Game Designer Jobs for OPT Students
Game Designer jobs on OPT are most common at mid-size studios and tech companies building interactive products, where a computer science, game design, or digital media degree maps directly to the role. Most positions qualify as specialty occupations under OPT, supporting both STEM and non-STEM authorization depending on your degree field.
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Get Access To All JobsLocation
Los Angeles Office
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
On-site
Department
Game Design & Production
Overview
Application
We need a game designer who actually plays casual F2P mobile games, not someone who tolerates them, but someone who genuinely loves them. You'll design new mechanics and improve existing ones for Good Pizza, Great Pizza (300M+ downloads) and latest title Good Coffee, Great Coffee. You'll work on game economy, progression balance, and feature design while keeping two things in constant tension: what's best for our players and what's sustainable for our business. If you've ever rage-quit a casual game because an update nerfed something you loved, or stopped playing because the economy felt like a trap, that is good. We want someone who designs with players, not against them.
About TapBlaze
Our mission is to create memorable entertainment experiences for players around the world. Our vision is to become one of the world's leading entertainment companies. As a self-funded, independent studio, we only answer to our players - not investors, not publishers. Good Pizza, Great Pizza has been downloaded more than 300 million times, and we did it with a small, focused team.
Our core values drive everything we do:
- We are ambitious. We aim to build games that are remembered for decades.
- We are disciplined. We make deliberate, well-reasoned decisions.
- We are ownership-minded. If it's your area, you own it, the wins and the problems.
- We are results oriented. We measure success by what ships and what players experience.
- We are extra-ordinary. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than the industry expects of a studio our size.
We are seeking individuals that share these values and are looking to level up themselves, the games they work on, and the company they work for. Only with great attention to details can this be achieved. Please include the phrase "beauty is in the details" in your cover letter.
Design New Game Mechanics & Features
- Concept, prototype, and iterate on new gameplay mechanics for Good Pizza, Great Pizza and Good Coffee, Great Coffee with an emphasis on casual, cozy, and narrative-driven experiences.
- Design LiveOps events, seasonal content, and limited-time features that drive engagement without burning out our player base.
- Create wireframes, design documents, and prototypes that communicate your intent clearly to engineering and art.
Game Economy & Balance
- Design and maintain in-game economies (currencies, pricing, upgrade costs, cooldowns, sink/source balance) with a long-term, sustainable mindset.
- Model the downstream effects of economy decisions. If you make something free or cheap today, what does that mean for monetization six months from now?
- Set up progression curves, upgrade cost scaling, and cooldown systems that feel fair to players while preserving room for meaningful monetization.
- Regularly audit existing economy systems and propose rebalancing when something is off with a clear plan for how changes affect current players.
Improve Existing Designs Without Alienating Players
- When improving or rebalancing existing features, think carefully about what players are already accustomed to. Changes that take away things players rely on require extra care, communication framing, and often compensating value elsewhere.
- Use player feedback, reviews, community sentiment, and analytics data to understand how players actually experience your designs not just how you intended them to work.
- Identify design debt (overly generous rewards, unsustainable economies, features that don't scale) and create migration plans that respect the player relationship.
Research & Player Empathy
- Play and deeply analyze casual games across genres, Match-3, Time Management, Simulation, Indie, Cozy, Narrative on an ongoing basis.
- Develop a strong mental model of TapBlaze's player base: who they are, what they value, what frustrates them, and what makes them engaged with our games.
- Conduct market research and competitive analysis, translating insights into actionable feature recommendations.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams (engineering, art, QA, marketing) to ensure designs are player-centric and technically feasible.
Who You Are
- 3+ years of experience designing casual F2P mobile games. Casual mobile specifically.
- At least one shipped casual mobile game currently live on the App Store or Google Play that you had significant design ownership over.
- You actively play casual F2P mobile games in your personal time. You can talk at length about what's working and what's broken in games like Merge Mansion, Royal Match, Hay Day, Stardew Valley mobile, and similar titles. Do not apply if you don't regularly play casual F2P games.
- Proven experience with game economy design. Sink/source modeling, currency systems, upgrade cost curves, cooldown tuning, and understanding how all of those interact over a player's lifetime.
- Strong player empathy. You can articulate how a design decision will feel from the player's perspective, not just how it looks on a spreadsheet. You understand the psychology of casual, cozy, and narrative-driven game players.
- Long-term systems thinking. You consider the 6-month and 12-month consequences of your designs, especially around monetization headroom and economy sustainability.
- Clear design documentation skills. Wireframes, GDDs, flowcharts, economy models that other team members can execute from.
- Bachelor's degree in Game Design, Mathematics, Economics, Psychology, or related field (Master's preferred).
- Great attention to details - you read the full job description.
Strong Pluses:
- Experience with UI/UX design or strong opinions about how interface design affects player behavior and comprehension.
- Experience with data analytics tools; you can look at retention curves, conversion funnels, and ARPDAU data and know what it means for your designs.
- Coding or prototyping experience - (Unity, Claude, spreadsheets with formulas, scripting) enough to model and test your own ideas before handing off to engineering.
- Experience designing for narrative-driven or cozy game genres specifically.
- Familiarity with A/B testing and LiveOps in a live mobile game environment.
Location & Work Environment
- Los Angeles, CA: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work;
- Prolonged period of time sitting at a desk and computer.
Compensation
The salary range for this role is $75,000 to $100,000 per year depending on experience.
Commitment to Diversity
As an equal opportunity employer committed to meeting the needs of a multigenerational and multicultural workforce TAPBLAZE recognizes that a diverse staff, reflective of our community, is an integral and welcome part of a successful and ethical business. We hire local talent at all levels regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability, and actively foster inclusion in all forms both within our company and across interactions with vendors and partners.
If this position caught your eye, send us your resume! For best consideration, include a cover letter in your application explaining why you would be a great fit.
Should you have any questions or encounter any fraudulent requests/emails/websites, please immediately contact careers@tapblaze.com. Our job applicant privacy policies are available here: California Privacy Notice
Location
Los Angeles Office
Employment Type
Full time
Location Type
On-site
Department
Game Design & Production
Overview
Application
We need a game designer who actually plays casual F2P mobile games, not someone who tolerates them, but someone who genuinely loves them. You'll design new mechanics and improve existing ones for Good Pizza, Great Pizza (300M+ downloads) and latest title Good Coffee, Great Coffee. You'll work on game economy, progression balance, and feature design while keeping two things in constant tension: what's best for our players and what's sustainable for our business. If you've ever rage-quit a casual game because an update nerfed something you loved, or stopped playing because the economy felt like a trap, that is good. We want someone who designs with players, not against them.
About TapBlaze
Our mission is to create memorable entertainment experiences for players around the world. Our vision is to become one of the world's leading entertainment companies. As a self-funded, independent studio, we only answer to our players - not investors, not publishers. Good Pizza, Great Pizza has been downloaded more than 300 million times, and we did it with a small, focused team.
Our core values drive everything we do:
- We are ambitious. We aim to build games that are remembered for decades.
- We are disciplined. We make deliberate, well-reasoned decisions.
- We are ownership-minded. If it's your area, you own it, the wins and the problems.
- We are results oriented. We measure success by what ships and what players experience.
- We are extra-ordinary. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than the industry expects of a studio our size.
We are seeking individuals that share these values and are looking to level up themselves, the games they work on, and the company they work for. Only with great attention to details can this be achieved. Please include the phrase "beauty is in the details" in your cover letter.
Design New Game Mechanics & Features
- Concept, prototype, and iterate on new gameplay mechanics for Good Pizza, Great Pizza and Good Coffee, Great Coffee with an emphasis on casual, cozy, and narrative-driven experiences.
- Design LiveOps events, seasonal content, and limited-time features that drive engagement without burning out our player base.
- Create wireframes, design documents, and prototypes that communicate your intent clearly to engineering and art.
Game Economy & Balance
- Design and maintain in-game economies (currencies, pricing, upgrade costs, cooldowns, sink/source balance) with a long-term, sustainable mindset.
- Model the downstream effects of economy decisions. If you make something free or cheap today, what does that mean for monetization six months from now?
- Set up progression curves, upgrade cost scaling, and cooldown systems that feel fair to players while preserving room for meaningful monetization.
- Regularly audit existing economy systems and propose rebalancing when something is off with a clear plan for how changes affect current players.
Improve Existing Designs Without Alienating Players
- When improving or rebalancing existing features, think carefully about what players are already accustomed to. Changes that take away things players rely on require extra care, communication framing, and often compensating value elsewhere.
- Use player feedback, reviews, community sentiment, and analytics data to understand how players actually experience your designs not just how you intended them to work.
- Identify design debt (overly generous rewards, unsustainable economies, features that don't scale) and create migration plans that respect the player relationship.
Research & Player Empathy
- Play and deeply analyze casual games across genres, Match-3, Time Management, Simulation, Indie, Cozy, Narrative on an ongoing basis.
- Develop a strong mental model of TapBlaze's player base: who they are, what they value, what frustrates them, and what makes them engaged with our games.
- Conduct market research and competitive analysis, translating insights into actionable feature recommendations.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams (engineering, art, QA, marketing) to ensure designs are player-centric and technically feasible.
Who You Are
- 3+ years of experience designing casual F2P mobile games. Casual mobile specifically.
- At least one shipped casual mobile game currently live on the App Store or Google Play that you had significant design ownership over.
- You actively play casual F2P mobile games in your personal time. You can talk at length about what's working and what's broken in games like Merge Mansion, Royal Match, Hay Day, Stardew Valley mobile, and similar titles. Do not apply if you don't regularly play casual F2P games.
- Proven experience with game economy design. Sink/source modeling, currency systems, upgrade cost curves, cooldown tuning, and understanding how all of those interact over a player's lifetime.
- Strong player empathy. You can articulate how a design decision will feel from the player's perspective, not just how it looks on a spreadsheet. You understand the psychology of casual, cozy, and narrative-driven game players.
- Long-term systems thinking. You consider the 6-month and 12-month consequences of your designs, especially around monetization headroom and economy sustainability.
- Clear design documentation skills. Wireframes, GDDs, flowcharts, economy models that other team members can execute from.
- Bachelor's degree in Game Design, Mathematics, Economics, Psychology, or related field (Master's preferred).
- Great attention to details - you read the full job description.
Strong Pluses:
- Experience with UI/UX design or strong opinions about how interface design affects player behavior and comprehension.
- Experience with data analytics tools; you can look at retention curves, conversion funnels, and ARPDAU data and know what it means for your designs.
- Coding or prototyping experience - (Unity, Claude, spreadsheets with formulas, scripting) enough to model and test your own ideas before handing off to engineering.
- Experience designing for narrative-driven or cozy game genres specifically.
- Familiarity with A/B testing and LiveOps in a live mobile game environment.
Location & Work Environment
- Los Angeles, CA: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work;
- Prolonged period of time sitting at a desk and computer.
Compensation
The salary range for this role is $75,000 to $100,000 per year depending on experience.
Commitment to Diversity
As an equal opportunity employer committed to meeting the needs of a multigenerational and multicultural workforce TAPBLAZE recognizes that a diverse staff, reflective of our community, is an integral and welcome part of a successful and ethical business. We hire local talent at all levels regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability, and actively foster inclusion in all forms both within our company and across interactions with vendors and partners.
If this position caught your eye, send us your resume! For best consideration, include a cover letter in your application explaining why you would be a great fit.
Should you have any questions or encounter any fraudulent requests/emails/websites, please immediately contact careers@tapblaze.com. Our job applicant privacy policies are available here: California Privacy Notice
How to Get Visa Sponsorship as a Game Designer
Target studios with established OPT hiring pipelines
Larger game studios and interactive entertainment companies are more likely to have HR processes built around OPT authorization. Look for companies that have sponsored H-1B visas in the past, since past sponsorship behavior strongly predicts willingness to hire OPT students.
Frame your degree as a specialty occupation match
Game Designer roles require you to demonstrate that your degree field directly maps to the position. A degree in game design, computer science, or interactive media is the clearest match. If your degree is adjacent, document how your coursework and projects align to the role requirements.
Lead with your portfolio, not just your resume
Studios evaluating OPT candidates weigh portfolio quality heavily. Ship a polished portfolio with two or three complete projects before applying. Include design documentation, not just playable builds, to show the analytical thinking that distinguishes a designer from a hobbyist developer.
Clarify your OPT end date and STEM extension eligibility upfront
Be transparent about your authorization timeline during early conversations. If your degree qualifies for the 24-month STEM extension, mention it, as this gives employers a longer runway before they need to consider H-1B sponsorship and makes you a lower-risk hire.
Pursue roles where design and systems thinking are the core function
Titles like Game Designer, Systems Designer, and Level Designer are more likely to qualify as specialty occupations than generalist or hybrid roles. Avoid applying to positions where the job description treats design as a secondary function alongside unrelated responsibilities.
Build relationships at game jams and developer events
Many studio hires happen through professional networks, not job postings. Game jams, GDC, and local developer meetups put you in front of hiring managers directly. A referral from someone inside a studio substantially increases the likelihood that HR engages with your OPT situation seriously.
Game Designer jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
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Get Access To All JobsFrequently Asked Questions
Do Game Designer jobs qualify as specialty occupations for OPT?
Most Game Designer roles qualify as specialty occupations because they require at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field such as game design, computer science, or interactive media. The key is that the job description must call for a degree in a related discipline, not just any bachelor's degree. Roles at studios where design is the primary function are the strongest candidates for specialty occupation classification.
Can I work as a Game Designer on STEM OPT?
You can work as a Game Designer on STEM OPT if your degree is in a STEM-designated field, such as computer science, information technology, or digital media at schools where that program carries a STEM CIP code. A game design degree from a program not on the STEM CIP list would fall under standard 12-month OPT instead. Check your degree's CIP code with your DSO before assuming STEM eligibility.
What types of employers hire Game Designers on OPT?
Established game studios, interactive entertainment companies, ed-tech platforms building gamified products, and technology companies with gaming divisions regularly hire Game Designers on OPT. Smaller indie studios may be willing but often lack the HR infrastructure to manage OPT paperwork smoothly. Migrate Mate lists Game Designer roles from employers who have a documented history of hiring international candidates, which significantly narrows down where to focus your search.
Does freelance or contract game design work count toward OPT employment requirements?
Yes, freelance and contract work can satisfy OPT employment requirements, provided the work is directly related to your degree field and you work at least 20 hours per week. You must report self-employment to your DSO and document the work clearly. Contract roles through studios or agencies are easier to document than informal arrangements, and your DSO can advise on reporting requirements for your specific situation.
How do I find Game Designer jobs that are open to OPT candidates?
The most efficient approach is to focus on employers with a history of hiring international students rather than applying broadly. Migrate Mate is built specifically for F-1 OPT and visa-sponsored job seekers, so the roles listed there are from employers already familiar with OPT authorization. Filtering by role type and company size helps identify studios where international hiring is an established part of their recruitment process.
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