Senior Technical Combat Designer (Unreal Engine) - Remote Freelance Contract

Core Responsibilities

You will design and implement engaging boss encounters, enemies, and combat systems in Unreal Engine, ensuring ownership of at least two combat characters or equivalent systems. Your work will span from concept to in-engine execution and iteration.

Combat & Encounter Design

• Build and balance bosses and enemies in Unreal Engine, with ownership of 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.

Animation & Combat Feel

• Apply strong animation principles around weight, timing, anticipation, and readability to create responsive, impactful combat.
• Author or modify animations in Maya, MotionBuilder, Blender, or similar tools and integrate them into gameplay.
• Diagnose combat and animation issues using concepts such as frame data, startup/active/recovery, hitstop, input buffering, and cancel windows.

Unreal Implementation

• 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.

Requirements

• 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, with the ability to identify why an attack doesn’t land, read, or feel as intended.
• 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.

Nice to Have

• Experience creating and balancing complex boss encounters.
• Experience with Niagara and gameplay VFX prototyping.
• Experience working in a co-development or external development environment.