Game Design Intern [Spring 2027]

Game Design Intern [Spring 2027]

Crystal Dynamics is constantly seeking the best gaming talent worldwide to add to our 30-plus year legacy of game development creating new and iconic franchises. We are committed to making great games with great people and living the dream while doing it.

Join us and help shape an amazing studio culture, where we’re building award-winning franchises like Tomb Raider and more!

JOB DESCRIPTION

Crystal Dynamics is now accepting applications for a remote spring internship, open to candidates across most U.S. states. As part of this 12-week program, you will take part in meaningful, hands-on work that contributes directly to active AAA projects. Throughout the program, you will step into a professional development environment where ongoing projects, experienced mentors, and collaborative teams give you a direct view into AAA game creation. This internship is designed to help you build industry ready skills, form strong professional relationships, and deepen your understanding of how world class games are made!

Eligibility Criteria:

• Graduated from a college or university program in 2026 (Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter).
• Degree in Animation, Art, Game Art, Technical Art, Game Design, Game Development, Engineering, or related fields.
• Availability to work full-time (40 hrs / week), during core business hours, for the duration of the program (February 1st – April 23rd, 2027), including the first week onsite at our studio in San Carlos, CA for onboarding.
• Legal eligibility to work in the United States.
• Submission of a complete application that includes a resume, cover letter, and a link to your portfolio or GitHub.

What You Will Gain:

• Practical Project Involvement: Contribute to active game development efforts while learning production scope, workflows, and the advanced tools used across modern AAA pipelines.
• Professional Mentorship: Receive guidance from experienced professionals with deep industry knowledge.
• Skill Development: Expand your skill set, establishing a solid foundation for your professional journey.
• Team Collaboration: Work alongside our dedicated onsite and remote teams including fellow interns, building valuable professional relationships within the gaming industry.

What You Will Do:

• Learn and apply development workflows in Unreal Engine, using Blueprint scripting, rapid prototyping, and playtesting to turn design ideas into working gameplay. Review, test, and refine your work with guidance from your design mentor.
• Help improve existing combat and traversal mechanics by reproducing issues, debugging Blueprint logic, tuning gameplay values, and building small test spaces to evaluate movement distances, timing, readability, and game feel.
• Prototype clearly scoped gameplay features with guidance from the project’s design leadership. Potential assignments include progression and upgrade systems, new movement abilities, systemic encounters, or a focused boss encounter. Contribute fresh ideas and iterate on a small playable prototype through regular feedback.
• Help develop and document repeatable workflows for designing, building, and testing gameplay and levels. Explore Unreal Engine’s procedural content generation (PCG) tools, create reusable test setups, and record what works so others can build on your experiments.

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Foundational hands-on experience with Unreal Engine and Blueprint scripting, demonstrated through a small playable project, prototype, or coursework, together with a strong interest in learning and thoughtfully applying game development tools, systems, and workflows.
• Portfolio examples should show one or more of the following:
• Gameplay logic or systems you helped build, such as a character ability, movement mechanic, interaction, encounter, or simple progression system. Explain your contribution, how the logic works, and how you investigated a problem or improved the result.
• A playable gameplay or level prototype that demonstrates experimentation, attention to the player experience, and iteration based on testing or feedback. Personal, classroom, and game jam projects are welcome.
• Industry involvement outside classroom curriculum such as game jams, personal projects and/or contributions to group projects that show going above and beyond.
• Exposure to industry-standard development software tools and engines.
• Willingness to tackle challenges, learn from feedback, and adapt to new tools or workflows.
• Ability to communicate your ideas with eagerness to learn and put feedback into action.