Dmitrii Sapelkin

Ropgränd 78, 18742 Täby, Stockholms Län, Sweden

+46 73 630 4628

Curriculum Vitae

Experienced GAME DESIGNER with a deep understanding of game development and a passion for creating great player experiences. Interested in a position where honed creativity, strong communication, leadership, and problem solving skills, as well as clear design vision from high level down to minor details are demanded.

In game industry since 2005, in all aspects of game design and production, including the roles of lead game designer, creative director, associate producer, and product owner
Over a dozen published titles, including F2P, premium, freemium games in many genres: action, shooter, brain trainer, strategy, puzzle, hidden object – for PC, social, consoles, handheld, web, and mobile platforms
Well-developed ability to quickly identify the root of a problem, propose a solution, formulate a task in a neat and clear way, and to achieve a sound implementation. In an uncertain situation, to work out a concrete solution and well-defined next steps with specific estimations
Strong background in software development and QA prior to working in the game industry

Key skills

Game design: mechanics, documentation, balance, level design, content design, scripting, everything else
Free to play games: design and maintenance of monetization, virality, retention
Product management
Communication with the team, executives, clients, and third parties, including remote and on-site work
Data mining and analysis
Brainstorming, game prototyping and playtesting
UX design, prototyping of interfaces and controls
Gamification

Work experience

2022: King.com Senior Game Designer (contractor)

Contributed to the design of one of the company’s flagship games: Candy Crush Soda Saga
Generated and refined new social, competitive game feature designs in close collaboration with several teams
Driven the game design for a new competitive game feature; used data-driven approach to perfect its balance

2017-2022: Adventure Box Technology Senior Game Designer, Product Owner

Driven the product — voxel game platform that allows to easily make, publish, and play games in the browser
Driven the game design: monetization, metagame, gameplay improvements, UI/UX design, game balance
Designed a custom game logic (rules) system
Reinforced data-driven approach by data mining and analysis (deltaDNA, Google Analytics)
Taught game design principles to the team of people mostly coming from outside the game industry
Refined the product quality by providing the test plans, reporting and prioritizing issues, competitor analysis
Added a few user-facing features with minor code contributions (JavaScript)

2015: Electronic Arts St. Petersburg Associate Producer

Driven the development of a mobile/facebook game Scrabble: specs, UX, localization, art direction, triage

2013 - 2015: Freelance, remote work Game Design consultant

Game mechanics and level design for a casual time/resource management game (for Zoom Out Games)
Design direction, math model/balance for an economic simulation/educational game (for IntEduca company)
Design and prototyping of 3D sci-fi RTS/builder F2P game for mobile platforms (for Cloudmach company)
Provided creative direction for a large F2P Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure mobile game (for Signus Labs)
Contributed to the design of an escape/puzzle game for mobile platforms (for Signus Labs company)

2011 – 2013: Signus Labs Creative Director, Lead Game Designer

Published titles: promo-game for the movie Conan (web), a puzzle game Bubble Ducky (kindle), an online casino Paula Deen’s Play Room (facebook and kindle), Paula Deen’s Food for Thought (kindle)
Key role in concept creation, communication with customers, design documentation and content design
Internal corporate gamification design, gamification designs for customers

2009 – 2011: Oberon Media/I-Play Lead Game Designer

Published titles: Bubble Town Party Planet — facebook; a social puzzle game (bubble popping), Agatha Christie: 4:50 from Paddington — PC; downloadable hidden object game, Agatha Christie: Dead Man’s Folly — PC; downloadable hidden object game, Treasures of the Serengeti — PC; downloadable puzzle game with original mechanic
Designed all aspects of the games, including data gathering and performance improvements, original game mechanics, user interfaces, story, level design, mini-games
Driven the design while working with a remote team in Belarus and a remote producer in the USA
Designed a number of original concepts and some game prototypes for the company

2007 – 2008: Fireglow Games Game Designer

Contributed designs to published titles:
Plumeboom Park: PC; casual puzzle/strategy game, amusement park theme
Sudden Strike 3: PC, hardcore 3D real time strategy, a historical wargame based on WWII
Created an original and appealing puzzle game concept that inspired the team
Driven the game design from specs to parameter tuning, teamwork coordination, and playtesting
Designed game missions for the strategy game
Introduced many improvements to gameplay, GUI, controls, AI behavior
Introduced key improvements to the usability of the mission editor included in the game package

2005 – 2007: Creat Studios, Inc. Game Designer

Designed all aspects of game, including concept, documentation, prototyping, content design, controls, camera tuning, mission and level design, game balance and economy for console and PC games:
Hot Brain (Midway Games): PSP, brain trainer
Biker Mice from Mars (The Game Factory): PS2, racing/shooter/fighting based on a cartoon
American Chopper II (Activision): PS2, XBOX, NGC, PC; racing based on a TV show
Achieved the highest ratings on the gaming sites (IGN, GameSpot etc.) among the company’s other titles
Helped develop games: Coded Arms: Contagion (FPS for PSP), ATHF: Ninja Zombie Pro AM (golf/action for PS2), Witch (kids game for NDS), Insecticide (adventure for NDS). Plus, created a number of original game concepts.

Before 2005: Alcor Paycash, software developer (Delphi, C++, PHP, SQL) and QA lead (Paycash is an internet payment technology that is now used in YooMoney and MOBI.money)

Education: CAD engineer diploma (2000)

SPbSETU «LETI» (St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University)

Trainings and courses:

Drama for screenplay writing, Basic 3D modeling using Maya, Cinema direction. Basics of independent production

Languages:

Russian – native speaker English – speak and write fluently Swedish – basic

Citizenship: Sweden