Founding Game Developer (Web / Mobile)

Summary

We’re hiring an experienced game developer to help us design and build delightful user interfaces and games using modern web technology. Our product includes generative AI tools and real-time collaborative, multiplayer experiences so we are looking for someone who thrives at the intersection of interactive art & code. As part of the founding team, you’ll be in at the ground floor to define the product, the culture, and the game’s client architecture for the company.

Who we are

Storycraft is founded on the belief that anyone should be able to tell their stories through games.

Our product is an AI-Generated-Content (AIGC) gaming platform that reimagines how story driven video games are created, by letting creators deliver daily, episodic game content to their player base. Storycraft uses generative AI to create maps, characters, in-game objects, to power a new type of creative gameplay where truly anything can happen.

The co-founders Andy and Adam are serial AI and gaming entrepreneurs. For Storycraft they have partnered with and raised capital from some of the best regarded firms in both gaming (LVP - investors of Supercell, Unity, etc) and consumer products (SignalFire - investors in Grammarly, Clubhouse, etc). We are currently hiring the founding team and looking for folks who are keen to innovate at the intersection of generative AI, social gaming, and storytelling.

Day-to-day you’ll be supported by a full-stack, code-writing CTO, and collaborating with a Game UX Designer (responsible for game and UI design), Creative AI Developer (responsible for the AI models + assets), and a Senior Backend Developer (responsible for your server infrastructure).

What you’ll be doing

• Build rapid prototypes to help us iterate on our early game design and creator tools.
• Evaluate our AI experiments and assets by building prototypes that integrate them.
• Set up our build and continuous deployment system for the game client so we can easily share your prototypes.
• Build the frontend flows for creating AI-backed characters, objects, and maps for roleplaying games.
• Define the tech stack and architecture for the game clients that we will use to move fast and evolve towards production scale. You’ll own the entire client experience from gameplay to UI programming.
• Set our performance budgets so we avoid designing an AI-backed asset pipeline that won’t feel great on mobile phones.
• Imagine new approaches for connecting AI hallucinations to game systems leading to new types of story-driven gameplay.

About you

Things you’ve done

• Advanced in your development career to a senior level position or beyond.
• Written tons of testable UI and game logic code using TypeScript. Alternatively you’re an expert at C# and able to learn the web stack quickly with our support.
• Developed, tested, and shipped performant and professionally designed mobile games.
• Built and discarded many prototypes in the early design phase of game development. Relished the process of discovering what’s fun through rapid prototyping.
• Designed, configured,  and fixed build systems so you and your team could iterate with speed and confidence.
• Encountered the challenges and design patterns associated with multiplayer games.
• Gone deep into the core technologies underneath your chosen frameworks. Gone into detail on topics like async programming, design patterns, and networking.
• Considered composability, performance, and design systems while respecting the fact that startups need to ship fast and avoid over-engineering.
• Collaborated with backend teams to define API interfaces so you can push your work forward independently.
• Collaborated with your design teams to ensure you design an asset pipeline that delivers images, sounds, and videos that are as light as possible while maintaining quality.
• Played a lot of games and formed strong opinions on what you like and don’t like about them.
• You know how to work remotely, write well, and understand the unique demands of a remote culture in terms of communication and collaboration.

Bonus points

• You have experience with the artistic side of games. Animation, asset creation tools, graphics programming, etc.
• You have experience with procedural content generation.
• You have experimented with integrating AI into your game development workflow.
• You have fullstack experience and are comfortable writing server code.
• You’ve designed your own games. Even better: You’ve shipped one to paying customers!

Why you should work with us

• You'll have a front-row seat at an early-stage startup with two experienced founders. If you hope to start your own thing someday, this would be great preparation.
• You’ll have a huge impact here. You’ll be shipping every week and helping us define the shape of our flagship product.
• We have experience working on remote teams and understand how to play to its strengths. You won’t be walking into a calendar filled with back to back Zoom calls.
• If you have been looking for your chance to get into AI, this is it.
• We have weekly conversations about D&D and genre cinema, do game breakdowns, and play tabletop games together.
• You crave innovation. Our company is exploring uncharted territory in gaming, AI, and social consumer experiences.
• You’ll report to founders who can help you grow in your career while empathizing with the challenges of your craft

• Andy is a certified coach and an experienced AI founder with an exit under his belt.
• Adam has experience leading teams and building in Fullstack Web Development, Design, Product, and Marketing.

Why you would not want to work with us

• We are a new startup so we are still defining and iterating on processes. If you need a lot of structure to thrive, you will not be comfortable here.
• We have 18-24 months of runway with our current pre-seed raise. We will have to raise more capital to achieve profitability. We are confident in our ability to do this if we hire great people and execute well together, but this may feel too risky for you if you’ve never experienced this stage of a startup before.
• We plan to meet up in person a few times a year, but have no current plans to establish an office or a work-in-person culture. If you thrive in an office, this will not be the best place for you.

How to apply

Write a short introductory email and tell us about yourself. Attach your resume (or link to an updated profile), and send it to both founders at adam@storycraft.gg and andy@storycraft.gg - we’ll reply to every application we receive.

Your email should include links to games you have shipped as the key game developer. If your experience isn’t exactly right but you still think you should work with us, go for it, you never know!