Senior Gameplay Designer

Our new game is about the mesmerizing experience of interacting with wild animals.

We're looking for a designer-programmer hybrid to help us create gameplay prototypes that feel intimate and weirdly alive. Like a grub crawling on a hand, a starfish waving its arms, or a lizard emerging from its shell filtered through an aesthetic that includes classic fairytales, Jim Henson, and Junji Ito.

This is a highly creative, hands-on role for someone who's already been building their own games, experimenting with mechanics, and chasing unusual ideas. You'll be joining a small, senior team (currently 4 people) where you'll be a core contributor to exploring and shaping the direction and feel of the game.

What you'll do here

Gameplay Prototyping

• Brainstorm new interactions between humans and animals
• Build rapid 3D gameplay prototypes
• Act as the team's champion for game feel — tuning movement controls, physics, and animal responses to feel more tactile, expressive, and alive

Creative Leadership

• Collaborate closely with programmers, animators, and artists to push prototypes toward higher fidelity
• Create art briefs and give constructive feedback to ensure visuals and gameplay reinforce each other
• Help establish strong prototyping practices and creative workflows
• Participate actively in playtests and lead iteration discussions

Mentor & Support Designers

• Review and give feedback on prototypes built by other designers
• Manage and mentor junior designers

What We're Looking For

Core Experience

• 5+ years of professional game development experience
• Strong ability to build gameplay prototypes (C++ experience preferred, or strong C# background with willingness to learn C++)
• Proven experience creating expressive, "juicy" gameplay interactions
• Experience designing 3D gameplay spaces

Creative Fit

We're especially excited about candidates who:

• Have built non-standard gameplay systems — something beyond familiar combat or genre mechanics
• Have an experimental mindset and are comfortable working in early, messy prototype phases
• See games as holistic experiences and appreciate that creating moments that really pop for players often requires an infuriating amount of inter-disciplinary collaboration to make everything in the world behave just so

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience with Unreal Engine and Blueprint scripting
• Familiarity with Blender or Maya
• An interest in science, biology, or natural systems
• Personal game projects, experimental prototypes, or indie releases

This is a fully remote role. If you're outside of US timezones we ask that your day includes at least 4 hours of overlap with the team between 9am - 6pm, PT.

If you think you'd be a good fit, please contact us.

About Giant Sparrow

Giant Sparrow is a small video game company focused on creating surreal experiences people have never had before. Our dream is to make the world a stranger, more interesting place. We're based in Los Angeles, CA.

Featured Games

What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of short stories about a cursed family in Washington State. Each story offers a chance to explore the life of a different family member and ends with their death. The goal is to create an experience that encourages players to feel humbled and astonished by the vast and unknowable world around us.

The Unfinished Swan is a game about exploring the unknown. The player is a young boy chasing after a swan who has wandered off into a surreal, unfinished kingdom. The game begins in a completely white space where players can throw paint to splatter their surroundings and reveal the world around them.