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Stephen Lim

Professional based in Los Angeles, California

Stephen Lim, often referred to as "Slim," is the Co-Founder and Product Director at Raid Base Inc, a gaming studio focused on developing innovative sandbox-style multiplayer games. His extensive experience in the gaming industry includes a significant tenure at Riot Games, where he served as a product designer and held roles such as project lead and VP of R&D for eight years. During his time at Riot, he was instrumental in the development of the popular game VALORANT, collaborating with other developers to create teams tailored to specific player needs and guiding new game ideas through complex development processes.12

Lim's career in gaming began with a passion for multiplayer games, evolving from early experiences with titles like Trade Wars to working on various genres, including shooters, RTSs, and MMOs. At Raid Base, he emphasizes the importance of player feedback and community engagement in game design, ensuring that the games resonate with their audience while maintaining a commitment to quality and enjoyment.12

In addition to his role at Raid Base, Lim has a strong educational background, having graduated from Stanford University.3 He is also active on social media platforms like LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) under the username @slimborama, where he shares insights related to game development and industry trends.45

Highlights

Jun 22 · linkedin

Hey all,

Raid Base Inc has a few roles open! This is the closest thing we’ll have to a recruiting push for a while…

We’re building a sandbox game with PvP and PvE elements in a new science-fantasy IP. Some reference games are PvE sandboxes, PvP sandboxes and PvP MMOs: Ultima Online, Eve Online, Rust, Factorio, Stardew Valley, Valheim, and Dark Ages of Camelot. We’re hoping that the game plays out with the drama and stories that often emerge between players in these games. We want players to build distinct reputations as individuals and as crews, while doing their favorite activities: farming, raising animals, building, trading, spying, fighting or pulling strings through politics. All of this breadth requires our team to play a wide variety of games as reference and frees us to consider new perspectives to freshen up these genres.   We assume that our players are a moving target, so our team is optimized for adaptation and thoughtfulness over generic experience. Since we aren’t aiming to be a very big team, we’re hoping for prospective teammates to be eager about building with their own hands. Our roles are defined as a starting point, with lots of room to stretch beyond. We’re not precious about disciplines or titles, and it’s been fun to operate as builders again. This approach requires us to spend a lot of effort on staying aligned and understanding our players.

With that said, we’d love an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and meet developers who want to serve players again. We're still quite early in our dev process. Feel free to reach out if Raid Base or any of these roles are interesting to you!

Check out our jobs page: https://lnkd.in/gcz8u85Q

Open roles:

  • 3D Artist, Generalist (background on characters a plus!)
  • Senior Artist, VFX
  • Senior Software Engineer, Gameplay
  • Senior Software Engineer, Online Services
  • World Designer
  • QA Manager (job req will be posted around the end of July)
Mar 3 · linkedin

I've told many people in person that David Cole has saved Valorant as many times as I ever have and I really mean it. I know he'd hate a post like this, and he's a ghost online. But people need to know that 100% of his effort went to the game and team, and he made hundreds of deep, personal sacrifices toward that in a rare and humbling silence. He's saved a number of important contributors from tilting off the earth at the most critical times, re-centered the team and our audience around the heart of our game, and polished our message for it. He's among 3 people I trust to comprehensively understand our audience, empathize with their pain, and fight on their behalf.

He's an extremely rare and undervalued combination of designer and producer, and I can confidently say that out of hundreds I know of each, that he's among the most excellent among them. Don't be fooled by his modest public job title.

We all still hope for Valorant to be the competitive shooter to unite the regions, and there's a lot to work left to fulfill that vision. But we certainly wouldn't be even this far without good developers like DCole.

The project is in good hands, and I rest well knowing that DCole is still fighting the good fight.

Related Questions

What inspired Stephen Lim to co-found Raid Base Inc?
How did Stephen Lim's experience at Riot Games influence his role at Raid Base Inc?
What are some of the key challenges Stephen Lim has faced in the gaming industry?
How does Stephen Lim ensure player feedback is integrated into game development at Raid Base Inc?
What is Stephen Lim's educational background and how has it impacted his career?
Stephen Lim
Stephen Lim, photo 1
Stephen Lim, photo 2
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Experience

Raid Base Inc
Worked in Santa Monica, CA and Irvine, CA

Education

Attended from 1995 to 2000

Location

Los Angeles, California, United States