Game Designer, Battlegrounds - Hearthstone

Team Name:

Hearthstone

Job Title:Game Designer, Battlegrounds - Hearthstone

Requisition ID:R024632

Job Description:

Pull up a chair and join us by the hearth! Blizzard is looking for an experienced Game Designer to join the Hearthstone Battlegrounds team. If you have a passion for the design and craft of card games and want to participate in the future of Hearthstone, we want to hear from you! Our team values creativity, collaboration and a commitment to quality and we are searching for experienced developers to add to our team of passionate game makers.

As a Game Designer on the Hearthstone Battlegrounds team, you’ll be responsible for creating the exciting themes and mechanics that go into our content updates. In this role, you will use your background in game design to create engaging mechanics and craft unique flavors for new Battlegrounds minions and Heroes. You will work with interdisciplinary teams to deliver players highly polished content while iterating the designs based on feedback, testing, and your own intuition.

Your player insight, analytical abilities, and creativity will help create player-focused designs that will surprise and delight millions of players all around the world. As with every design role on the Hearthstone team, you will be a champion of Blizzard's commitment to delivering world class quality.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work required to be on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities

• Execute on creative vision for Hearthstone Battleground’s future seasons
• Use your keen design and analytical sensibilities to design and develop mechanics, concepts, and flavor that encapsulates the charm of Hearthstone
• Coordinate with production on roadmap planning and tactical execution of design goals across disciplines
• Scripting and implementing heroes and minions using internal tools
• Participating in playtests and giving feedback on other designers' contributions
• Set a good example for your team to collaborate, communicate, listen and be respectful. Inspire designers through your actions, so that others may observe and be motivated to join in
• Advocate for and explain product vision and design decisions both inside and outside the battlegrounds design team

Minimum Requirements

Experience

• Minimum of 2 years of game design experience on a shipped title or ongoing live service game
• Experience working with data to inform design decisions

Knowledge and Skills

• A strong sense of what makes a gameplay experience compelling and fun, as well as the ability to articulate well why a game design decision is good or bad
• A demonstrable understanding of the how the player experience in competitive card games evolves as a consequence of the introduction of new mechanics and synergies

Key Attributes

• Outstanding self-motivation and initiative
• Demonstrated ability to work well within a highly collaborative environment
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills

• Commitment to creating a safe space for collaboration, communication, and creativity across all subject areas and departments

Extra Points

Experience

• Experience implementing game content using a programming or scripting language
• Expert/Tournament level autobattler play experience

Knowledge and Skills

• Creative writing skills
• A familiarity with statistics or analytics

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment.  We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!  Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.  You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $29.81 - $55.14 Hourly. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.