Experienced Level Designer needed!

Post by **torncanvas** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:40 pm

8monkey Labs, Inc. is an independent game developer bent on counter-revolutionizing the game industry. As a breakthrough move to set itself apart from the rest of the industry, 8monkey Labs has decided to develop a next-next-gen title. One-upping the current-next-gen industry is no small feat, though. It requires a highly motivated and competent core development team to pull off this bold move. This team is expanding and now seeking a Level Designer for a permanent, full-time position that WILL still be there even after the current game is done.

Level Designer

Required skills:

-Experience working on at least 1 shipped game title
-Ability to create a compelling, emotional single player FPS game experience
-An eye for creating rich, detailed, and unique-looking environments with few resources
-Practical, real-world knowledge of what works and what doesn't in single player level flow and pacing
-Academic and practical knowledge of successful game design
-Experience using a custom level design/world building tool
-Ability to make in-game environment assets
-A passion for game development
-A laid-back attitude or a sense of humor

Recommended skills:

-Experience with content requirements for good AI navigation
-Interest in working on many different types of games
-Comfortable working in a "cabal" style small-team environment

Again, this position is for a long-term, permanent core team member.
Designer will be paid competitive salary with benefits based on industry experience.

Contact us if interested:

jobs [at] 8monkeylabs [dot] com

http://www.8monkeylabs.com

c/o HR Department
8monkey Labs, Inc.
209 N Roosevelt St.
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

319-266-3395

Post by **Hipshot** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:08 pm

I'm not seeking since I'm in the biz allready. BUT I must say, that those screens at your page, very impressive vegetation there mate!

Post by **torncanvas** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:58 pm

Thanks. We got a little help from SpeedTree, but the lighting is done completely from an HDR environment map - both on the lit side and the shaded side. We don't even have support for direct lighting right now. :P

But seriously, we could really use a good level designer. So if you know of anyone, email us via the address above and let us know.

Post by **wviperw** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:30 am

Pics are awesome, and I'm not just saying that because I know these guys.

Post by **rgoer** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:35 am

what engine is this? are you developing the engine in-house or are you lisencing a preexisting technology? nice screens btw

Post by **torncanvas** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:41 am

Thanks guys. This is our own engine, the Marmoset Engine. We use SpeedTree, PhysX, and AI.Implant. Otherwise everything else was made from scratch, including our level editor Habitat, which is pretty similar to Hammer/UnrealEd minus Hammer's complicated install process.

Post by **sock** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:06 pm

wow nice screenshots

Sock

Post by **torncanvas** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 4:58 pm

Much appreciated. Hey, I'm trying to get some Habitat screens up. Would that help at all?

Post by **obsidian** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:21 pm

Looks interesting... the modernish weapons and old west theme could be promising.

Looking over your website, there isn't much information about your company or anything else other than screenshots. Would be useful for potential applicants to learn more about your company.

Post by **torncanvas** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:37 pm

The game will have a bit more variety than that.

Thanks for the comment. Good point. This is an awesome place to work and we need to let people know that.

Post by **voodoochopstiks** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:30 pm

Nice stuff, would certaintly have applied if I didn't have an LD job already and was on the wrong side of the atlantic

.

Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:16 pm

I *must* be missing something here.

Are you *sure* this is *NEXT* nextGen, to me it doesn't look that much better than Oblivion and that's only becuase you've used speedTree for the vegitation. Remove SpeedTree and you've got something that looks like HL2 (based on the screenshots on the site), unless 'visual effects' count more towards the 'nextGen' tag than upping the polycount and texture quality?

TBH, I would have thought that given that you've got the (assumed) poly count available (more that U3?) that the buildings and world items would be more 'used' and not made from straight lines and hardedged shapes.

But meh, what do I know. :icon23: Good luck with finding someone anyway. Post this on Map Center if you haven't already (not noticed it over there yet)

Post by **torncanvas** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:34 pm

Kat, I don't think you realize that we are being sarcastic here. We think it's ridiculous how the term "next-gen" is thrown around all of the time when it doesn't even mean anything. So we have decided to use it sarcastically as a way of showing our sense of humor about the games industry. This is supposed to be fun after all, no? We hope our applicants pick up on that sense of humor.

About our graphics, you're right, we're not better than Unreal 3. But I think by the time our game comes out, we'll be pretty close to Unreal 3, Offset Engine, and CryEngine. And this is our first game! (Just like Savage was the Project: Offset guys' first game). Just imagine what we could do the next time around.

Let me make something clear. Those games are the cream of the crop games with $20 million budgets and 50-70 developers. Our game will try to compete with those games on a much, much smaller budget and maybe 10-12 developers. Plus, we're going to have a much larger variety of settings than those games (the details of that will be revealed soon). I think we're well on our way, and I hope other people see that, too.

We want the people who realize how cool it would be to be a part of that. We want people who want to be on a team that does great things with very little. Once you get that going, you get more resources much more quickly. Then you can do some really amazing things.

If you've ever read DanC's blog at Lost Garden, he talks about this business model in games much more eloquently than I.

Also, thanks for the recommendation of Map Center. I'll check it out.

Post by **Survivor** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:57 pm

It looks very nice. Just never forget to test it thoroughly before releasing it. Too many games these days rely on patches

Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:08 pm

torncanvas wrote:Kat, I don't think you realize that we are being sarcastic here...

No I didn't, I'm a bit jaded I guess having been used to all the other posts posted here (and elsewhere) using similar language. In the absense of smileys one can only assuming 'seriousness'.

With that in mind, ignore what was said above as it was said in reply to you being 'serious'.

In that light it might be worth editing or amending your intial comments so the same thing doesn't happen elsewhere you post this news, my being the odd one out here and not understanding the humor of your post will probably happen on other forums.

I'd second what obsidian said, get some company info on the website so people at least know who you are.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:15 pm

Kat wrote: my being the odd one out here and not understanding the humor of your post will probably happen on other forums.

I didn't get it either. I thought it was serious.

Post by **torncanvas** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:16 pm

All right, thanks. You have a good point - some people might see it as serious. And yeah, we should get some company info up. This is good feedback! I really appreciate your help guys.