Game Designer (Puzzle & Investigation)

About DRAMA STUDIOS

DRAMA STUDIOS is an independent game studio based in Rennes, France. We focus on creating immersive, gameplay-driven experiences through close collaboration between design, art, and technology.

About UNRECORD

DRAMA STUDIOS is currently developing UNRECORD, a narrative open-world tactical FPS built with Unreal Engine 5.

UNRECORD aims to deliver a highly immersive experience through realism, systemic gameplay, and a strong narrative approach. The project sits at an AA ambition level, combining creative freedom with solid production pipelines and technical rigor.

Our goal is to craft believable worlds, meaningful player interactions, and gameplay systems that feel grounded, intense, and coherent.

THE ROLE

You design the investigation side of UNRECORD: the puzzles, the clues and the reasoning that turn a crime environment into a case the player has to solve. You make the victims and the suspects fascinating.

UNRECORD is an action game before it is a puzzle game. The cases you design are played, not read, and the player stays active while solving them.

This is a specialist design role, created because the craft is specific. Executing an investigation scene in engine is one job, inventing the puzzle structure behind it is another, and this position is about the second one. You work alongside the creative direction, the narrative team and the level design team, who build and script the spaces your cases live in.

Regular on-site presence is expected. Partial remote work is possible.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Case design

Design puzzles and investigation sequences set in crime environments, from concept to validation in engine

Build the logic of a case: what is discoverable, in what order, and which conclusions the design supports, and make sure a case can still be solved within the freedom of an open-world

Create clues and evidence that players can find, read, connect and interpret

Write the core themes of a puzzle and the wow moments of its gameplay resolution

Gameplay and challenge

Create puzzles rooted in action and gameplay, making sure the player stays active while resolving them

Use every gameplay tool available to create variety and surprise

Ensure a gradual increase in challenge, starting from a lower level of difficulty

Prototype and iterate directly in Unreal Engine with designers and programmers

Prepare playtests, observe where players stall or lose the thread, and rework cases from what you see

Collaboration and production

Work with level design so that puzzles fit the geometry, the pacing and the production constraints of each location

Work with narrative so that clues carry story, and with art so that they read at a glance

Document puzzle structures, clue chains and solutions clearly for the whole team

REQUIREMENTS

Experience in game design on a shipped or advanced project, including puzzle, investigation or brainy content you designed yourself

Familiarity with or passion for forensics, police procedure, criminology and true crime, thriller and detective fiction included. This is the culture the role runs on

Demonstrable puzzle craft: you can explain why a puzzle is fair, why a clue reads, and how you tuned it after playtests

An instinct for puzzles that are played rather than read, in a game where action comes first

Ability to design for a grounded, realistic setting, where a clue has to be plausible before it is clever

Comfortable prototyping in Unreal Engine, or ready to get there quickly. We care more about how you build a case than about your editor shortcuts

Fluent or professional working proficiency in English (written and spoken)

Work we can look at: shipped games, personal projects, mods and prototypes count, and so do escape rooms, investigation board games or physical puzzle design

Experience designing escape rooms, murder mystery events or tabletop investigation games is a plus

Experience on adventure, detective or narrative puzzle games is a plus

Level design or scripting skills, so you can block out your own cases, is a plus

French language skills are a plus

WHY JOIN DRAMA STUDIOS

Work on a UE5-based open-world AA production with a clear creative identity

A design role built around a specific craft, with real influence on how players experience the game

A small team, short decision chains and direct contact with the creative direction

Concrete benefits: lunch card, work equipment, hybrid work policy

Rennes, a city where the studio can grow without the constraints of a capital