MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
This content was created in association with Firesprite as part of DEVELOP/JOBS 2021.
Firesprite is an independent developer working at the cutting edge of game creation on the latest hardware and technology platforms, employing over 200 developers across a range of projects from small to triple-A in scope.
The business has grown in recent years, placing in the Top 10 fastest growing technology companies at the 2020 Northern Tech Awards and placing nationally in the top 50 in The Sunday Times Tech Track 2020.
It was founded in 2012 by a cross discipline team with over 80 years of combined industry experience with the ambition to bring creative and technical innovation to any game or genre Firesprite creates, collaborating with platform holders to develop showcase titles such as The Playroom or Playroom VR with PlayStation.
More recently Firesprite has expanded into creating content for live service games, announcing their involvement in the inception of the Star Citizen: Theaters of War multiplayer mode, co-developed with Cloud Imperium Games.
Firesprite also channels its creative energies and experience into developing its own IP, self-publishing their unique stealth horror title, The Persistence, for PlayStation VR in 2018. The title has since been brought to multiple platforms in 2020 and will be updated for next-gen hardware with ray tracing support in 2021.
Location(s): HQ Liverpool, UK & distributed staff
Team size: 210
Key projects and hiring areas: Multiple projects in development from small to large scale, hiring for all disciplines across art, animation, design, engineering, production.
Recruitment contact: Sharan Bassi, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, jobs@firesprite.com
FROM THE TEAM: GRAEME ANKERS, MD
“Firesprite is based in the Northwest, which is arguably the cradle of the UK games industry with a heritage dating back to Psygnosis in the 8-bit era and then subsequently growing into Sony PlayStation Studio Liverpool.
“Our founding and leadership team have decades of collective experience representing business, art, production, code and design disciplines and we believe that these foundations have fostered a collaborative and inclusive approach in the way we work at Firesprite.
“There is no single discipline which takes absolute priority. Our teams are encouraged to be creatively brave, to speak out and be responsive to the awesome, pioneering and fast-changing industry in which we operate at, on the front line of creative and technical innovation.
“Firesprite’s culture is very important to us, and we have worked hard to create an environment where people enjoy coming into work and feeling empowered, but also listened to and we have an open-door policy for staff to speak to any of the Senior Leadership Team.
“We have multiple exciting projects in development, each one looking to bring innovation to a genre, including a game-changing huge multiplayer shooter and an ambitious dark narrative blockbuster adventure and we’re always looking for amazing developers to come and collaborate with us!”
FROM THE TEAM: REBECCA BROWN, PEOPLE DIRECTOR.
“It’s been an eventful 18 months and we’ve been fortunate to be in an industry that has thrived during what has been a difficult time for many. We had to adjust our working and move the studio to fully remote and this is now part of our future, offering remote, flexible and inhouse; we’re always looking for ways to improve work-life balance and a flexible approach allows that, even when we come to reopen the office.
“Adapting our onboarding, new starter processes and internal communications for distributed working has enabled us to continue to expand, welcoming 99 new ‘Sprites over the past year.
“We have evolved our People Engagement team to keep everyone connected, informed and reassured that their wellbeing is always considered in everything we do.
“We’re also pleased to have introduced further benefits this year including healthcare, mental healthcare and wellbeing support, enhanced paternity and maternity, alongside a bonus scheme and increase in holiday leave to over 28 days a year.
“With many exciting projects, opportunities, and plenty on the horizon to keep us busy and focussed, it has never been a better time to join us!”
NOW HIRING – JUST SOME OF THE OPEN ROLES AT FIRESPRITE
Principal Animator (Action Shooter)
Liverpool / Remote
Work on a ground-breaking next generation PvP shooter project with a Games as a Service focus, set the standard for the team and deliver world class animation with key project stakeholders.
Graphics Programmer (Narrative Adventure)
Liverpool / Remote
Join our rendering team on a dark, story-driven next generation ‘Narrative Adventure’ with genre defining goals, you’ll be responsible for delivering awesome & innovative effects & systems in areas such as hair, skin, lighting, vegetation & terrain.
Physics Programmer (Action Shooter)
Liverpool / Remote
Work on a ground-breaking next generation PvP shooter project with a Games as a Service focus, we want someone to blow the doors off and bring something new to the genre to design and oversee implementation of the physics system protocols.
Principal Animation Programmer (Narrative Adventure)
Liverpool / Remote
Join the team to work on a dark, story-driven next generation ‘Narrative Adventure’ taking atmosphere, storytelling & player agency to new levels, responsible for developing & maintaining the animation pipeline, state machines and mentoring Junior team members.
Online Services Programmer (Action Shooter)
Liverpool / Remote
Work on a ground-breaking next generation PvP shooter project at an early stage, architecting robust services across multiple platforms.
Technical Artist (Various)
Liverpool / Remote
We’re looking for Technical Artists to bring their experience and best practices to a team which is at an exciting stage of defining and building pipelines across a range of exciting, varied and challenging projects.
