AI Gameplay Programmer

The Position

As an AI Gameplay Programmer, you will work side by side with designers, animators and gameplay programmers to realize complex and realistic animal AI behavior. Take part in designing and implementing their behavior by using and extending existing tools as well as implementing game systems related to pathfinding, decision-making, group movement and locomotion. This role will require you to take high-level design ideas and translate them into practical solutions.

It is expected that you see your responsibility as delivering a successful end-user experience, together with your teammates, rather than just handing off technological solutions to content creators. Much of the success of well-executed animal characters is down to how successfully they are integrated with all of the systems within the game engine, e.g. physics, animation, UI, SFX, VFX etc. Previous experience and proven ability to work with multiple systems and stakeholders is a definite advantage. Finally, as with any other programming role, you will have to be able to balance functional requirements with technical requirements in the areas of performance, stability, memory usage, and interoperability.

What you'll do

• Work side by side with designers, animators and gameplay and animation programmers to realize complex and realistic animal AI behavior.

• Take part in designing and implementing animal behavior by using and extending existing tools for behaviour trees and navigation.

• Implement game systems related to spawning, pathfinding, decision-making, group movement and locomotion.

• Take high-level design ideas and translate them into practical solutions.

Who you are

• A good understanding of what makes games fun

• A passion for creating solid game AI

• At least 3 years of Industry Experience, preferably on bespoke game engines

• Work with different AI architectures and techniques e.g behavior trees and pathfinding

• Able to write readable, robust and performant code in C++ 

• Experience working with animation state machines, animation blending, IK and similar techniques

• A good understanding of all aspects of game programming in multiplayer games

• Prior experience working as a programmer on at least one shipped title on current or previous generation of consoles

• Prior experience with Havok AI / Havok Navigation is a plus

• Strong communication & verbal skills in English