Design Internship.

What is Gameplay Design?

Gameplay Design is all about crafting the central elements of gameplay with an emphasis on feel, mechanics, pacing and difficulty. It’s more than just creating mechanics or weapons that are interesting individually. Gameplay Designers work cross-discipline with Level, Technical, Combat and Narrative teams to ensure that the features they create fit harmoniously within the wider player experience. At heart, Gameplay Designers have a passion for collaboration and ingenuity, unafraid to think outside the box and work with other disciplines to create an unforgettable player experience.

As a gameplay designer, you understand the core principles of a solid moment-to-moment experience. Whether it’s punchy combat, sleek traversal, or unique ability sets, you’re passionate about dissecting these elements and figuring out what makes them tick.

As a Gameplay intern, you will join our team of experienced designers, creating exciting new experiences for the PlayStation platform. You will get first-hand experience working on a AAA game and insight into Gameplay design and how it brings a game to life. We expect you to learn and grow as you embark on your internship. This role would be a solid first step toward building an understanding of game development and being part of a studio.

What you’ll be doing:

• Participating in the design of an exciting new AAA game, throughout the development cycle.
• Assisting Gameplay in creating paper designs for encounters, combat and missions.
• Using engines to prototype or implement new features or update existing ones.
• Working alongside and learn from our experienced team of level, narrative, UI/UX, and technical designers.
• Collaborating with cross-studio teams.

What you’ll learn:

• Foundations of Gameplay design
• How feature development works
• How to aid and make an impact on the game’s design process
• How to pitch your design ideas within a professional setting

We’re searching for a driven, team-spirited individual who is eager to learn and make meaningful contributions to our projects and culture. We are always looking for new perspectives, and candidates from all walks of life are welcome. Our Design intern will primarily work with our Gameplay departments, so it’s vital that applicants have an interest in combat, mission or hero design.

What we’re looking for:

• Passionate – You have a passion for games and how they’re made
• Curious – You’re always looking for new things to learn
• Proactive – You take pride in your work and aren’t afraid to ask questions
• Adaptability – You’re eager to learn new information/skills
• Positive team contributor – You’re able to work & communicate in a team environment

What are added bonuses in an intern:

• Basic understanding of game design elements, specifically, those related to moment-to-moment gameplay (weapons, abilities, traversal, etc.)
• Awareness of game engines like Unreal 4 and/or Unity.
• Can identify what makes a game experience fun or frustrating for players.
• Interest or some experience with game design.

What you need to prepare for the application:

• You will need to submit a CV
• You will need to submit at least one creative piece. This could be paper design for a cool feature, a pitch deck for a game concept, a playable demo – anything that demonstrates your ability to show off your game design skills. No need to submit a full portfolio, but if you have one feel free!
• Alongside your application, we need you to answer 3 short questions. You will find them when you click “Apply now”. We are happy for you to decide how you might like to submit your responses! We would suggest submitting a word document with your answers to the document in the upload section. If you would like to create a video, you can upload it onto YouTube and make it private or upload it via Google Drive.

Then submit the link on the application. Please timestamp where you start to answer the next question.

“I would apply again if I could! I came in knowing absolutely 0 about game dev and 6 months in I’ve already learned so much. I’ve enjoyed every day, there is so much support, care and fun showered on you that you can’t not want to push yourself and see what you can do.”

Laura Rakhman Kidd – Design intern