Company Description
Top Sigma Studios was born from a shared passion for crafting unforgettable experiences with deep mechanics and unique visuals. We forge worlds where power, peril, choice and the human psyche collide.
As an indie studio, we focus on systems rich strategy and simulation games that ask players to think, feel and take responsibility for their decisions. If you enjoy digging into complex designs and exploring how people and power interact, you will feel at home with us.
Role Description
This is a remote position for a Game Systems Designer specializing in strategy and political simulation games. In this role you will help shape the core systems of our debut title, State of Affairs, a political strategy game about managing power, social groups and crises.
You will:
* Design and balance core game systems, political factions, social classes, economy, public opinion, unrest, elections and policies
* Define and maintain system documentation diagrams, data tables, rules and formulas that are easy to implement and iterate on
* Collaborate closely with programmers and artists to integrate your systems, tune them and keep them consistent across scenarios
* Conduct focused research into politics, history and economics to ground systems in believable dynamics
* Run or support playtests to identify exploits and dominant strategies, and improve clarity, tension and pacing
Qualifications
Required:
* Strong understanding of game mechanics, balance, feedback loops and player behavior
* Comfortable working with numbers and data spreadsheets, curves, formulas, tuning and iteration
* Ability to conduct targeted research on political, historical or economic topics and translate that into game mechanics
* Strong problem-solving skills and detail-oriented approach to designing complex systems
* Excellent communication and collaborative skills for effective teamwork in a remote environment
* Passion for strategy and political simulation games and a keen interest in player psychology
Nice to have:
* Familiarity with Unity or another modern game engine
* Experience designing economies for strategy games or decision making in systemic games
* Experience with telemetry or analytics to guide balance decisions
* Bachelor's degree in Game Design, Computer Science, or a relevant field