Principal Game Designer (Core Gameplay) - Hole.io

📋 Description

• • Voodoo, a leading global mobile gaming company with over 800 employees, 7 billion downloads, and 200 million active users, is seeking a Principal Game Designer (Core Gameplay) to join its Live Studios team in Barcelona or remotely (CET hours). This role is pivotal in shaping the future of Hole.io, one of Voodoo's most successful titles, by focusing on hands-on gameplay design and ensuring the highest standards of quality and innovation.
• • As a Principal Game Designer, you will be the primary custodian of the game's core mechanics, ensuring an exceptional moment-to-moment player experience. Your responsibilities will encompass the entire lifecycle of gameplay features, from initial concept and design to prototyping, iteration, and live operations.
• • You will be instrumental in designing, prototyping, and refining new gameplay features and mechanics that seamlessly integrate with and expand the existing Hole.io core loop. This involves a deep dive into the nuances of game feel, meticulously iterating on parameters such as friction, bounce, suction force, and camera and movement easing curves to achieve a polished and delightful player interaction.
• • A key aspect of this role is close collaboration with engineers. You will partner to implement and iterate on Unity-based gameplay systems, ensuring they are not only functional but also perform optimally on a wide range of mobile devices. This partnership extends to working with level designers to guarantee that gameplay mechanics are harmoniously integrated with the game's open 3D environments.
• • Your expertise will be crucial in identifying and implementing gameplay changes that enhance player engagement, retention, and overall session satisfaction. This requires a proactive approach to understanding player behavior and translating insights into tangible improvements.
• • You will lead rapid prototyping and iteration cycles, employing a data-driven approach to validate ideas. This includes leveraging playtesting, A/B tests, and thorough data analysis to inform design decisions and ensure that the gameplay is not only fun but also strategically optimized for success.
• • Defining and championing best practices for gameplay systems and interaction design will be a core responsibility. You will establish guidelines that promote simplicity, clarity, and delight in every player interaction, setting a high bar for quality across the team.
• • Working closely with product and analytics teams is essential. You will translate player data and experimentation results into actionable gameplay improvements, ensuring that design decisions are grounded in empirical evidence and player feedback.
• • The ideal candidate possesses a strong intuition for creating simple yet highly satisfying mechanics, with a particular emphasis on systems driven by physics interactions, player movement, and environmental gameplay. Balancing accessibility for a broad casual audience with meaningful gameplay depth is paramount.
• • You will champion a design philosophy that prioritizes simplicity, clarity, and delight in every aspect of the player's interaction with the game. This means ensuring that controls are intuitive, feedback is clear, and the overall experience is engaging and rewarding.
• • This role is specifically focused on hands-on design and quality assurance of gameplay, rather than managing a team. You will be a player-coach, directly contributing to the game's development and setting the standard for excellence in core gameplay design.
• • The opportunity to work on a globally recognized title like Hole.io, with a direct impact on millions of players, presents a unique chance to grow your career within a dynamic and supportive environment. You will be part of a team dedicated to pushing the boundaries of mobile gaming and creating experiences that entertain the world.