Economy Designer (Remote Contract)

It’s a really exciting time to be at Space Ape Games. We’ve created a fast-paced environment that promotes genuine autonomy and we have projects at all stages of the development cycle. We launched our hit music game, Beatstar, in 2021 and we’re following its success with Countrystar less than two years later. We also officially launched our first puzzle game in 2023, Chrome Valley Customs, and we’re focusing on scaling this game to further global success. On top of all this, we’re running several mature live games and working on some exciting new projects behind the scenes!

We're looking for an Economy Designer to own the increasingly complex economies of Chrome Valley Customs as well as work across other and emerging projects. In this role you'll become Space Ape's go-to designer for meta-related feature design and balance. Also, as a member of Space Ape's Design Guild you will also get the opportunity to participate in wider design discussions across our entire portfolio of projects.

Responsibilities

• Guide the meta and balance of Chrome Valley Customs and new projects
• See how the numbers paint the picture of the player's experience, and be meticulous in crafting and maintaining it
• Create and maintain an economic model that functionally predicts the experience of multiple player profiles
• Advise feature designers on the economic impact of their designs
• Work closely with the Product Management team to ensure the sustainability and proper pricing of rewards and offers
• Coordinate with producers on the pacing of content
• Utilise the resources of our Analytics team to better understand our players and refine your models
• Stay informed of best practices across the industry and actively seek to improve your own capabilities, and those of Space Ape
• Mentor other game designers in economy and systems design
• Maintain the high standard of quality expected by our dedicated players

Requirements

• Strong experience in game design or product management, with some experience of specialising in systems or economy design

• Advanced expertise in Google Sheets/Excel - Machinations skill also interesting but not required
• A passion for free-to-play mobile games
• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset
• Adaptability and curiosity
• Experience working on tycoon or resource-management games is a strong plus
• Experience working on live games is a plus

Benefits

Why Space Ape is right for you

• Be a part of one of several small empowered teams who inspire and challenge one another in the pursuit of our mission
• Autonomy to make your own impact with the support to help it happen
• Designated ‘Ape Space’ creative time where you are free to work on game concepts and ideas away from your day to day
• The freedom to further your skill set the way you want with a generous training budget
• An award winning studio that has been crowned one of the best places to work, for the last 6 years in a row!
• Help run and create games which bring joy to millions of players all over the world
• 5* Glassdoor rating - Check out our reviews
• Entered a long-term strategic partnership with Supercell in 2017
• Competitive salary & stock options

About Space Ape

Space Ape is an award winning mobile game studio in Central London and founded in 2012. Since then our five games have been played by over 170m people, generated half a billion in revenue but we're just getting started. We are around 150 employees, from 30 different nationalities and diverse backgrounds united in a mission to make the world's next great game. In 2017 we partnered with Supercell (makers of Clash of Clans etc and part of Tencent) by way of majority acquisition.

Our music game, Beatstar, reached #1 download in 24 countries and is the top grossing music game globally. With BILLIONS of song plays and millions of people discovering it each month Beatstar is an important new platform for music discovery with top artists releasing their songs in Beatstar on the same day, or in some cases before, they are dropped on streaming platforms. If country music is more your thing check out Country Star, a recent follow up to Beatstar that might be more your thing.

Chrome Valley Customs brings an innovative twist to cater to a large underserved segment of the world's most successful game genre. Within the first two months it became the top grossing car game globally and we're just getting started.

Space Ape was voted Best Game Developer, and Beatstar Game of the Year in the 2022 Pocket Gamer Mobile Game Awards in BAFTA London (April 2022). Its game lead Charmie Kim won Best Newcomer at the DEVELOP Awards (July 2022), and it was short listed as one of Google Play User Choice Awards (Dec 2021). Space Ape won Mobile Developer of the Year in the Pocket Gamer Awards (2023).