autónomo como em equipa;
Disponibilidade para trabalhar presencialmente num ambiente jovem, de ritmo acelerado e multidisciplinar;
Disponibilidade para trabalhar em Coimbra depois de fazer formação em Erevan, Arménia.

CONDIÇÕES:
Regime de Trabalho: Presencial
Local de Trabalho: Coimbra – Centro TUMO Coimbra
A contratação será feita em regime de prestação de serviços, com um valor acordado por cada grupo de alunos que seja acompanhado por cada workshop leader (que se estima que seja entre 2 a 3)
Horário: A equipa de workshop leaders trabalhará em regime de turnos, com o horário a ser indicado pela gestão do centro atempadamente
Data de Início: 4 de Setembro de 2023
Durante o primeiro mês, o centro não está ainda em funcionamento, mas é necessário realizar trabalho preparatório e ter disponibilidade para participar numa formação em Erevan, na Arménia, antes de iniciar o trabalho em Coimbra em Outubro.

+infos(oficial): LINK

Procura-se um Lead Mobile Game Designer (em Almada), em que:

What Does The Job Actually Involve?

Planning, managing and overseeing of hybridcasual game projects
Motivate, inspire and mentor a small team of designers, encouraging a culture of constant learning
Support your team members on solving complex design, technical and implementation issues
Evolving and adapting game designs based on play testing, feedback and live metrics.
Driving long term player engagement by understanding mobile players needs and motivations.

Your Hard Skills
Track record of working either on successful hybridcasual games or alternatively has worked on both casual and hypercasual games
Knowledge of mobile free-to-play game monetisation techniques.
Ability to work creatively in a demanding team environment.
Experience managing a team
Strong creative ideas and imagination, able to entertain players with challenges, humour, surprises and fun.

Your Soft Skills
Kwalee has grown fast in recent years but we’re very much a family of colleagues. We welcome people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances, and all we ask is that you collaborate, work hard, ask questions and have fun with your team and colleagues.
We don’t like egos or arrogance and we love playing games and celebrating success together. If that sounds like you, then please apply.

+infos(oficial): https://www.kwalee.com/jobvite

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“Papers, Please”, um videojogo

Estive a rever um texto que falava sobre o videojogo . Não conhecia.
Trata-se de um videojogo indie “simples” com uma narrativa relacionada com a “condução” de um funcionário de uma fronteira que tem que tomar decisões sobre aqueles que podem ou não entrar no país. Para além desta situação ele também tem que lidar com o seu dia a dia familiar.

+infos(oficial): https://papersplea.se/

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Humble Software Bundle (campanhas)

Humble Software Bundle: Massive RGP Game Development Assets

Mais uma campanha por parte da malta da Humble bundle, desta vez vários cursos para aprender a trabalhar com o Godot v4 e v3
“Master Godot—the lightweight, fast, and free game engine behind hits like Sonic Colors: Ultimate. Whether you want to use the brand new version 4 or the battle-tested version 3, these courses will get you building platformers, RPGs, first-person shooters, city-builders, strategy games, and more—no prior experience required!”

da lista consta:
Create a 2D Platformer with Godot 4
Develop a 3D Platformer with Godot 4
Build a Micro Turn-Based RPG with Godot 4
Real-Time Strategy Game with Godot 4
Intro to Game Design
Level Design for Beginners
Intro to Rigging Models in Blender
Intro to 3D Modeling with Blender
Intro to Pixel Art with Photoshop
Build a First-Person Shooter with Godot 3
Construct a Strategy Game with Godot 3
Create a 2D RPG with Godot 3
Develop a 3D Action RPG with Godot 3
Godot 3 Game Development for Beginners
Godot 4 Mini-Projects
Intro to Godot 4 Game Development

+infos(oficial): LINK

 

Humble Software Bundle: Massive RGP Game Development Assets

Mais uma campanha por parte da malta da Humble bundle, desta vez vários cursos para aprender a desenvolver jogo no unity do género RPG
“Train yourself to develop your own role-playing sagas with these courses from GameDev.tv! Discover how to design and code core systems for combat, dialogue, quests, and other RPG essentials using Unity. Learn how to make art using Blender by creating your own awe-inspiring dragon. Plus, get packs of assets to help you put together your own open worlds.”

da lista consta:
Unity RPG Core Combat Creator Course
Unity RPG Dialogue & Quests Course
Unity RPG Shops & Abilities Course
Unity RPG Inventory Course
Unity 3rd Person Combat Course
Ultimate RPG Environments – Mountainscapes
Ultimate RPG Environments – Sprawling Valleys
2D RPG Template Starter Kit
RPG Music Pack
Open World Terrain Pack
Create A Dragon in Blender Course
Blender to Unity Mini Course

+infos(oficial): LINK

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Games Now (na Finlândia)

Encontrei num desses tantos posts numa dessas redes sociais este grupo Games Now que está situado na Finlândia, e ligado à Aalto Universitys, e que tem por missão reunir alguma da malta que anda por lá a desenvolver videojogos e que vem contar a sua experiência.
“Games Now! is an open lecture series on the dominant topics and emerging trends in games. In GN! we dig deeper to what is current at the game scene – and what will happen in the near future.”

+infos(oficial): https://gamesnow.aalto.fi/

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