Freelance Game Narrative Designer Jobs in Riverside, CA

Welcome to Lightspeed LA, the first U.S.-based, AAA game development studio for Tencent Games. Lightspeed LA focuses on building open‑world games that emphasize an ambitious living world, sophisticated player‑driven gameplay, and mature, thoughtful storytelling. We are developing the first in a series of genre‑defining titles.

• We encourage the showing of work that is still in progress.
• We don't attack or question unfinished work; we celebrate its promise.
• We have a no‑blame culture where we blame the problem, not the person. This is a safe place to fail, and we don't view failure as a negative but as the natural result of pushing boundaries and trying new things.
• We create together, face challenges together, and succeed together.

Lightspeed LA seeks a talented and enthusiastic Senior Mission Designer to join our new studio in sunny Irvine, California. The ideal candidate will have a strong passion for games and enabling content creators to deliver the most polished experience for our players. As a Senior Mission Designer, you will be responsible for designing and creating missions, quests, levels, and overall gameplay experiences for players.

• Collaborate with other game development teams—game designers, narrative designers, artists, and programmers—to ensure that the mission design aligns with the game's overall vision and mechanics.
• Develop mission design concepts and proposals based on the game's overall vision, story, and gameplay mechanics.
• Create detailed mission outlines and documentation, including mission objectives, scripted events, and environmental elements, to provide a roadmap for the game development team.
• Work with programmers to ensure that implemented content functions as intended.
• Playtest missions to identify and fix design flaws, bugs, and balance issues.
• Iterate on mission designs based on player feedback and analytics to continuously improve the gameplay experience.

• Bachelor's degree in game design, computer science, or a related field (preferred).
• A strong passion for video games and knowledge of the gaming industry.
• Proven experience in mission design or level design in the video game industry (a plus but not required).
• Proficiency in using game development tools such as Unity, Unreal Engine, or similar.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem‑solving skills.
• Propensity and potential for learning and growing.

Location: Irvine, California, United States.

Base pay range: $93,100.00 to $216,700.00 per year (actual pay may vary based on knowledge, skills, and experience).

Employees may be eligible for a sign‑on payment, relocation package, and restricted stock units on a case‑by‑case basis. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, and participation in the Company’s 401(k) plan. Additional benefits: up to 15 to 25 days of vacation per year (depending on tenure), up to 13 days of holidays per year, and up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year. Benefits may be adjusted to reflect the employee’s location, employment status, duration of employment, and position level, and may be pro‑rated for those starting mid‑year.

As an equal opportunity employer, we firmly believe that diverse voices fuel our innovation and allow us to better serve our users and the community. We foster an environment where every employee of Tencent feels supported and inspired to achieve individual and common goals.

LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS is a leading global game developer, with teams across China, the United States, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. It has created over 50 games across multiple platforms and genres for more than 4 billion registered users and is the co‑developer of worldwide hit PUBG MOBILE (co‑developed with KRAFTON, Inc.).