Game Designer, Casual F2P

About TapBlaze
TapBlaze is an independent studio focused on casual F2P mobile games. With titles like Good Pizza, Great Pizza, and Good Coffee, Great Coffee, we have over 300 million downloads worldwide.

Core Values: We are ambitious, disciplined, ownership-mind­ed, results-oriented, and extraordinary in pursuit of excellence.

What You'll Do
Design New Game Mechanics & Features

Concept, prototype, and iterate on new gameplay mechanics for Good Pizza, Great Pizza, and Good Coffee, Great Coffee with an emphasis on casual, cozy, and narrative-driven experiences.

Design LiveOps events, seasonal content, and limited-time features that drive engagement without burning out our player base.

Create wireframes, design documents, and prototypes that communicate your intent clearly to engineering and art.

Game Economy & Balance

Design and maintain in-game economies with sustainable, long-term mindset, modeling downstream effects and recouping potential monetization over time.

Set up progression curves, upgrade cost scaling, and cooldown systems that feel fair to players while preserving monetization room.

Audit existing economy systems and propose rebalancing when needed with a clear plan for how changes affect current players.

Improve Existing Designs Without Alienating Players

When improving or rebalancing existing features, carefully consider player expectations and communicate changes appropriately.

Use player feedback, reviews, community sentiment, and analytics data to understand real experiences.

Identify design debt and create migration plans that respect player relationships.

Research & Player Empathy

Play and analyze casual games across genres and develop a mental model of TapBlaze's player base.

Conduct market research and competitive analysis, translating insights into actionable feature recommendations.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure designs are player-centric and technically feasible.

Who You Are

2+ years of experience designing casual F2P mobile games.

At least one shipped casual mobile game currently live on the App Store or Google Play, preferably with significant design ownership.

Active player of casual F2P mobile games; can discuss mechanics of titles like Merge Mansion, Royal Match, Hay Day, Stardew Valley mobile, and similar.

Proven experience with game economy design, including sink/source modeling, currency systems, upgrade cost curves, cooldown tuning, and lifetime impact.

Strong player empathy and understanding of the psychology of casual, cozy, and narrative-driven game players.

Long-term systems thinking: consideration of 6-month and 12-month consequences around monetization and economy sustainability.

Clear design documentation skills: wireframes, GDDs, flowcharts, economy models.

Bachelor's degree in Game Design, Mathematics, Economics, Psychology, or related field (Master's preferred).

Great attention to details.

Strong Pluses:

Experience with UI/UX design or strong opinions about interface impact.

Experience with data analytics tools (retention curves, conversion funnels, ARPDAU).

Prototyping or coding experience (Unity, spreadsheets, scripting) to model and test ideas.

Experience designing for narrative-driven or cozy game genres.

Familiarity with A/B testing and LiveOps.

Los Angeles, CA: Reliable commute or planning to relocate before starting work. Prolonged period of time sitting at a desk and computer.

Compensation
The salary range for this role is $65,000 to $95,000 per year depending on experience.

Commitment to Diversity
As an equal-opportunity employer committed to a multigenerational and multicultural workforce, TAPBLAZE recognizes a diverse staff is integral and welcome. We hire local talent at all levels regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability, and actively foster inclusion in all forms.

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