According to a job listing on Gamasutra, the next Harmonix game to release could very well feature some form of combat.
For those reading this thinking “what’s so special about that?”, take a second to realize that Harmonix have become famous for being a heavy-hitting developer of the music game genre. With titles like the original Guitar Hero, the Rock Band series and the Dance Central series, Harmonix has been a beloved company.
To even conceive that the Cambridge-based studio would be implementing some sort of combat system in a game is enough to make our ears perk up in intrigue.
The listing’s description advertises the following responsibilities:
- Work with developers across disciplines to develop the core loop of our single-player combat gameplay.
- Set a high quality bar for combat components: including physics, AI, camera, interface, and audio-visual effects.
- Design and tune combat skills and abilities; overseeing creation of robust combat AI systems for minor and major combat encounters.
- Implement key combat abilities, mechanics, AI and encounters at the script level, from development prototypes through to shipping content.
- Maintain vision for combat at both micro level (single encounter) and macro level (skill and enemy progression, evolving variety and depth, rewards for mastery).
- Work with lead designer, project lead and production team to set combat team priorities, manage product backlog, and ensure that feature ships complete and within scope.
- Advocate for a fun, deep and accessible combat experience, working closely with the user experience team.
- Assist with systems design and scripting tasks as needed.
If this sounds like you, then follow this link to read more on the job’s requirements and make an application.
What kind of game do you think we’ll be seeing? Will it still be some form of music game? Or will Harmonix be going out guns blazin’ into the FPS market? Speculate below or over in our forum.