Game Designer interview prep, what to expect

Play their game for two weeks first, as a new player and then as a returning one, and write down where you were delighted and where you stalled. Then structure the test around their players, not yours: the feeling you want, the rules, the numbers, the data that would prove it. King's designers tune puzzle difficulty and event economies with live data on hundreds of millions of players; Paradox's design systems that players run for hundreds of hours. Say which you understand less and what you would learn first. A test that shows you can reason in their genre matters more than one that shows you already have.

The reasoning, not the assets. For each feature: the player problem, the options you considered, what you built, what the playtest or the data showed, and what you changed. Use the studio's own public numbers or none at all, describe systems at the level a job posting would, and say plainly that the details are under NDA. Design leads in Stockholm read portfolios for a clear line from experience to decision; they do not need your screenshots to see it. Add one personal project, however small, that shows the full loop uncut.

Forty-five minutes, one prompt from their game, thinking aloud. The lead describes a problem (a retention drop, a mechanic that feels flat, a new event) and watches how you work: whether you start from the player's experience, whether you ask for the data you would need, whether your rules could be built, and whether you can say what you would measure. Nobody expects the right answer; they expect a designer who can be watched thinking. Practise with a timer on mechanics from any game you know, and say the structure out loud every time: experience, rules, numbers, evidence.

All three, because the loop is the same shape for each: a portfolio screen, a design test, a deep-dive, a live exercise, the cross-discipline interviews. What changes is the test's brief (a level, a system, an economy) and the data you should bring (pacing and completion, balance, spend and grant). Read the failure patterns as written for whichever brief you expect.

The loop runs 3–6 weeks and the design test is worth the most hours. Do it as a buildable document, then rehearse two shipped features to the level of playtest findings and launch data, and practise fifteen-minute designs aloud for the live exercise.

Presenting ideas instead of reasoning. Design leads grade the line from player experience to rules to evidence; a test full of features with no experience behind them reads as someone who has not yet designed for a live audience.

Most variation is at the edges. Major tech companies (FAANG, scale-ups, mid-size SaaS) follow processes within 1–2 rounds of what's described. Smaller startups often run fewer rounds (3–4) but the bar at each round is similar; less-tech-mature companies sometimes skip system design or behavioural rounds entirely. Read the posting and ask the recruiter on the screening call; they'll tell you what's coming.

This guide covers the general bar at Mid to Senior. The free scan reads your specific job description and returns predicted questions for that exact role + company, a pay benchmark matched to the role and, with your CV, a read on your experience gaps and an ATS resume check, emailed as a PDF.