Game Design

The skill arrives paired with a specialism. Economy and monetisation design where the title is a live service, narrative and quest design where it tells a story, systems and combat design where it is mechanical, prototyping in an engine where the team is small enough that the designer builds the first version.

What all of them share is documentation and iteration: writing a design down so that engineers and artists can build it, then changing it when a playtest or a telemetry curve contradicts it. Scripting ability is expected wherever designers build their own prototypes, and spreadsheet work is the unglamorous core of balancing.

The neighbours separate by object. A level designer owns space and pacing. A narrative designer owns story and dialogue. A technical designer owns the implementation in engine. A game design position spans two of those, and the text says which two.