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Mitchell Smallman: System and Product Design

Creative director, designer, and product leader with 15+ years helping studios shape ideas, align teams, and bring games to life. Combining creative direction, product leadership, and AI to help teams build better games faster.

Trusted by Great Companies

Next Games Space Ape Rovio Wicked Saints Porcelain Fortress Formation Games
Mitchell Smallman

About Me

Fixing Games and Fixing Teams.

I've spent 15+ years helping studios shape ideas, align teams, and bring games to life. I started as (and remain) a designer, grew into creative and product leadership, built studios, ran my own company, and launched more prototypes than I can count.

Lately I've been deep in AI based development, unlocking new paths to discover new designs. Human creativity will allllllllllways be what makes games wonderful, but I'm always interested when new ways to explore them emerge. (Hi there, Mitchell here! Once I ate an entire blueberry pie in a single sitting, and to this day I am not sure whether I am ashamed or proud. This is just to remind you, after seeing some AI talk, there's a human behind this keyboard!)

Now I'm combining everything I've learned to help teams build better games with stronger systems, and to lay the groundwork for my next studio project.

System Design Creative Direction Team Alignment Live Operations Monetization
15+
Years XP
Multiple
Exits
$250M+
Revenue Gen.

Services

How I Can Help Your Studio

Essential Audit

I'll dive into your game in its current state with the intent of providing the team tools and insights to help their own decision making. Includes economy tools, feature review, and IAP pricing strategy.

Booster Sprint

Economy design and monetization package with design documentation and planning work to prepare your product for launch in a healthy state. Includes economy design, testing plan, and IAP strategy.

Fractional Product Owner

I embed into your team remotely until the task at hand is done. Long-term partnership for ongoing product leadership and strategic guidance throughout development.

Workshops

I can set up an afternoon, 1 day or 2 day workshop for whatever design problem your team is facing. I come in, train your team, and leave you with an empowered focus.

Selected Works

Project Case Studies

Examples of systems and strategy design work. Note: Internal documentation and sensitive data are sanitized.

Mobile F2P Economy Design

Economy Mapping, IAP Planning and Simulation

Enclosed is a variation of a product I recently worked on for a large mobile client. It covers all of the necessary pricing, balancing for a Gacha based squad RPG and runs 1000 player Monte Carlo Simulations at the press of a button.

Video Editorials

Deep dives into game mechanics, systems, and narrative structures.

Editorial: Back To The Dawn

Editorial: Jubensha

Testimonials

What Leaders & Teammates Say

"There are so many ways Mitchell left an indelible stamp on our company's culture and our game. He introduced new development frameworks and vernacular that we still reference. He enriched our culture... Mitchell understood our vision, despite its unusual nature, and I would exhort anyone to get his advice on what they're building!"

AC
Alicia Clifton
Co-Founder, Wicked Saints

"It was a great experience working with Mitchell. He is really an expert in free-to-play mobile games, and did an excellent job in building up the world of our game from scratch. He is a lead with an open mind, always listens to different opinions, encourages team members to challenge the design and express their creative voice."

XH
Xu He
Senior Designer, Ustwo Games

"It's HARD to build a new IP... somehow Mitch managed that and much more. Mitch taught me so much about Game Design, from the over-arching philosophy behind each step to the nitty-gritty specifics of mobile games. He also taught me a lot about the best kind of Production/Design interactions; we relied on each other a lot."

RW
Reese Wright
Senior Producer, Devolver Digital

Let's build something great.

If you'd like to explore working together — or just want to say hello — feel free to reach out. I'm always happy to chat about game design, creative process, or what's next for AI in games.