UI/UX Designer (Unity) for Unannounced Roguelike Inventory-Management Auto-Battler

Project: Unannounced indie title — roguelike + inventory management + auto-battler
Platform: PC-first (mouse/keyboard)
Engine: Unity
Type: Contract / Freelance (remote)
Start: ASAP
Pipeline: Paid test sprint → longer contract if it’s a fit

Game Introduction

This is a single-player roguelike “inventory management” auto-battler that is a narrative, exploration driven adaptation of some of our favorite games–Backpack Battlers, Faster Than Light, and The Bazaar. In our game, you will be building up your airship and crew while visiting various skylands as you traverse through the wild skies.

This is a roguelike where inventory decisions are the main gameplay: you gain items through events/shops/combat, reorganize your ship rooms, optimize upgrades and placement, and prep between fights. 

You will spend most of your time maximizing your item placements, crew assignments and shopping+event decisions. The UI needs to make the information clear and the management interface easy to work with.

Responsibilities

• Design and iterate on systems-heavy UI/UX for:

  • Ship + Inventory management (drag/drop, stack/swap, moving/removing rooms and crew, etc.)

  • Shops + Item inspect, tooltips, and optimize flow

  • Battle HUD (fight timer, ship+crew status information, pause/adjust speed icons)

  • Post-battle stats recap + loot/reward selection pop-up

  • Run Exploration Map Interface

• Create clear UX flows for the core loop: exploration (events/item acquisition), inventory management, combat, exploration (events/item acquisition), and so on.

• Build a reusable UI kit / component system (states, spacing, typography rules, panels, tooltips)

• Deliver implementation-ready designs for Unity UI (screen states, interaction notes, edge cases)

• Collaborate closely with design + engineering; iterate based on playtests

Requirements

• Portfolio with game UI and systems UX (inventory, stats, shops, progression, etc.)

• Strong grasp of readability + information hierarchy under time pressure

• Experience designing drag/drop interactions (hitboxes, feedback, invalid actions)

• Comfortable working in Figma (or similar) with components, variants, and responsive layout thinking

• Must be able to communicate in English and iterate quickly

Nice to have

• Unity UI familiarity (Canvas, layout groups, anchoring) or experience shipping UI into Unity

• Experience with roguelikes / auto-battlers / inventory-grid games

• Accessibility-minded design (contrast, colorblind-safe indicators, scalable text)

Deliverables

• Figma (or equivalent) including:

  • UI component library (buttons, panels, tabs, item cards, tooltips)

  • Core screen layouts + variants

  • Interaction specs (drag rules, compare behavior, tooltip triggers)

  • State coverage (hover/pressed/selected/disabled, errors, full inventory, etc.)

  • Basic implementation notes for Unity (layout intent, spacing, sizing priorities)

Paid test sprint

1-week paid sprint:
Design the Inventory screen + Item tooltip/compare system + Shop screen.
Start with mid-fidelity flows; polish one screen to near-final to validate style + usability. If it’s a strong fit, we extend into a broader UI system contract.

To apply

Email me with "UI/UX Designer Hitmarker" in the title please.

1. Portfolio link (label 2–3 most relevant projects)

2. Pick two successful Inventory Management UIs you like and explain why

3. Rate (hourly or milestone) + availability
   

Thank you! Look forward to seeing your applications!