Hire Remote Game Designers

Hire Game Designers Who Design Systems Players Can’t Stop Playing

Game design is the discipline that determines whether players come back tomorrow. The designers who can build an economy system that stays balanced across 10,000 hours of player progression, who design combat mechanics that feel fair even when players lose, and who understand the difference between a system that looks good in a spreadsheet and one that feels good in play — those designers are the ones who ship games with strong retention.

We match you with senior Game Designers who’ve shipped PC, console, and mobile titles — designers who understand systems thinking, player psychology, and the iterative design process that turns good ideas into great games.

Start in days, not months. Pay 50% less than equivalent US-based game design talent.

What Our Game Designers Do

Systems Design

Core gameplay loop design, progression systems, economy design, and the interconnected system architecture that makes games deep and replayable. Systems designers who think in feedback loops, who model player behavior mathematically before implementation, and who can identify balance problems before they reach players.

Combat & Mechanics Design

Combat system design, ability design, control scheme design, and the feel-focused mechanics work that makes games satisfying to play. Designers who understand the relationship between input latency, animation timing, and player perception of responsiveness.

Economy & Monetization Design

Virtual economy design, currency systems, loot table design, battle pass design, and the monetization system architecture that generates revenue without destroying player trust. Economy designers who understand the long-term player behavior implications of every monetization decision.

Content Design

Quest design, narrative system design, mission structure, and the content design work that gives players goals, context, and reasons to keep playing. Content designers who understand pacing, player motivation, and the art of making players feel clever.

Game Design Technology Stack

Design Documentation: Confluence, Notion, Google Docs — GDD and system specification documentation

Prototyping: Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot — rapid prototype development for design validation

Data & Balancing: Excel, Google Sheets, Python — economy modeling, balance spreadsheets, and data analysis

Analytics: GameAnalytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel — player behavior data analysis for design iteration

Client Success Story: Mobile RPG — Economy Redesign That Increased 30-Day Retention 40%

A mobile RPG studio’s 30-day retention was 8% — significantly below the genre benchmark of 15%. Player data analysis revealed the problem: the game’s progression economy had a “wall” at day 7 where free-to-play players hit a resource bottleneck that made meaningful progression impossible without spending. Our Game Designer redesigned the progression economy: a daily quest system that provided consistent free-to-play resource income, a soft currency sink that gave players meaningful spending decisions without requiring hard currency, and a progression pacing model that maintained the feeling of advancement for free-to-play players through day 30. 30-day retention: increased from 8% to 11.2% in the first month, reaching 14.8% after 3 months of data-informed iteration.

Client Success Story: Action RPG Studio — Combat System That Drove 4.8-Star Reviews

A studio building an action RPG had strong art and narrative but combat that players described as “floaty” and “unresponsive” in early playtesting. Our Game Designer diagnosed the problem: input buffering that was too short (players felt their inputs were dropped), hit stop frames that were too brief (impacts didn’t feel impactful), and enemy attack telegraphs that were too subtle (players felt deaths were unfair). The redesign addressed all three: extended input buffer window, increased hit stop duration on heavy attacks, and redesigned enemy attack animations with clearer telegraph phases. Post-redesign playtesting: “floaty” and “unresponsive” feedback dropped from 67% of playtesters to 8%. Shipped game reviews: 4.8 stars with “combat feel” cited as a top positive attribute.

Why Companies Choose Our Game Designers

• Systems thinking: They model player behavior mathematically before implementation — not just intuition-based design
• Data-informed iteration: They use player analytics to identify design problems and validate solutions
• Shipped title experience: They’ve shipped systems that real players played for real hours — not just designed systems that looked good in documents
• 50% cost savings: Senior game design expertise at a fraction of US market rates
• Fast start: Most engagements begin within 1–2 weeks

Engagement Models

• Individual Game Designer — One senior designer for systems design, combat design, economy design, or content design.
• Design Teams (2–3 designers) — For full game design coverage: systems, content, and economy design across a complete title.
• Contract-to-Hire — Evaluate design thinking, systems depth, and team fit before committing long-term.
• Project-Based — Defined design scope: economy redesign, combat system, or progression system.

How To Vet Game Designers

Our vetting identifies designers who ship great games — not just designers who write great design documents.

1. Portfolio review — Shipped game credits with specific design contributions: systems they designed, mechanics they shipped, balance problems they solved. We look for evidence of design thinking and measurable player outcomes. Over 80% of applicants do not pass this stage.
2. Systems design assessment — Given a game concept, can they design a core progression system with clear feedback loops, meaningful player decisions, and a balance model? We evaluate the quality of their design thinking, not just the output.
3. Data literacy check — Can they read player analytics data and identify design problems? Can they design an A/B test to validate a design hypothesis? Data-informed design is a core competency for senior game designers.
4. Shipped outcome evidence — What happened to the games they designed? Retention numbers, review scores, player feedback — we look for designers who can connect their design decisions to player outcomes.

What to Look for When Hiring Game Designers

Strong game designers ship systems that players love — not just systems that look elegant in design documents.

What strong candidates demonstrate:

• Specific shipped game contributions with measurable player outcomes: “I designed the progression system that achieved X% 30-day retention”
• They think in feedback loops and player behavior models — not just feature lists
• They reference player data and playtesting in their design decisions
• They can articulate why a design decision was wrong and what they learned from it

Red flags to watch for:

• Design portfolio is entirely GDDs and concept documents with no shipped game credits
• They describe design decisions without referencing player behavior or data
• No experience with playtesting or player research — they design for themselves, not for players
• Inability to articulate the failure modes of their own design decisions

Interview questions that reveal real depth:

• “Walk me through a game system you designed that shipped. What was the design goal, what player behavior did you model, and what actually happened when players played it?”
• “Describe a design decision you made that turned out to be wrong. How did you identify the problem and what did you change?”
• “How do you approach designing a progression economy for a free-to-play mobile game? What are the key design decisions and what player behavior are you trying to create?”

Related Services

• Level Designers — Level design specialists who create the gameplay spaces that game designers populate with mechanics.
• Game UI/UX Designers — Game UI/UX designers who make game systems accessible to players.
• Game Producers — Game producers who manage the production process that brings game designs to life.
• Game Engineers — Game engineers who implement the systems game designers create.

Want to Hire Remote Game Designers?

We source, vet, and place senior Game Designers who’ve shipped real games — designers who think in systems, design for player behavior, and ship mechanics that players can’t stop playing.

Get matched with Game Designers →

Ready to hire Game Designers who ship systems players love? Contact us today and we’ll introduce you to senior game designers within 48 hours.