Electronic Arts is currently the only company licensed to make video games based on the Star Wars franchise and is seeking a Lead Online Designer to join its Vancouver team to help deliver a “unique online experience” for its much-anticipated AAA Star Wars project.
This latest job listing leads us to believe that EA’s mysterious new project will feature a rich story-mode for solo play, in addition to online material. The desired Lead Online Designer must “work with the Creative Director, Game Director, and Lead Writer to align all connected features with the single-player narrative and gameplay into a cohesive experience.”
The proposed format, a seamless combination of multiplayer and story-driven content, is quite similar to Bungie's Destiny series of games, showing a major U-turn from Visceral Games’ cancelled Star Wars game, codenamed: Ragtag.
Ragtag was set to be a single player, open world experience set between the events of Episode III and Episode IV of the movie saga. Information about Ragtag‘s plot and characters have since been made public, and it now seems clear that the company's want to also incorporate online play is what lead to the originally planned game’s demise.
The publisher justified its cancellation of Ragtag by saying it wished to give players a more versatile product. Perhaps elements of the planned game will makes its way into this new Destiny-esque take. Though, should it not, simply the concept of a decent, singleplayer story-mode set within the galaxy far, far away should be enough to satify most fans of the franchise.
Check out the job listing for yourself:
Responsibilities:
-Partner with the Creative Director, Game Director and Online Producer to define and execute on the vision for a unique online experience
-Lead the design, execution and tuning of all online game modes, social experiences and live service features.
-Work with the Creative Director, Game Director and Lead Writer to align all connected features with the single-player narrative and gameplay into a cohesive experience
-Drive the balancing and tuning of all connected features based on focus testing, metrics, telemetry and other feedback
-Spearhead the evolution, execution and tuning of the game's features and economy in a live service environment together with the Live Team
-Champion the vision for the connected experience and live services
-Track, analyse and communicate on forward-looking trends and player-desired features in online gaming and live services
-Actively communicate progress, risks and challenges to key stakeholders across the team
Requirements:
-5+ years of experience working on AAA multiplayer titles or modes
-2+ shipped titles in a role developing multiplayer, online, or community features
-Proven ability to set direction and successfully lead a team to deliver AAA quality experiences
-Strong knowledge and experience with game development in a live service environment
-Solid understanding of scripting/programming concepts and online infrastructure
-Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills
-Strong sense of humour and a positive, collaborative, team-centric mentality
-Comfortable working within a large, cross-disciplinary team
-Willingness to iterate and adapt designs
-In-depth knowledge of industry trends in multiplayer/connected experiences
-Passion for games and gaming
What do you think about the game's new direction? Are you intrigued by EA and Visceral's choices? Or worried that EA's attachment to yet another Star Wars game will only end badly?