Unknown Worlds is a creatively driven, fully remote, globally distributed studio committed to bringing players new types of game experiences. We helped pioneer the early access development model and continue to develop openly with our fans and community. Since our inception in 2001 we have created the hybrid FPS/RTS Natural Selection franchise, the underwater survival hit Subnautica (6.5M+ copies sold), and our most recent release in the Subnautica universe – Subnautica: Below Zero.
Art: Contract Hard Surface Artist - Subnautica 2
We are seeking a talented and motivated hard surface artist to work with our Subnautica 2 development team.. Ideal candidates will possess expert level modeling and texturing skills and have a passion for creating vehicle and structural environment assets in a science fiction universe.
This is a remote contract position on a fully remote team.
Responsibilities
- Develop functional high-quality 3D structural assets and props from 2D concept art.
- Develop material and shader workflows and apply those to 3D assets.
- Collaborate closely across disciplines to create hard surface assets with multiple moving parts and interactive elements.
- Ensure art assets meet gameplay requirements as defined by the team.
- Work with art leadership on the project to ensure art assets adhere to aesthetic and technical requirements.
Qualifications
- Expert level hard surface modeling skills and techniques using Blender.
- Extensive experience modeling vehicles, buildings and other hard surface environment assets.
- Deep understanding of texture and material creation techniques and workflows.
- Strong portfolio showcasing a range of hard surface assets, textures and materials.
- A passion for sci-fi visual design.
- 3+ years of professional experience in an art role in the gaming industry.
- Excellent cross discipline communication and collaboration skills.
Preferences
- Previous experience working on stylized and sci-fi games.
- Experience with Unreal engine.
- Experience with Substance Painter and Designer.
- Strong traditional art skills including drawing, sculpting or painting.
We make games that are accessible and engaging for players all over the world. We believe in hiring and supporting the most talented and creative people of diverse backgrounds. That support includes annual professional development and home office stipends, as well as paid time off for volunteer/non-profit work. Join us and be a part of our growing and innovative studio.
Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.
Art: Contract Lighting Artist - Subnautica 2
We are seeking a highly skilled lighting artist to join our Subnautica 2 team. The ideal candidate should be highly skilled working in Unreal 5 and be comfortable working with interior and exterior environments as well as pre-baked and dynamic lighting solutions. Their work will maintain a balance between excellent visual quality and performance requirements for the game.
This is a remote contract position on a fully remote team.
Responsibilities
- Develop lighting solutions in Unreal 5 for a diverse range of environments, characters and creatures that enhance the game and player experience.
- Collaborate with our environment team and rendering engineers to define lighting tools and pipeline needs.
- Work with art leadership to develop and maintain our lighting style and quality throughout the game.
- Collaborate with engineers and tech artists to ensure our lighting solutions are optimized for all our development platforms.
Qualifications
- Proven experience in the video game industry as a lighting artist with a strong proficiency in Unreal 5.
- Deep knowledge of lighting principles, color theory and composition.
- Understanding of modern rendering techniques and shader functionality as well as their impact on game performance.
- Excellent communication and problem solving skills alongside being able to thrive independently and collaboratively on a remote team.
- Experience with volumetrics systems and post processing.
Preferences
- Experience working on current generation console platforms.
- Passion for sci-fi and/or underwater environments.
- Familiarity with other aspects of game art pipelines (modeling, texturing, etc.)
We make games that are accessible and engaging for players all over the world. We believe in hiring and supporting the most talented and creative people of diverse backgrounds. That support includes annual professional development and home office stipends, as well as paid time off for volunteer/non-profit work. Join us and be a part of our growing and innovative studio.
Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.
Design: Senior Game Designer
Unknown Worlds is looking for an experienced Senior Designer to help us incubate and develop new game ideas from conception to release. The ideal candidate is a consummate communicator and collaborator. They are a student of game design, with the toolset to understand and explain design theory and pitfalls. They coach and encourage their team, are self-directed and highly motivated, and enjoy working with multidisciplinary collaborative teams.
This is a remote position on a fully distributed team. We are looking for a candidate with the flexibility to collaborate with a team located primarily in the East and West Coast USA.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of developers to pitch and refine multiple game ideas and systems.
- Help teams navigate the early prototyping phase by assisting with hands-on development and iteration.
- Identify game design needs; drive conception and implementation of key features.
- Create and shepherd designs from paper to shipping.
- Advocate for the player’s perspective by assisting with the facilitation of playtests, addressing concerns and driving solutions on design challenges.
- Coordinate with team leaders to identify, address and adhere to constraints.
- Establish and maintain design documentation for systems across the project.
- Work across teams to ensure best design practices are followed.
Qualifications
- Experience leading or product-owning multi-disciplinary strike teams.
- Extensive experience with game design principles, game balance, pacing and player motivations.
- Deep knowledge and experience in a design discipline: systems, gameplay, 3Cs, level design, or other.
- Experience shipping at least 2 game titles in a design-focused role.
- Hands-on experience supporting the implementation of features and ideas in-engine.
- Experience transitioning game concepts from prototyping through pre-production and production phases.
- Excellent situational awareness and judgment, with the ability to demonstrate both qualities in high-pressure situations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication.
- Experience with project management software such as JIRA, Favro, Notion and/or equivalents.
- Deep understanding of the foundational elements and player expectations of multiple genres.
Preferences
- Experience creating and refining game pitches.
- Experience working directly in Unity and/or Unreal 5.
- Experience working on a game in all phases of development, from pre-production to shipping.
- Experience with open development or Early Access models engaging with large and active communities.
- Scripting experience (via code, proprietary tools, and/or visual scripting languages).
- Experience working in an environment that stretches the designer outside their bounds, including experience with level, gameplay, and/or UX/UI design.
We make games that are accessible and engaging for players all over the world. We believe in hiring and supporting the most talented and creative people of diverse backgrounds. That support includes annual professional development and home office stipends, as well as paid time off for volunteer/non-profit work. Join us and be a part of our growing and innovative studio.
Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.
Engineering: Lead Engineer - Core Technology, Unreal Engine
Unknown Worlds is seeking an experienced programmer to lead the core technology effort on our next game in the Subnautica universe. You will be leading a team of 3-4 engineers working in a wide range of engine technologies like World Partition, Multiplayer, Graphics and Streaming. Key responsibilities include profiling, optimization, modifying engine code and driving architecture development for foundational game systems.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain core technology systems built on Unreal Engine.
- Mentor team members on best practices and push the boundaries of what is possible with Unreal Technology.
- Collaborate with engineers and the other disciplines to problem solve and meet creative goals within the technical constraints of the project.
- Develop architectural plans and direct the vision for various engine systems, ensuring they meet the expected functionality and performance standards.
- Develop and implement solutions to address the challenges of game performance and scale posed by large open-world games.
Qualifications
- Shipped Unreal Engine games across multiple platforms.
- Expert level C++ knowledge.
- Deep knowledge of Unreal Engine.
- Strong system architecture skills.
- Experience with current-gen console development in Unreal Engine.
- Knowledge of networking, rendering and profiling.
- At least 8 years of professional experience as a programmer within the games industry.
- Experience mentoring and managing a small team of capable developers.
Preferences
- Experience with live service game development.
- Experience with automated build systems and unit test frameworks.
- Experience with graphics programming.
We make games that are accessible and engaging for players all over the world. We believe in hiring and supporting the most talented and creative people of diverse backgrounds. That support includes annual professional development and home office stipends, as well as paid time off for volunteer/non-profit work. Join us and be a part of our growing and innovative studio.
Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.
Who We Are
How We Work
As a fully remote studio we support a self-directed, self-managed approach to our work. We rely on real time communication tools like Slack and video chat to stay connected. We have regular team wide retreats in beautiful locations all over the world to regroup, plan, hang out and recharge. Our teams work together to set high level goals and each person determines how they can best contribute to achieving the objective.
Who you are
Our ideal candidate is passionate, self-motivated, versatile and eager to grow. We are looking for developers who are excited to be involved in their projects and take personal ownership in their work. At Unknown Worlds everyone is encouraged to collaborate on all aspects of the games we’re creating. All our team members have a strong passion for their craft, and love making games.
Diversity & Inclusion
At Unknown Worlds, we pride ourselves on being a globally based and represented team. As such, we are committed to diversity as one of our core values. However, we also have the responsibility to ensure that our values translate into concrete actions: what games we make, how we make them, and how we hire our people. We pledge to carry out this effort in earnest, with an open mind and with the intention to improve this industry for everyone. We’re dedicated to working towards that goal in many ways, and improve some things we’re already doing. We believe this is long overdue, and will ultimately broaden the perspective and creativity of our games. We understand that this means on-going commitment, education, discussion, and outside advice where necessary.
Our Commitments
The following commitments are not comprehensive (our aim is progress, not perfection!), but represent what we intend to develop, improve, and build on over time.
- We are committed to making games that speak to a diverse audience and promote shared experiences across differences in age, race, gender, sexuality, and mental or physical ability.
- We will continue to commit a portion of Unknown Worlds’ yearly profits to charitable organizations.
- We will continue to reserve time each year for full-time team members to volunteer-work of their choosing.
- We are committed to supporting policies and organizations that build equity for marginalized groups.
- We are committed to building an inclusive workplace where we combat perfectionism with a culture of appreciation, understand the connection between defensiveness and fear, and value teamwork over individualism.
- We will continue to provide an annual education budget for full-time team members for their continued development.
- We are committed to looking at our team’s diversity at all levels, including ways in which we can make the hiring and game development processes more inclusive.
- We are committed to reviewing our business network to include partners from diverse backgrounds.
Organizations We Support
We have always felt strongly about giving back to communities and causes that reflect our values, and every year our team works together to choose them. Below are some of the organizations we currently support, either through donations, sponsorship, volunteering, or partnership.
- Action Against Hunger. This donation was made possible thanks to all of the incredible members of the Subnautica community who participated in the ‘Go Play Inside’ bundle back in April 2020. The funds will be put towards expanding water, sanitation, hygiene, and health programs in hard-to-reach areas and vulnerable communities, who have been deeply affected by the pandemic.
- San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. With an office based in San Francisco, we wanted to give back to our local community, for those facing food scarcity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. As the premier legal organization in America fighting for racial justice, through litigation, advocacy, and public education, we wanted to contribute to help the LDF continue to seek structural changes and work towards their goal of equality for all Americans.
- Game Devs of Color Expo as a Collaborating Sponsor. The Game Devs of Color Expo is a space to enlighten and unite people of all genders, races, abilities, sexual orientations and religions.The 2020 Expo was fully virtual, due to the pandemic, and seeked to help new and experienced game developers share, learn and connect in unique ways.
- National Center for Transgender Equality. Working at the local, state, and federal levels to change laws, policies and society, the NCTE seeks to replace disrespect, discrimination, and violence with empathy, opportunity, and justice for transgender people.