Lead Game Designer (Unreal Engine)

⚠️ Important note before applying

This is currently a revenue-share / equity-based position while we work toward our initial funding.

It is not a salaried position yet. We want to be completely clear about that before anyone applies.

We are not looking for someone to quietly complete a few design tasks on the side. We are looking for someone who wants to join early, take real ownership, and help turn Mawforged into the game we believe it can become.

There is risk in joining an early-stage indie studio. There is also an opportunity to help shape the project before every important decision has already been made.

You can learn more about the project at Mawforged.com .

Lead Game Designer

Axiosys GmbH is building Mawforged , a first-person dwarven survival and exploration game developed in Unreal Engine 5.

Players descend through the layers of the Maw, study strange creatures and environments, gather resources, create equipment, develop their settlement, learn runecrafting, and prepare for increasingly dangerous expeditions.

The goal is not to make another generic survival game with a fantasy skin.

We want Mawforged to feel like a world players can study, master, and become lost inside. A game where preparation matters, discovery feels earned, and every new layer changes what the player understands about the Maw.

To make that happen, we need a Lead Game Designer who can help turn a large vision into one focused and playable game.

This is a central role in the project.

You will not be joining after all the systems have already been decided. You will help shape them.

What you will work on

• Lead the design of Mawforged’s main gameplay systems
• Help define and improve the core gameplay loop
• Design systems for exploration, survival, crafting, combat, gathering, progression, building, and runecrafting
• Help shape how each layer of the Maw changes the player’s preparation, risks, and available resources
• Design progression from basic tools and survival equipment into advanced crafting, machinery, farming, transport, and settlement development
• Define how players study creatures, environments, materials, and ancient technology
• Help make preparation before an expedition as important as the expedition itself
• Design systems that work properly in both single-player and cooperative play
• Turn broad ideas into clear rules, flows, requirements, and prototypes
• Work directly with programmers to move designs from documents into the game
• Work with artists, animators, level designers, and narrative to keep systems connected
• Review implemented features and push them beyond the first functional version
• Organize playtests and turn feedback into real design improvements
• Help decide what belongs in the vertical slice and what should be saved for later
• Cut, simplify, or combine systems when they are not helping the game
• Help establish the design standards and workflow the studio will use as the team grows
• Support and guide other designers where needed

What we are looking for

• Experience in game design, systems design, technical design, or a similar role
• Strong understanding of gameplay loops, progression, rewards, pacing, balance, and player motivation
• Experience designing systems that connect to each other instead of existing in isolation
• Ability to explain designs clearly to programmers, artists, and other departments
• Ability to create useful design documents that people can actually work from
• Experience with prototyping, iteration, testing, and balancing
• Good understanding of scope and the reality of indie production
• Someone who can take a large idea and find the playable version inside it
• Someone who can challenge weak ideas without turning every discussion into a fight
• Someone who can accept feedback and change direction when something does not work
• Someone who takes responsibility from the first idea until the feature is working in-game
• Reliable communication
• Strong written and spoken English

Nice to have

• Experience with survival, crafting, exploration, sandbox, RPG, or cooperative games
• Experience designing progression systems, economies, crafting trees, or technology trees
• Experience with first-person gameplay and combat
• Experience designing multiplayer or cooperative systems
• Experience with Unreal Engine 5
• Blueprint knowledge
• Experience using spreadsheets, flowcharts, data tables, balancing tools, or visual scripting
• Experience with creature behaviour, enemy encounters, bosses, or AI systems
• Understanding of level design and how environments support gameplay systems
• Experience preparing a vertical slice, playable demo, publisher build, or funding pitch
• Experience leading or mentoring designers
• A genuine interest in dwarves, underground worlds, dark fantasy, survival, and worldbuilding

What this role actually means

The Lead Game Designer will help answer the difficult questions that decide whether Mawforged becomes a real game or remains a collection of interesting ideas.

Questions such as:

• What makes the Maw worth descending into again?
• Why should the player prepare instead of rushing forward?
• What makes one expedition different from the last?
• How does learning about a creature change how the player handles it?
• How do crafting, building, survival, and exploration support each other?
• How does co-op add value without making solo play feel incomplete?
• What should players be doing after ten hours, fifty hours, or one hundred hours?
• Which ideas are worth building now?
• Which ideas need to wait?
• Which ideas simply need to be removed?

We do not need someone whose answer to every design problem is another feature.

We need someone who can create focus.

Why join us this early?

Because this is the stage where one good person can still change the entire project.

You will have the chance to:

• Shape the core systems of an original game
• Help define the long-term design direction of Mawforged
• Build a design department and workflow instead of inheriting one
• Work closely with the Game Director and department leads
• Have your decisions directly reflected in the playable game
• Help prepare the project for demos, events, funding discussions, and future publishing opportunities
• Grow into a long-term leadership position if the project secures funding
• Be part of the founding team behind a new studio and original IP
• Receive revenue share or equity based on contribution, involvement, and long-term commitment
• Work remotely with a team that wants to build something far larger than its current size suggests

We are an indie studio. We do not have hundreds of developers or unlimited resources.

What we do have is a project with a clear world, a committed team, working systems, strong visual potential, and the ambition to build something players will remember.

Final note

This is not a safe corporate position where the project, salary, pipeline, and next five years are already guaranteed.

It is an early-stage role with real risk, real work, and real responsibility.

It is also a chance to join before Mawforged becomes something people only wish they had joined earlier.

We are looking for someone who sees the potential in the project but also understands that potential means nothing without structure, decisions, iteration, and consistent work.