North Beach Games is seeking an experienced Lead Designer to join our development team in Prague on the Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria franchise! This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape core gameplay and user experience, and to be a leader on a growing team. The ideal candidate will be responsible for delivering design documents, overseeing prototyping and development of game systems, tuning game systems based on feedback, and working closely with all development disciplines.
Responsibilities:
Lead the design of game systems, world design, and overall game loop
Develop and maintain the game's design documentation, including specifications and feature descriptions
Collaborate closely with other team leads and departments (art, programming, sound) to ensure a cohesive implementation of design elements
Support and observe playtesting sessions, analyzing feedback to refine gameplay experiences
Research competitive products, complete teardowns and make recommendations based on industry knowledge
Requirements:
3-5 years experience in game development as designer on a game team
Effective communicator and team-first player who is able to work well with all disciplines
Desired Qualifications:
Proven track record of designing engaging gameplay systems and mechanics
Experience with survival games or open-world titles is highly desirable
Strong understanding of player psychology and motivation in game design
Familiarity with procedural generation techniques and their application in game design
Excellent skills in collaborative documentation tools such as Figma, Miro, Confluence
Experience writing prompts and training AI models, leveraging LLMs and AI agents (e.g., GPT-x, Claude, Gemini)
What Will Help You Stand Out:
Passion for survival crafting game genre, you have played these games and can go deep on design and gameplay, core loop, and player engagement systems
Hands-on experience working with Unreal engine (UE4 or UE5) on internal development teams
Bachelor's degree in Game Design, Computer Science (or equivalent work history)
Proficient (or fluent) in Czech language is a bonus
Availability to work in-person, in our offices in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as work remotely with teams based in California, USA.
About North Beach Games Prague:
North Beach Games began in 2018 as a small independent publisher with the vision to bring innovative games to market through a hybrid approach to publishing and partnerships. With the opening of our Prague studio in 2025, we offer a collaborative and creative work environment where individuals can take on responsibility, as well as competitive compensation packages. Roles at our studio are flexible, and remote work is possible for the right candidates. As we expand our team in Prague, we're enhancing our creative and technical capabilities, and we're eager to welcome talented individuals to join our growing team.