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Dmitrii Gontarev

@dmitriigontarev

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Senior Game Designer specializing in mobile F2P economy and live ops, driving KPI improvements from concept to launch.

Georgia

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What I'm looking for

I want to build and iterate mobile F2P systems and game economies—partnering with strong teams on live ops, monetization, and data-driven KPI improvements from concept to long-term success.

I’m a Senior Game Designer with 9+ years of experience designing mobile F2P games from concept to successful launch and live operations. I’ve contributed to titles with a collective 300M+ downloads, with a strong focus on system and economy design.

Across roles like Game Designer, Project Lead, Project Manager, and Publishing Producer, I’ve built and balanced game economies, metasystems, and progression to improve real commercial outcomes. From creating gamification systems for 6 online casino platforms (driving a 20% LTV increase) to building the economy for Idle Outpost from concept through soft launch (30M+ downloads), I use data and iteration to get to the numbers.

I also lead teams and keep projects moving through structured discovery and testing—conducting market research and marketability tests, developing game concept pitches, and iterating on gameplay, economy, and monetization based on KPIs. In live ops, I’ve driven continuous content updates and gameplay balancing, including quality-of-life improvements that improved R1/R7, and I’ve rebalanced economies to lift ARPU by 20%.

I’m at my best where system design, live operations, and collaboration meet: managing development teams, connecting external and internal stakeholders, and using competitor research to pitch and validate new features. I bring both creative game design and technical game design experience (including Unity3D/configs), so ideas can ship—and stay healthy in production.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Game Designer & Project Manager

Akogo Games

Jan 2026 - May 2026 (4 months)

Designed and balanced an Idle game with a Colony Sim twist and managed a development team. Conducted marketability tests and iterated gameplay, economy, and meta systems to improve KPIs (R1=49%, R3=29%, CPI=$0.9).

Idle Game Design Economy Design Gameplay Balancing Market Testing KPI Optimization Team Management Colony Simulation

Game Designer & Project Lead

Nitro Games Plc

Feb 2025 - Oct 2025 (8 months)

Designed and balanced three Mobile Action Roguelikes and led project concept work. Conducted market research and marketability tests, iterating gameplay to improve KPIs (R1=41%, CPI=$0.8).

Gameplay Balancing Game Concept Pitches Market Research Market Testing KPI Optimization Team Management

Game Designer

BrainRocket

Jan 2024 - Oct 2024 (9 months)

Created gamification systems for six online casino platforms, including long-term goals outside core gambling mechanics. Contributed to a 20% LTV (NGR) increase via these systems.

Gamification Platforms Long Term Goal Design LTV

Publishing Producer

AppQuantum

May 2023 - Jan 2024 (8 months)

Built the economy for Idle Outpost from concept through soft launch, then supported liveops balancing and monetization. Managed the product roadmap and communication between external development teams and internal publishing stakeholders, including partner feature/economy pitches grounded in competitor research.

Game Economy Design LiveOps Monetization Design Product Roadmapping Competitor Analysis

Lead Game Designer

Silverblock Studios

Dec 2021 - Apr 2023 (1 year 4 months)

Designed and balanced an RPG MMO and managed the design team. Designed a player-driven game economy and developed multiple content creation tools.

RPG MMO Design Game Economy Design Team Management Content Tools

Game Designer & Project Manager

Azur Interactive Games

Feb 2020 - Nov 2021 (1 year 9 months)

Led liveops for continuous content updates and managed an 8-person development team. Analyzed data to improve gameplay balancing (R1+4%) and shipped quality-of-life updates (R1+4%, R7+4%).

LiveOps Data Analysis Gameplay Balancing Team Management

Game Designer

G5 Games®

Nov 2018 - Jan 2020 (1 year 2 months)

Created documentation from scratch and rebalanced the economy for a hidden object mystery title. Improved ARPU by 20% and performed technical game design via configuration work.

Technical Game Design ARPU Documentation

Game Designer

Nekki

Jul 2017 - Nov 2018 (1 year 4 months)

Designed boss fights and core combat mechanics and balanced gameplay and level progression. Analyzed soft launch data to identify improvement opportunities and performed technical game design in Unity 3D.

Combat Design Level Progression Soft Launch Unity Technical Game Design