EA and Visceral Games Working on an Open World Star Wars RPG

By way of a job posting for a Senior Game Designer, we learn that EA and Visceral Games are actively recruiting a team to develop an open world RPG (or at least a class-based, progression-heavy title) based within the ever-popular Star Wars franchise. There’s no indication that the game will be related to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series in any way, but I think it’s safe to say that we’ll be scouring the web for any information on this one in the coming weeks and months:

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD:

BRING YOUR SYSTEM GAME DESIGN SKILLS AND SAVVY AND YOUR LOVE OF STAR WARS TO VISCERAL GAMES, EMBRACING AND CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROJECT VISION IN AREAS OF HERO CONTROL/MECHANICS, AI BEHAVIORS, COMBAT/WEAPONS, CLASS DESIGN, SKILLS/PROGRESSION, ENEMY DESIGN, STORY AND BOSS ENCOUNTERS.

What you will do:

• Partner with Visceral design leadership, design team, artists, code, audio, and animation to deliver design systems that capture the creative vision of the game.
• Research subject matter relating to the design objective to ensure the authenticity of the experience.
• Own design systems from conception to the final stages of polish, facilitating communication and coordinating departments to ensure the vision is clearly understood.
• Be a positive influence on the entire team and as a designer, evangelize the ultimate promise to deliver (fun).
• Proactively seek out opportunities to identify and deal with issues before they arise.
• Constantly self-critique and accept outside critique. The more feedback you receive, the more you can tailor your work towards what is best for the game.
• Demonstrate a willingness to keep an open mind to coworker’s ideas, incorporating suggestions when applicable.
• Participate in the research and development of new tools and design systems.
• Contribute to establishing and enforcing consistent design practices, constraints, and metrics throughout projects.
• Mentor other designers and lead by example.

Who you are:

• You have solid experience in the games industry working as a systems designer, shipping at least two titles.
• Experience working on 3rd person action/adventure games, demonstrating major contributions in the areas of hero control schemes, enemy design, navigation mechanics, and combat.
• Experience working with a game engine and using scripting tools to assemble heroes, enemies, AI, and interactive objects by collecting and implementing animations, models, audio, and effects into one complete system.
• Extensive understanding of the systems design process including motion models, weapons tuning and feel, enemy concept and design, tools/upgrades, economy, balance, testing, etc.
• Experience in rapid prototyping to test feasibility of concepts.
• Ability to pitch design concepts in a clear, detailed manner, through strong written and verbal skills.
• A team-player who understands the importance of collaboration, and can communicate effectively with all disciplines and departments.

Thanks, GeekNation.