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)