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World Building Game Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Absurd Ventures

World Builder

Santa Monica, CA

$110K - $130K/yr

Collaborate closely with Design, Level Design, Art Direction, and Tech Art to ensure environments support gameplay and storytelling goals. * Own world-building across large regions, ensuring ...

Absurd Ventures

World Builder

Santa Monica, CA · On-site

$110K - $130K/yr

Collaborate closely with Design, Level Design, Art Direction, and Tech Art to ensure environments support gameplay and storytelling goals. * Own world-building across large regions, ensuring ...

Absurd Ventures

Mission Designer

Santa Monica, CA · On-site

$100K - $115K/yr

Core Qualifications * 1-2+ years of experience building mission content, ideally within an open-world game. * Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. * Innovative thinker with creative ...

New

Absurd Ventures

Mission Designer

Santa Monica, CA · On-site +1

$100K - $115K/yr

Core Qualifications * 1-2+ years of experience building mission content, ideally within an open-world game. * Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. * Innovative thinker with creative ...

New

Hardsuit Labs

Level / Game Designer - Senior

Seattle, WA · Remote

$80K - $120K/yr

Drive the vision for environmental storytelling, world building, tone, setting, and art propping ... Expert understanding of technical concepts, logic, logic flow, and systemic game design * Expert ...

Hardsuit Labs

Level / Game Designer - Senior

Seattle, WA · On-site +1

$80K - $120K/yr

Drive the vision for environmental storytelling, world building, tone, setting, and art propping ... Expert understanding of technical concepts, logic, logic flow, and systemic game design * Expert ...

Hoskinson Biotechnology

TTRPG Creative Writer

Gillette, WY · On-site

$52K - $70K/yr

We are expanding our team to bring deep, engaging lore, rich world-building, and tightly designed mechanics to our upcoming projects. If you live and breathe tabletop gaming and have a passion for ...

Epic Games

Principal Environment Artist

Cary, NC · On-site

Whether it's building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make ... ART What We Do Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment ...

Cat Daddy

Game Designer

Kirkland, WA · On-site

$78K - $116K/yr

Experience designing card-collecting, card-battling, and/or deck-building games is a plus ... World-class communication skills, with proven ability to produce effective design documentation * A ...

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World Building Game information

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$28K

$98.1K

$148K

How much do world building game jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 6, 2026, the average yearly pay for world building game in the United States is $98,146.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $78,000.00 and $120,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a world building game?

A world building game is a type of video game where players create, design, and manage virtual worlds or environments. These games often allow players to shape landscapes, build structures, and establish societies or civilizations according to their imagination and strategic choices. They emphasize creativity, resource management, and long-term planning, providing a sandbox-like experience. Popular examples include 'Minecraft', 'SimCity', and 'Cities: Skylines'. Players are often given a high degree of freedom to experiment and develop unique worlds.

What are some common challenges faced by game designers working on world building games, and how can they overcome them?

Game designers working on world-building games often encounter challenges such as balancing creative freedom for players with clear gameplay objectives, maintaining performance as the world expands, and ensuring consistency in the game's lore and mechanics. Overcoming these challenges involves close collaboration with narrative writers, artists, and developers to create comprehensive design documents and implement scalable systems. Regular playtesting and feedback from both internal teams and early users can also help identify potential issues and guide iterative improvements.

What is the difference between World Building Game vs Level Designer?

AspectWorld Building GameLevel Designer
Required SkillsCreativity, storytelling, game mechanics understandingLevel layout, scripting, environment design
Work EnvironmentGame development studios, independent projectsGame studios, software companies
Industry UsageGame development, entertainmentGame development, interactive media

While both roles involve game design, a World Building Game focuses on creating entire worlds and narratives, whereas a Level Designer specializes in designing specific game levels and environments. Both roles require creativity and technical skills but differ in scope and focus within the game development process.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a game designer specializing in world building?

To thrive as a Game Designer focused on world building, you need a strong background in game design principles, storytelling, and often a degree in game design or a related field. Familiarity with industry-standard tools such as Unity, Unreal Engine, and 3D modeling software, as well as proficiency in scripting languages, is typically required. Creativity, collaboration, and attention to detail are standout soft skills for conceptualizing immersive environments and working effectively with multidisciplinary teams. These skills are crucial for creating engaging, believable game worlds that captivate players and support overall gameplay experience.
More about World Building Game jobs
What job categories do people searching World Building Game jobs look for? The top searched job categories for World Building Game jobs are:
World Building Game jobs near you
Infographic showing various World Building Game job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 83% Full Time, 14% Part Time, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 90% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $98,146 per year, or $47.2 per hour.

World Builder

Absurd Ventures

Santa Monica, CA

$110K - $130K/yr

Other

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted 26 days ago

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Level Designer - World Builder for our large-scale open world AAA game in Unreal Engine 5. You will be part of a team who is responsible for bringing this world to life by understanding how to translate design intent, narrative context, and artistic direction into cohesive, immersive playable spaces. 

This role sits at the intersection of level design, world-building and environment art requiring both strong artistic sensibilities and a deep understanding of how open worlds are constructed at scale. 

Core Responsibilities 

  • Build and assemble high-quality open world environments using Unreal Engine 5, working from greybox through final polish on both landscapes and cityscapes, including doing extensive terrain/landscape sculpting and modification. 
  • Create and design layouts that support and focus on gameplay, narrative, and intended art direction needs. Helping to drive the overall design direction of the world, setting and maintaining a high bar for environmental storytelling, composition, gameplay needs and metrics, and player navigation. 
  • Collaborate closely with Design, Level Design, Art Direction, and Tech Art to ensure environments support gameplay and storytelling goals. 
  • Own world-building across large regions, ensuring consistency in composition, tone, and visual storytelling. 
  • Contribute to the development and evolution of pipelines, workflows, and world-building standards. 
  • Optimize environments for performance while maintaining visual fidelity. 
  • Provide feedback on asset quality, modular kits, and world-building tools to improve overall efficiency and cohesion. 
  • Dress environments using a mix of modular kits, bespoke assets, decals, foliage, and world composition tool. 

Qualifications 

  • 4+ years of experience in level design, world building, or level art for AAA games 
  • Strong experience working in Unreal Engine (UE4 or UE5), including world-building tools and workflows 
  • Proven ability at creating layouts and environments, from blockout all the way to polished, shippable quality, with a focus on creating believable immersive gameplay spaces 
  • Strong eye for composition, scale, materiality, and environmental storytelling 
  • Experience working with modular kits and large-scale open world pipelines 
  • Understanding of gameplay considerations in environment construction (navigation, readability, player flow) 
  • Solid knowledge of performance constraints and optimization practices in real-time environments 
  • Ability to strongly collaborate across multiple disciplines, while taking ownership of large areas of the world from concepts to shippable quality 
  • Ability to implement and design changes based on play testing data from both in and out of house data 

Plus If...

  • Experience with World Partition, Data Layers, or similar large-world systems in UE5 
  • Familiarity with procedural tools (Houdini, PCG workflows, foliage systems, etc.) 
  • Experience working on open world or systemic games 
  • Background in level design or strong design sensibility 

Description   

  • Full-time job with benefits.   
  • Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA.   

The base pay range for this position is $110,000 to $130,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) match to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity. 

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