Strategy Game Designer

Project: Hegemony (PC Strategy)

Contract: Fixed-term, 6–12 months

Engagement: Freelance / Contract

Start: Flexible

Location: Remote

Language: Fluent written and spoken English (required)

About the Project

Hegemony (working title) is a PC strategy game currently in active development at Yarn Games, an indie studio based in London. The project blends accessible strategy with deeper systemic depth, with a strong focus on economic decision-making, progression systems, and long-term strategic planning.

This role is project-specific and focused entirely on Hegemony.

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Strategy Game Designer to support the design, balancing, and iteration of Hegemony’s core systems.

This is a hands-on design role, ideal for someone who loves economy modelling, skill trees, progression systems, and tuning complex strategic interactions to feel readable, fair, and satisfying.

You will work closely with the Creative Director, Production, and the wider dev team to shape and refine systems throughout development.

Key Responsibilities

Own the design of Hegemony, a real-time casual strategy game

Work closely with main stakeholders and the development team

Iterate on the current features and design new functionality aligned with the long-term vision

Create and balance skill trees, progression loops, war systems and economic systems

Maintain clear design documentation that can be handed over directly to the programming team

Design the player journey through a session, as well as long-term engagement loops

Design AI player behaviours

Design prototypes to validate ideas

Identify issues and propose concrete solutions

Design the first-time user experience

Required Experience

Proven experience as a Game Designer on PC strategy games

At least one shipped strategy title (PC preferred)

Strong background in economy design, progression systems, and skill-tree balancing

Deep understanding of strategy game pacing, player decision-making, and complex systems

Comfortable working with spreadsheets and data-driven balancing

Excellent written and spoken English

Able to work independently and communicate clearly in a remote team

Desirable (Nice to Have)

Experience in RTS or strategy simulation games

Experience balancing games post-launch or during live development

Familiarity with hybrid or accessible strategy design

Experience using analytics to inform decisions

Experience with prototyping in Unity

Previous work with small or indie teams

How to Apply

Please include:

A short introduction outlining your relevant experience

Links to shipped games you’ve worked on

Any examples of system design, economy work, or balance documentation (if available)