98. From Game Design To Leadership: The 7 Super Skills Every Designer Should Grow

Rise and Play Podcast

In this episode, we invite Niek Tuerlings a seasoned F2P mobile game designer and writer for naavik.co, who previously worked at Spil Games, Wooga, Voodoo, and now at Moonlit Games, a mobile studio based in Berlin.

You can read the latest piece from Niek here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/evolution-of-hybridcasual-deepdive/

We cover Niek's journey in games and the importance of broadening those 7 extra skills as a designer if you want to grow in the industry:

1. Game design core skills: UX/features/core gameplay/system design

2. Player understanding and empathy

3. Prototyping

4. Writing and communication skills

5. Product management, understanding the business of games

6. Narrative / Storytelling

7. Leadership

Niek and I built the first casual studio at Voodoo and launched Plantopia in 2020, as the first internal casual game published at Voodoo. We talk about how we approached game development developing casual games with hypercasual speed. We delve into player retention, monetization, and the value of smaller team sizes in F2P games.

Topics discussed:

- Building casual games in a hyper-casual way

- Career journey as a designer in the gaming industry

- Experiences at Wooga and the development of Plantopia

- F2P business model and player retention

- Writing endeavors and gaining market knowledge

- New venture at Moonlit Games and the influence of blockchain technology. Current game: Rogue Nation (⁠Android⁠/⁠iOS⁠) by ⁠moonlitgames.io⁠

If you want to get in touch with Niek:

Blog: ludocious.com

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