Game Designer (Hybrid Casual)
Job description
About the role
Belka Games hires a product-focused Game Designer to define core systems and balance for hybrid-casual puzzle R&D. This role shapes early prototypes, progression, and foundational LiveOps concepts. You will own the design of core gameplay loops, transforming abstract ideas into testable mechanics that drive engagement and retention. The position requires you to act as the voice of the player, analyzing behavioral data and qualitative feedback to iterate on systems and polish the user experience. You will craft the rules that govern how players interact with the game, ensuring that every mechanic serves both fun and long-term retention goals. Collaboration is central to this role, as you will partner closely with engineers, artists, and producers to align on vision and technical constraints from the earliest stages of production. Your responsibilities include documenting design decisions, maintaining living design documents, and presenting concepts to stakeholders to secure alignment and support. Ultimately, you will be responsible for the end-to-end design of features that move the needle on key product metrics throughout the hybrid-casual lifecycle.
Key facts
What you'll do
Observed issues convert into design changes when gameplay problems are analyzed and solved for player experience and engagement.
Early production testing accelerates as prototyping and iteration processes involve the R&D team.
Balanced rewards, pacing, and retention appear when game balance, rewards, pacing, and progression are designed and tuned.
Collaboration across disciplines aligns vision early as game designers, producers, artists, and developers work together during early production stages.
Translated product requirements into design specifications that clearly communicate intent, constraints, and success metrics to the engineering team.
Conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis of player behavior to identify friction points and opportunities for systemic improvements.
Authored and maintained comprehensive design documentation, including system design docs, mechanics breakdowns, and progression models.
Partnered with data analysts to define and track key performance indicators, ensuring design hypotheses are validated through experimentation.
Developed and maintained design prototypes to validate core mechanics, risk assumptions, and communicate concepts to non-design stakeholders.
Evaluated competitor products and market trends to identify innovative mechanics and opportunities for differentiation in the hybrid-casual space.
Coordinated design critiques and playtesting sessions to gather feedback and iterate on solutions before full implementation.
Synthesized complex player feedback and business constraints into clear, actionable design decisions that balanced creativity with feasibility.
Championed a culture of experimentation by proposing, testing, and refining small-scale design changes in a fast-paced environment.
Ensured that all design deliverables adhered to the studio's standards for quality, clarity, and consistency across documentation.
Requirements
Three or more years as Game Designer demonstrate sustained delivery in production environments.
Experience in hyper-casual, hybrid-casual, or puzzle games proves familiarity with relevant genres and player expectations.
Developing games or prototypes from scratch during R&D or pre-production highlights hands-on creation of new concepts.
At least five game projects or prototypes reflect breadth across ideas and production cycles.
Creating and maintaining game design documentation supports clear communication and planning.
Understanding of gameplay systems, progression, balancing, and player motivation underpins compelling and sustainable game design.
Knowledge of the mobile games market and current genre trends grounds decisions in what players expect today.
Ideas move fast when communication is clear and collaboration thrives in a fast iteration environment.
Analytical and problem-solving skills turn complex challenges into practical design solutions.
Russian and English are required must-haves.
Practical notes
The role is based in Tblisi within a hybrid working model.
The team operates with a data-driven, collaborative culture that values strong opinions and metrics.
Typical interview steps
Design interviews usually include a portfolio review, a design exercise, and a team conversation. Candidates present past work and explain their process and decisions. Some loops include a live design challenge. Communication matters as much as the visual output. Portfolios are strongest when they show the problem, the constraints, and the iteration, not just the final screens. Interviewers also watch how you take feedback.
Good to know
Designers in hybrid-casual teams iterate quickly and balance fun with retention metrics.
Prototyping in R&D phases focuses on core mechanics before LiveOps integration.
Systems thinking connects progression, rewards, pacing, and player motivation.
Mobile market awareness helps align designs with genre expectations and trends.
Clear communication supports fast decision-making across designers and engineers.
Questions to ask
Useful questions for the interview: what a typical week looks like, how work is assigned, what tools the team uses, and how feedback works. Asking how the role has changed recently and what the team wishes it had known when joining is also reasonable. Questions about the manager's priorities are especially valued.
Career growth
Design careers grow from junior to senior, staff, and principal levels. Some designers move into design management or design operations. Specializations include UX research, interaction design, and brand design. Cross-functional influence grows with seniority. Senior designers are expected to influence product strategy, not just execute visuals. Building a habit of user research strengthens any design career.