BioWare Edmonton: Tools Programmer

Description

BioWare is a division of EA which crafts high quality multiplatform role-playing, MMO and strategy games, focused on emotionally engaging, rich stories with unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world's most critically acclaimed titles and franchises, including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. BioWare currently operates in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and Austin (Texas).

BioWare’s games have continually achieved critical and commercial success. All of our published titles are highly rated at www.gamerankings.com; in fact we have 6 games in the top 1% highest rated games of all time! Today BioWare has over 800 staff at its locations and continues to grow. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts, a leading global interactive entertainment publisher. 

Position Overview

Tools Programmers improve the team’s productivity by providing solutions to problems and reducing inefficiencies across all areas of game development.

They must have a strong understanding of game engines, scripting languages, pipelines and major supporting systems like graphics editor, databases, asset management and GUI.  They have excellent communication skills and must be able to document their tools to make them easy for users to understand and use.

Tools Programmers should demonstrate a passion for creating cutting edge tools. They should be able to balance the needs of the team by prioritizing immediate fixes and longer term solutions, analyzing existing tools/processes, optimizing workflows and performing preventative maintenance.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, document and support tools to be used by the rest of the game development team

Required Technical Skills and Experience

• Bachelor degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent training and professional experience
• Proficiency with C++/C#
• Experience in object-oriented design and implementation
• Experience developing useable and efficient user interfaces
• Demonstrated knowledge of good software programming practices
• Excellent detail-oriented, problem solving skills. Candidate must be able to quickly identify issues and resolve them

Additional Skills:

• The ideal candidate has shipped at least one video game title and has a minimum of three years of technical experience in the video game or related industry
• Experience in building tools for 2D/3D art packages
• Experience in building robust, scalable database backend
• Avid gamer with a passion for creating top-quality games
• Experience with scripting languages (Perl, Python, Lua, Ruby), interpreted languages (C#, Java), MFC/Win32 and .NET
• Fluency with graphics tools such as 3ds Max, ZBrush, MotionBuilder and Photoshop

Performance Competencies (Non Technical Skills)

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent decision making abilities
• Ability to quickly learn and apply new concepts, principles and solutions
• Demonstrates dependability and commitment to projects/tasks

Does this sound like you?

Apply now!