Founded in 2023, Millions of Monsters is all about game design innovation. We’re inspired by games that raise the bar on gameplay, and we’re wiring ourselves to be able to quickly discover innovative game ideas and successfully bring them to market. We’re fully funded by all-star investors. Our team is highly passionate & enjoys working hard on games that inspire us!

Our first game is an innovative cross-platform PvP strategy game inspired by classic chess, and it has shown very positive results in early community playtesting. We're now hiring our first game designer to work on all aspects of gameplay

What you will achieve

As our first full-time game designer, you’ll be deeply involved in everything gameplay, ranging from structuring high-level systems to balancing combat. You’ll inherit the strong foundation of the game and help take it to the next level. Primary responsibilities:

Deliver gameplay design (systems, mechanics, parameters) that fit the vision
Support on designing meta-game systems (e.g., progression)
Collaborate with other disciplines (e.g., art, tech, product) on cross-functional decisions

What will make you successful

This is a very fulfilling role but not an easy one. Thankfully you will have amazing teammates to spar with, and a strong starting point to get you going. You’ll be most successful if you have:

Strong experience as a professional game designer focused on gameplay. 5-8+ years professional experience designing & balancing core gameplay for live PvP games (ideally PvP strategy games), and working on interdisciplinary game development teams
Strategy genre depth combined with first principles mentality. Deep understanding of major PvP games across PC and mobile, especially in strategy (e.g., especially RTS and MOBA, but also tactics, mobile mid-core, CCG, and autobattlers). However, because our game is highly innovative and in a new genre, you will also need to think from first principles without being able to directly mimic things from other games
Excellent judgment and problem solving skills. Strong judgment and ability to make decisions considering many factors (including game design, business models, and different player archetypes) and many core principles the team is focusing on (e.g., low skill floor, high skill ceiling, spectatorship, elegance/simplicity, emergent gameplay stories)

How we work

As a small and empowered team by design, we seek team members who want (and can handle) immense trust, freedom, and responsibility, as well as the opportunity to help shape everything across the game (and studio!). Some of our working norms:

Moving fast and being scrappy, spending time where it counts. We have big ambitions and need to deliver with limited resources and time, without causing crunch for the team. This requires us to be very focused and to understand the point of diminishing return for various activities
Embrace ownership, autonomy, and accountability, and demand it from peers. This isn’t big corporate where your job is influencing large teams. This isn’t about micromanaging or receiving micromanaging from others. This is about rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty as a team, and pushing ourselves as well as our peers to excellence
Love our game and love games in general. This kind of innovative work requires passion for our game (including regular playtesting) and games in general. Ideally you also love chess, but not required
Strong personal convictions, balanced with humility & teamwork. We seek talented game developers with strong opinions and logic for their opinions, based on intuition, experience, and facts. However, game dev is a team sport, and creative projects require multiple minds to get right, so we expect great communication and teamwork skills to win as a team
Comfort with ambiguity. Startups naturally shift focus as they learn. You should be ready for this and excited about (or at least comfortable with!) dealing with ambiguity, with an ability to pivot as needed
Wearing many hats. As in any startup, there are many things to do and we won’t have dedicated team members for each task. You’ll need to be comfortable wearing many hats, sometimes outside your core expertise (within reason)
Have fun! We feel privileged that we get to work in such an exciting industry, and to have such a big positive impact on players. While the work can be challenging and require us to grow ourselves, we love having fun as a team and we channel that into our craft

What we offer

Expected salary range: $100-165k based on experience, with company equity package
Real studio culture with in-person work expectations in Austin (flexible schedule)
Relocation budget to Austin if needed (negotiable)
Competitive health, dental, vision, and life insurance
15 days PTO + holidays off