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Microsoft

Senior Casual Game Designer Microsoft
Redmond, WA

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About Microsoft

Job Description

Senior Casual Game Designer

The Microsoft Casual Games team is looking for a solid technical game designer who has passion to work on the world's greatest casual games for Windows and other Microsoft platforms. The position focuses on partnering and supporting creative visionaries, solving creative problems, helping establish and emphasize core design pillars, reviewing game builds and working with partners to improve them, creating and maintaining design documentation, and helping design and create content that will be seen by players.

Required skills and experience

* A comprehensive understanding of games, games players and gameplay mechanics, combined with an ability to identify, analyze and rectify game design and gameplay issues.
* Extensive knowledge of casual games in particular, social games, and the gaming industry. Must be passionate about video games and be an avid gamer. Must be familiar with many games on Facebook and/or downloadable casual game portals such as Big Fish Games.
* Must understand and be able to describe the casual games demographic and particularly how it differs from a more hardcore PC or Console gaming demographic.
* Excellent creative vision that can be channeled and adapted to any type of game.
* Strong verbal, written and organizational skills.
* A working knowledge of standard industry game engines, design toolsets and production pipelines.
* Minimum of 5+ years of game design experience on shipped titles with a minimum of 3+ years of game design experience on casual or mobile titles.
* Proven ability to work in Excel and/or VBA to create spreadsheets and scripts that aid in design and content production.
* Experience manipulating and troubleshooting Javascript/JSON files (or similar) a plus.

The ideal candidate will

* Be a creative and resourceful problem solver that proactively communicates design goals and can operate and collaborate to the highest standard within the team structure.
* Have an open-minded approach to design and display the ability to challenge convention. They will be forward thinking and have the flexibility to research and undertake any game as required.
* Take design responsibility and help guide features through to completion - seeking out, evaluating and implementing feedback from all relevant sources to constantly improve and refine the title.
* Have a strong ability to create new ideas and concepts, has outstanding knowledge of the casual game space, and is extremely detail oriented.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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Duties & Responsibilities

* Ensure that the final product quality meets the high expectations of the Microsoft Casual Games brand.
* Utilize team feedback, data analysis, and user research feedback into clear actionable items to improve products and design processes.
* Work effectively with the Design Director, Producer, and any other key leads to determine project design specifications and to ensure successful product execution.
* Contribute innovative and creative design ideas to specific titles, across the games portfolio.
* Evaluate game builds and milestone deliverables and provide constructive feedback to the developers that clearly identify problem statements and provide solution recommendations.
* Create excel spreadsheets and tools that help us analyze and visualize player usage data and use this to identify patterns and suggest improvements.
* Create or drive the creation of tools to improve our content creation process.
* Become a master in some of our top Casual Games, such as Microsoft Solitaire Collection, in order to be able to fully understand, champion, and improve the user experience.
* Create and maintain mockups and design documentation.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is a technology company that develops and supports software, services, and devices.

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