Stanislas Mihaljcuk, Junior Game Designer, joined Gameloft Budapest a few months ago after graduating from his digital game studies.
A big game player and maker, he currently works on Dragon Mania Legends to create new features and solutions in a collaborative team.
Find out more about him, his job, and some of the great advice he has for people who want to enter the world of game design below!
Hi, Stanislas! Tell us about yourself.
Bonjour everyone! It’s nice to meet you all. My name’s Stanislas, and I’m a junior game designer at Gameloft Budapest. I’m grateful to them as this is my first job after graduating with a Master of Science in Digital Games at the University of Malta.
As my last name doesn't suggest, I'm French, but I enjoy traveling and living in different places to experience new cultures.
I love games, and I play lots of different genres on the PC. I'm also really into playing sports, such as snowboarding, martial arts, football, and basketball.
What is your role, and what do you enjoy most about your job?
At Gameloft Budapest, our studio in Hungary, I work in an agile team to design new features for our longtime game Dragon Mania Legends.
To that end, I write documentation and coordinate with the other departments to bring innovative solutions to our players.
It’s great to work in such a collaborative environment where every person brings their unique talents and skills to make a successful game that entertains many.
It’s a very satisfying feeling to design a pitch for a new dragon and see it take form after going through the artists and being implemented by the programmers.
What are some of your most memorable moments at Gameloft?
I remember fondly the time we had a big online team-building exercise in the game Human: Fall Flat. We were in teams of eight on Discord, and we had a friendly competition to see which group would finish the levels the quickest.
One of the players in my group, a veteran in that game, was giving us instructions on how to solve the level for about an hour only to realize that he was muted the whole time. This led to everyone bursting out laughing, and it was a great team bonding moment.
What advice do you have for people who want to work in gaming in a similar role?
Being a game designer is for everyone but not just anyone.
The must-have skill you need is clear, precise, and constant communication. The job consists of making sure other teams understand what your vision is and what they should do to contribute to it. Be confident and bold in your attitude.
The other piece of advice I’d give is: start making games. Go to game jams, find a group of people to work with, do it by yourself, whatever! Just make sure you finish and publish your game! People need to see it! It doesn’t matter how bad it is because you can always improve it later. What matters most is that you finished it. And don't forget to unmute your mic when you're in a Zoom call.
This is the sign you’ve been looking for to go finish that game, put it in your portfolio, and apply to our game designer positions at Gameloft Budapest and in our studios all over the world! Stay tuned for another edition of Humans Behind the Game.
