Title: Engine Programmer
Focus: Engine and tools
Type: Full-time, permanent
Last day to apply: 17th of June
Location: Sweden, applicants residing in European countries welcome
Tired of the constraints of Unity, Unreal and other big engines? Want to be in control and get down into the nitty gritty of engine coding? Come join us at Frictional Games, one of the few companies that still makes their own tech, and get all up in our HPL engine!
What will you work on?
We are looking for an engine programmer. In this position you will have a major part in forming the engine used by our current and upcoming projects. You will also work closely with other members of the tech team and help artists, scripters and designers do their job more efficiently.
While you will be working with all parts of the engine, your main focus will be:
- AI
- GUI
- Gameplay tools
- Scripting backend
- Sound
- Physics
Your day to day tasks will include:
- Designing and developing new features for our engine that will work on PC and console.
- Helping write user-friendly UI for the technology you and others develop.
- Benchmark and optimize performance of the engine and its tools.
What are we looking for?
You have to be a EU/EEA resident to apply.
The person we’re looking for is creative, driven and self-sufficient.
Here are some essential skills we require:
- Well-versed in C++ or similar
- Knowledge in AngelScript, Python, Lua, or similar
- You have worked directly on an engine or tools for a game/hobby project
- Good linear algebra knowledge
- Knowledge in working with a GUI system
- Fluency in English
These will be considered a plus:
- Love for tech and messing with the low level parts of the engine
- Knowledge in OpenGL, Vulkan, or DirectX
- Strong low-level programming skills
- Passion for UX design
- Worked with data oriented design and decoupling
- Experience with third party engines likes PhysX, Wwise, FMod or similar
- Keeps up to date with the latest developments in game tech
- You live in Sweden
Requirements if you are applying for the position remotely and not for the Malmö office:
- A Windows PC that runs AAA games that came out the last few years on high quality.
- A fast and stable internet connection.
What do we offer?
We are a small team, which means you will be able to work on a wide variety of things and contribute to our future games in a meaningful way.
We also believe a healthy balance between work and life reflects positively on your work. We offer a variety of perks for our full-time employees, especially those who live in or relocate to Sweden. We also don’t encourage crunch.
Here’s what we offer:
- Flexible working hours
- Opportunities to influence your workflow
- Variety in your work tasks, and ability to influence your workload
- Participation in our internal game Show & Tell sessions, so you’ll have input into all aspects of the game
- Social security and holidays that are up to the Swedish standards
- An inclusive and respectful work environment
- An office in central Malmö you can use as much as you please
- Fun workmates, game and movie nights, and other outings!
How to apply?
Did the position pique your interest? Are you the person we’re looking for? Then we would love to hear from you!
Please note that the application period will be ongoing until we find the right person for the position. Therefore it might take some time for us to reply to your message.
Please send us your:
- Cover letter (why you should work with us, what do you bring to the table)
- CV
- Portfolio (or links to your works)
Send your application to apply@frictionalgames.com
Hi, not applying but you should have a real real good reason for not going with an proved game engine and C#/C++ extensions.
Mathias, If you read the history of the blog that frictional games have set up – describing their development hurdles, you will notice that they worked a lot on the fear factors back in the days of Penumbra.
Back then engines with the needed physics did not really exist, and so they had to make their own. If I’m not mistaken it was in the OpenGL days and pretty far away from Unity and Unreal Engine really maturing.
So as a lot of other companies do, they also made their own engine inhouse. I think the engine is called HPL.
In any case, this engine really emphasized working with lights, shadows, physics and interactable objects – back when half life 2 (3 years after).
If you are looking for a company who is working with a proven game engine, you’d have more luck on the indie front – since they will most likely use the tools they can have (rather than work on their own engines).
We are lucky to be alive in such a time where it is comfortable to write games.
It makes sense for the company to continue evolve their engine and their game mechanics with the same ideas in mind.
I would love to become an engine programmer, but still very far away from it. There’s a reason people develop extensions and their own engine Mathias.
Hopefully this replies to your message, I am not an employee neither can I speak for the company – but I read the reasoning in their dev blog which you can also read here:
https://frictionalgames.com/category/feed/blog/
I am assuming that this is position concerns the development of the HPL engine which they have used in Penumbra, Amnesia and Soma. So that is a pretty proven engine by now for Frictional and one that they already have experience with.
Ok, it said in the post that it is for the HPL engine so I didn’t have to assume. Whoops