Who is a Core Game Designer — a column by Nekki

We continue our series of publications where gaming industry experts discuss their professions. The latest article in the series is about the Core Game Designer. Dmitry Aborilov, the lead core gameplay designer at Nekki, shared detailed insights about the position.

Dmitry Aborilov

Who is a Core Game Designer?

A Core Game Designer (Core GD) is a specialist who creates the player experience through game rules.

This definition largely applies to any game designer, so to simplify a bit, Core GD creates gameplay that constantly surrounds the player.

For example, the tasks of a Core GD include developing:

• how the player "controls" their character (how they jump, run, climb);
• how the player fights (which buttons are for attack, which for defense, and how they are configured);
• what opponents exist in the game;
• what constitutes a win or a loss in the game;
• what the player should feel when playing the game, when pressing control buttons.

And dozens of other game mechanics and systems that may be required are conceptualized by the Core GD.

There are many types of Core GD:

• generalist;
• combat system designer;
• traversal system designer;
• balance designer (in PvP games);
• hypercasual GD;
• etc.

Screenshot from Shadow Fight 4: Arena

Responsibilities of a Core GD

The primary task of a Core GD is to create game mechanics. However, the journey from idea to implementation is quite complex and lengthy.

It all begins with a bit of research — understanding all the requirements for a new game mechanic: what players want, what already exists in games of this genre, what the project needs, what emotion the game designer wants to convey, and so on.

The next step is to devise a concept for the game mechanic and discuss it with the team. Game development is a team effort, where the game designer only conceptualizes the game rules. Others will write the story, animate movements, and create effects. Thus, it’s necessary to discuss the concept with the entire team and consider numerous comments. Often, the concept must be revised several times as unsolvable issues arise.

Then comes the prototyping stage — the game designer independently, or with the help of programmers and technical game designers, assembles a prototype of the game mechanic. At this stage, the mechanic needs extensive tweaking, the concept needs supplementing, and playtesting must be conducted (independently, with the team, with real players). Usually, this is the most exciting phase because this is where the magic happens. Some ideas, numbers, and scripts start evoking emotions in players. It becomes interesting to play.

After prototyping, if the mechanic is deemed successful, the final development — production begins. The game designer must painstakingly describe all elements of the mechanic, order finalized content (graphics, animations, visual effects, sounds), think through player training on this mechanic, make descriptions, and so on. This is a lengthy process where the mechanic transitions from a fun prototype to a finished product — polished, appealing, and understandable for players.

This phase involves a lot of interaction with other teams. It is necessary to clarify requirements, complete missing documents, find references, or simply explain what is required during development.

The next — final stage involves getting feedback from players. If you are developing a free-to-play game, analytics and data are usually available to refine and complete the mechanism, and sometimes even redesign it. For single-player games, mechanics change less frequently, but it is crucial to study player opinions thoroughly.

Screenshot from Shadow Fight 4: Arena

What This Looks Like in Practice

For instance, on the project Shadow Fight 4: Arena, the producer plans to introduce a new hero and assigns the task to the senior Core GD — to develop the hero and integrate them into the game. They also provide some initial parameters: development timeline, design requirements. For example, the character should have a new unique combat style.

The Core GD consults with the scriptwriter to create the character’s image according to project/producer requirements. They then involve more colleagues in the discussion:

• the animator (to discuss the movements and strikes of the future hero);
• the artist (to conceptualize the hero’s appearance).

The Core GD’s responsibility here is to devise why playing as the hero will be interesting, what makes them unique, how they will be memorable to players, how to balance them for PvP play, and so on. For instance, the Core GD determines how and where the character’s strikes should be aimed, their frame data (certain attributes of strikes in fighting games), and strives to meet the requirements of animators, artists, and scriptwriters.

Ultimately, the Core GD and the team conceptualize an idea, which is then presented to everyone. If the concept is approved — the prototyping phase begins.

Then, the Core GD either creates the prototype or involves a Tech GD. A lengthy experimentation phase follows, where different variations of mechanics and strikes are tried, and continuous playtests are conducted. It’s crucial during this phase to identify problematic areas of the future hero and adjust the game mechanics to solve these issues while retaining the agreed-upon hero image.

For example, it's easy to design a mechanic that’s too powerful and challenging to balance but perfectly suits the hero’s image. The Core GD’s task is to identify this problem and figure out how to weaken the mechanic.

If the prototype is engaging to play — the Core GD commissions all missing elements (mechanic descriptions, flavor text about the hero, visual effects, sounds, non-combat animations) and transitions to the next tasks. As for this particular hero, they continue to support them by adjusting balance and working with player feedback.

Lynx Legendary Skin from Shadow Fight 4: Arena

Skills of a Core GD

To summarize — what must a Core GD be able to do?

• Conceptualize game mechanics and systems.
• Document and communicate the idea of a game mechanic to the team.
• Prototype independently or commission necessary iterations from colleagues.
• Structure the prototyping process to correct the shortcomings of the initial idea. This is known as Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills or the "problem-solving approach," where the Core GD precisely formulates design problems and seeks simple solutions.
• Find common ground with numerous specialists involved in game development.

What Do You Need to Know to Enter the Profession?

Firstly, you need to love games and be highly observant. Secondly, it’s beneficial to try making them. Most people enter game design from technical universities because it’s easier for them to learn programming, create their first pet project, or participate in a game jam. Knowing probability theory and being able to work with spreadsheets and analytics is useful.

It’s tougher but possible to enter from other fields. For example, besides technical skills, a Core GD needs awareness of various entertainments and experiences in general. You could become an exceptional Core GD with a deep understanding of films, anime, competitive games, or real-world activities — like car racing, hiking, or football.

However, when it comes to hiring, relevant direction plays a crucial role. If someone has worked on visual novels, they might not fit into fighting game development — it's a different field. But if they have worked on RPGs and built a small combat system, perhaps allowing real-time sword fights against spiders, they’ll likely fit into any action project we have. If a studio develops a car racing simulator, it might be more interested in a less experienced game designer with a good grasp of car physics than a seasoned game designer with expertise in narrative shooters.

Key requirements for a junior in Core GD:

• love and understand games;
• desire to work hard and tirelessly, often on quite routine tasks involving tweaking (simple programming or engine work) or balancing in spreadsheets;
• good soft skills: the ability to express ideas in writing and verbally, to listen to colleagues, especially from other fields;
• generally, fit the project. Every game has its specifics, so it’s essential to either be knowledgeable in the genre or genuinely love and be ready to delve into it deeply on short notice.

Screenshot from SPINE (in development)

How to Enter the Field?

Courses

There are increasingly more online courses available to help newcomers grasp the basics of the profession and enter IT. There are so many courses now that it's difficult to distinguish those that provide valuable knowledge from those that just reiterate basic concepts from popular articles.

Thus, it’s not the simplest or most reliable method. Much depends on the foundational knowledge the course offers. Yes, most of the knowledge can be more easily acquired from books or YouTube.

However, courses have a key advantage: they encourage students to create their pet projects, which can always be showcased during an interview.

Pet Projects

These are great for beginners, but there are two extremes — designing a large game and working on it for a long time, or creating several small games. It’s better to start with a pet project that can be completed in about two weeks while balancing it with work or study. This timeframe is usually just long enough to maintain the enthusiasm needed to finish it.

Every pet project provides a wealth of experience; therefore, it’s incredibly important to showcase your pet projects when applying for jobs. The best approach is to record short gameplay videos and attach a download link or a web version of the game. It’s crucial to include videos — not everyone reviewing your portfolio will have the opportunity to play the game.

Of course, if you have a massive pet project that you’ve been working on for several years, definitely include and showcase it. Developing large games is challenging, but it suits many people.

Game Jams

A game jam is a contest for rapid game development. Participating in them is extremely beneficial as it provides both game development skills and teamwork experience, along with player feedback.

Projects created during game jams often remain unfinished due to limited time for making a complete game. There's no need to fear this; you can always add short videos of such games to your portfolio and discuss your jam experience during interviews. This is highly appreciated.

We recommend compiling all projects into a presentation with videos or GIFs.

Getting Hired

Hiring young game designers usually follows this process:

1. Review of resume and portfolio. The key here is whether there is actual game development experience (tabletop games, game jams, pet projects, or even professional development).
2. Test. This often assesses several skills simultaneously:
   • ability to decompose games;
   • conceptualize mechanics and effectively communicate them;
   • identify problems within game mechanics and know how to fix them;
   • observation skills — ability to gather references for artists, animators, visual effects designers;
   • technical skills — the ability to set tasks for a programmer or even write a small script.
3. Interview (featuring general questions about games and mechanics).
4. Offer and subsequent start of work. Usually, inexperienced game designers start in junior or middle-level positions.

Important: Each studio and each project has its specifics. For instance, our emphasis is often on the technical side, as we need beginner game designers to work hands-on. They must be able to independently prototype mechanics and iterate on them.

If you look at game designer job listings for Unreal Engine, skills with blueprints are often required. After all, we create "digital games," and often, without engine proficiency and basic programming skills, little can be accomplished.

Career Stages

Career stages differ slightly from studio to studio. However, globally, there are five main stages: junior, middle, senior, expert, team lead.

Junior

A beginner game designer. Typically, candidates for this position are expected to rapidly (within 3-6 months) advance to Middle. In a way, this is a probation period where the individual learns the most basic tasks under close supervision.

Middle

A game designer who can significantly offload tasks from higher-level designers. This is an independent game designer who works on small game mechanics. For example, a middle-level game designer can refine character mechanics, create a mini-boss or part of it, and so on.

Senior

A game designer who handles major game mechanics and systems. Such a designer often requires help from middle-level game designers or other teams to develop sufficiently large features. For example, a senior-level game designer can design a complete hero, a boss, conceptualize NPC behavior in a game, or develop a weapon system.

The crucial difference from middle-level game designers is the ability to conceptualize complex game systems.

Often, game designers remain for a long time at this stage. This doesn’t mean that their growth has stalled. Depending on project complexity and development, their task levels can vary greatly. For example, the requirements for a senior position during Shadow Fight 4: Arena’s development and the current requirements differ significantly since the project has become exponentially more complex.

In my opinion, this is the optimal level when high-level creative tasks are available, a very comfortable level of independence exists, and there isn’t yet a substantial managerial burden.

Team Lead

This isn’t exactly a "grade" in game designer development, but rather a role. Often, when a game designer gains a certain level of project and process understanding (often at the senior level), a decision must be made about whether to grow further into game design expertise or management.

A Team Lead is an experienced game designer who dedicates significant time to organizing team work. The focus often shifts from conceptualizing and implementing game mechanics to properly assigning tasks to other game designers, determining which development documents to use, how many junior-level game designers are needed on the team, and what the game design requirements for the project should be.

This area isn’t suitable for everyone since it often involves significantly less game design. But it’s wonderful in its own right as it allows for more engagement with people and increased exposure to ideas and suggestions within a project.

Expert

This role is rarely encountered and not required for every project. It’s a game designer who chose to deepen expertise rather than pursue management. These individuals typically have a profound understanding of the project, extensive observation skills, and can foresee many design issues long before the team does.

Screenshot from Shadow Fight 4: Arena

Red Flags in the Profession

General Ideas

For a Core GD, it’s important to understand that their idea will never be realized exactly as they envisioned it. Many come to a studio wanting to be visionaries. However, there’s an important nuance: each area has its own executor — animations are done by an animator, code by a programmer, levels by a level designer.

In most cases, a Core GD forms an idea based on customer requirements (lead game designer, producer, founder) and develops this idea with many other people (animators, artists), each contributing their piece. Therefore, it’s crucial to trust others and seek elegant solutions that maximize the potential of all participants.

Routine

Core GD, like any other job, consists of 80-95% routine tasks. You will not only generate ideas but also iterate endlessly, order assets, balance settings, playtest, gather, and so forth. Often, this involves a tremendous amount of work with spreadsheets, configurations, engines, and scripts. This is something to acknowledge right away. Regardless of a game designer’s level, there will always be a significant amount of non-creative but necessary work.

Few Good Ideas

We’d like all ideas to be good. Or, if an idea is appealing, for everyone to like it. But reality doesn’t usually work that way. You may come up with five, ten, or even a hundred ideas, and in most cases, they’ll be poor. Sometimes you’ll realize this yourself, sometimes colleagues or even players will tell you.

It’s a normal part of searching for good ideas. Therefore, build a "thick skin" to calmly accept feedback and discard unsuccessful ideas. Without failures, without continuously searching for new ones, nothing innovative can be conceived.

A Lot of Collaboration with Other People

Not always, but often, a game designer’s work involves collaborating with many colleagues. Therefore, it’s essential to become accustomed to communicating frequently and formulating requirements in terms they can understand.

Criticism from Players

Releasing — even a very successful game — always results in substantial criticism and negativity. Some of it will be objective (e.g., regarding bugs and game shortcomings), while some will be subjective (if they simply disliked your idea).

But it’s crucial to remember that people are more likely to write about negative emotions than positive ones. You need to calmly analyze feedback to improve current and future projects.

Loving Unfamiliar Games

You might have to work with games you don’t personally play. Still, if you wish to be a good Core GD, they need to interest you — this way, you can view them through the player's eyes. For example, there are specific genres like hidden object games — they might have nothing in common with Call of Duty, which you might be accustomed to playing. It takes a bit of mental adjustment, but it helps when you see happy users.

What to Read About the Profession?

• The game designer’s bible — “The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses” by Jesse Schell.
• “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” by Raph Koster;
• Game design talks at GDC.

Being part of something that brings emotion to people and seeing many people play your project is a great joy and pleasure. Therefore, if you consider pursuing game design professionally — try: program with Unity, create board games, participate in game jams, develop your pet projects.

By the way, we are often looking for new colleagues to join our team. You can find all our current openings by following this link.