We know that Sucker Punch is working on a new PS4 game, and recently the studio has gone on a quite literal hiring spree, opening five new positions within the studio, and the most interesting thing is that they give quite a few bits of information about the objectives for the new game.
The new positions include a Mission Designer, a Systems Designer, a Game Play Engineer, a Combat Designer and a Senior Character Tech Artist.
The ad for the Senior Character Artist confirms that the game is on PS4, and expresses the intention to push character in the next game beyond inFAMOUS Second Son and inFAMOUS First Light.
"In high school, were you voted “Most Likely to Rig the Biology Class Skeleton to Carry Your Books”? Boy, do we have the job for you! We’re looking for a Senior Character Tech Artist to help us push our PS4 characters beyond the high bar we set with inFAMOUS Second Son and inFAMOUS First Light. As our resident propeller-head, you’ll play a key role in pushing our rigging and animation tool-sets to new heights while streamlining our pipeline and processes.
Sucker Punch's games have succeeded because we’ve created compelling characters like Fetch Walker and Cole McGrath. Tech artists like you have made this happen, driving mad science into our character rigs and animation pipelines so that the single tear rolling down Fetch’s cheek looks exactly right. We can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with.
Responsibilities
- Prototype rigging and deformation solutions in Maya that identify the character quality bar for our new game, then implement final high-performance solutions to achieve those results for content production and in game.
- Collaborate with all the various teams here at Sucker Punch to identify the key character rigging capabilities needed to support our core game play experience.
- Create innovative new tools and techniques geared towards improving the quality and efficiency of our rigging, deformation, and motion capture processes.
- Push the limits of what is possible in games and be a vital part of the Character Team’s growth.
The ad for a Mission Designer surely seems to point to the fact that Sucker Punch is taking criticism of their previous mission content to heart.
Sucker Punch is looking for a Mission Designer who can create experiences that grab hold and won’t let go—experiences so engrossing that hours go by before you’re willing to put down your controller. If you’ve been part of the mission content team for a shipped game, and you want to be part of a closely collaborative and cross-disciplinary team that’s pushing creative limits, we’d love to hear from you.
Our goal with each game we make is to create deep and meaningful player experiences through innovative and immersive missions and game play. Our mission design team is the focal point for this process, collaborating with the narrative and programming teams, and with the rest of the mission design team, to weave missions together into something unforgettable.
Responsibilities
- Drive the creative development of innovative mission content. Work closely with the other disciplines—programming, sound and music, visual effects, systems design—to pull together all the pieces that create the immersive AAA experiences we want to provide.
- Provide daily feedback and direction to all the contributors on your missions, driving rapid iteration so that we can hit our painfully high quality bar and to reinforce the overall vision for the product.
- Collect feedback from internal and external play tests, seeking out criticism and ideas for improvement.
- Work with the narrative team to define missions that bring the themes and characters of the game to life.
- Contribute to the overall game design. We’re a collaborative group, and we expect every member of the team to have an impact on the overall player experience.
The ad for a System Designer indicates the intention to tightly bind gameplay systems and emotional response, also giving a hint on the game's enemies:
Are you the sort of Systems Designer that reads though board game instruction manuals as if they were spy thrillers? Do you look through the rule set and instantly see opportunities for betrayals and glorious come-from-behind victories? Do you inevitably end up creating a few new rules to make the experience even more dramatic? Is that you? If it is, let’s talk. We need people who understand how to translate game mechanics into powerful emotional responses.
Sucker Punch games are fun because they put innovative player abilities on a collision course with crafty enemies and challenging environments. As a Systems Designer, you’re in the middle of this, creating all of these components and mixing them together into a magical game design gumbo.
Responsibilities
- Work closely with the other systems designers and with the game play programming team to define and implement the tightly-integrated, ground-breaking, mutually-reinforcing features in our game—player abilities, enemies and obstacles to be overcome, plus the systems that tie everything together.
- Provide clear leadership for all the functional disciplines you’re collaborating with.
- Provide crisp feedback in order to quickly iterate on concepts, proposing solutions as well as criticisms.
- Contribute to the overall game design. We’re a collaborative group, and we expect every member of the team to have an impact on the overall player experience.
The post for a gameplay engineer is definitely interesting, as it talks about systemic content (we've seen a lot of examples of it in games like Watch_Dogs, while Sucker Punch games have been a bit limited in this field). We also learn about new kinds of enemies.
Sucker Punch is looking for bright, enthusiastic talent as a Game Play Engineer to join our crack team of game play programmers and designers. We’ve got some cool stuff going on with our upcoming (and unannounced) project, and we need a few more pairs of hands to help make all the dreams come true. That’s where you come in!
As a company, we’re super focused on the player’s play experience, and our game play team bears the brunt of responsibility for making that experience great. Whether you’re fresh out of school or have shipped a few games, we expect you to make a real impact.
Responsibilities
- Work with the game design team to design and implement features for our new game—player capabilities, new kinds of enemies, missions and systemic content. This is a highly collaborative position, so expect to work closely with other people just as passionate about games as you are.
- Prototype and iterate on your features and content, using play testing and user feedback to home in the best expression of your ideas.
- Work is done in a mixture of C++ and our proprietary Scheme-based scripting language.
Interestingly, this is an entry level position, so if you want to make a break in the industry, you might want to check out the other requirements and give it a go.
The ad for a Combat Designer doesn't really provide new information, as we already knew that the game was going to focus on third-person melee combat, but it's included below to provide the full picture.
We’re looking for a Combat Designer who knows how to throw a good digital punch, so good that you can feel it through your Dual Shock 4. If you’ve shipped a third-person title where you helped make the combat awesome, please send us your resume. We’ll read it, talk to you on the phone, laugh at your jokes, and hopefully start giving you money in exchange for your combat design expertise.
Combat is the heart of the experience in Sucker Punch's games, and the Combat Designer holds that beating heart in their hands. It’s an awesome responsibility—are you up for it?
Responsibilities
- Drive combat design at Sucker Punch, with a particular focus on melee combat.
- Collaborate effectively with our other crack teams—code, animation, sound, modeling, texturing, visual effects—bringing together all the best ideas into one holistic experience.
- Define clear tasks and manage deadlines for contributing team members
- Provide crisp feedback in order to quickly iterate on concepts, proposing solutions as well as criticisms.
- Chip in to the overall game design, leveraging your unique perspective to help us create the best possible player experience.
It definitely seems that Sucker Punch is fully aiming to push the experience with their new game much beyond what we experienced with inFAMOUS: Second Son and its Fetch-powered spin-off.
We still don't have any precise information on whether this is a new inFAMOUS or a fully new IP; but if I was a betting man, I'd put my money on a new chapter of Sucker Punch's conduit-infested saga. We'll have to wait and see if I'm right on this.