Middle/Senior Game Designer

About Us

We're building an EdTech platform with mechanics similar to Duolingo — think streaks, XP, levels, challenges, and bite-sized lessons that keep users coming back. We believe learning should feel like play, and we're looking for a designer who shares that vision.

About the Role

We're looking for a Middle/Senior Game Designer to architect the entire game layer of our mobile learning app from scratch. This is not about adding a progress bar to an existing product — it's about designing a complete game system where learning is the core gameplay loop.

You'll own everything from high-level economy design (XP, currency, rewards) to micro-level interaction patterns (how a single lesson feels, what happens when you fail, why users come back tomorrow). You'll also shape the narrative world — characters, tone, story beats — that gives the experience personality and emotional pull.

This is a project-based engagement with a minimum commitment of 10 hours per week.

What You'll Do

• Design the core gameplay loop: how users enter a lesson, interact with content, receive feedback, and progress
• Build the game economy from scratch: XP, coins/gems, streaks, lives, energy systems, reward schedules, and monetization hooks
• Design the progression system: levels, skill trees, difficulty curves, unlockables, and milestones that keep users motivated long-term
• Create the level design framework: lesson structure, question types, challenge variations, boss levels, and review mechanics
• Develop the narrative layer: characters, their personalities, story arcs, dialogue tone, and how narrative integrates with gameplay moments (onboarding, achievements, failures, celebrations)
• Define engagement and retention mechanics: push notification triggers, streak recovery, daily challenges, social features, leaderboards
• Write detailed Game Design Documents (GDDs) covering systems, mechanics, balancing, and edge cases
• Create flowcharts, diagrams, and spreadsheets that clearly communicate game logic to developers and designers
• Collaborate with the product, design, and development teams to ensure mechanics are technically feasible and aligned with learning goals
• Playtest, iterate, and balance — analyze user behavior data to tune difficulty, pacing, and reward systems

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years of experience in game design for mobile games, gamified apps, or interactive products
• Strong portfolio or case studies demonstrating game systems you designed — economy, progression, engagement loops
• Deep understanding of player psychology: motivation, flow state, variable reward schedules, loss aversion, social proof
• Experience designing difficulty curves and balancing systems that serve diverse user types (casual, hardcore, inconsistent)
• Ability to think in systems — you see how XP, streaks, lives, content difficulty, and narrative connect into one cohesive experience
• Excellent documentation skills — you can write a GDD that an engineer can build from without 10 clarifying meetings
• Familiarity with Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, or similar gamified learning products — and an opinion on what they do well and what they don't
• Available for a minimum of 10 hours per week

Nice to Have

• Experience in EdTech, educational games, or serious games
• Background in narrative design — writing character dialogue, building story frameworks, defining tone of voice
• Understanding of behavioral science or learning theory (spaced repetition, active recall, zone of proximal development)
• Experience with A/B testing and data-driven balancing of game mechanics
• Familiarity with AI tools and how they can enhance game design workflows
• Experience designing social/competitive features (guilds, tournaments, cooperative challenges)
• Background in tabletop game design, puzzle design, or escape rooms

What We Offer

• Competitive project-based compensation
• Fully remote, flexible schedule
• A product with real impact on how people learn
• Collaborative team