About the role

Senior Technical Combat Designer building and balancing Unreal Engine bosses, enemies, and combat systems for Side’s global game development services. Integrating animation, gameplay, VFX, and combat feel.

Responsibilities

Build and balance bosses and enemies in Unreal Engine
Own at least two combat characters or equivalent systems
Design attacks end to end, including animation hookup, hitbox timing, cancel windows, hit reactions, i-frames, and telegraphs
Increase combat variety and improve the overall combat experience through hands-on iteration and balancing
Apply animation principles around weight, timing, anticipation, and readability
Author or modify animations and integrate them into gameplay
Diagnose combat and animation issues using frame data, startup/active/recovery, hitstop, input buffering, and cancel windows
Implement combat using Unreal Blueprints, Behavior Trees, Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, montages, and animation notifies
Use Niagara to prototype combat effects and visual feedback
Collaborate with engineering, animation, VFX, and design teams to troubleshoot and iterate on gameplay

5+ years of experience designing and implementing combat for video games, including ownership of 2+ combat characters or equivalent systems
Strong understanding of animation principles and combat feel
Hands-on Unreal Engine experience with Blueprints, Behavior Trees, Animation Blueprints, and related animation systems
Experience with third-person combat, fighting games, shooters, or other combat-focused titles
Ability to author or modify animation using Maya, MotionBuilder, Blender, or similar tools
Working knowledge of combat frame data, hitstop, input buffering, cancel windows, hit reactions, and i-frames
Basic C++ knowledge and comfort using AI-assisted coding tools to support gameplay implementation
Ability to work independently, take ownership of craft, and drive problems to solutions
Candidates must be available to overlap with the CEST team's working hours