About
Pablo Castillo · Lead Systems Designer
I’m happiest at the start of a project, when nobody knows yet what the game is.
I’m a game designer in the Bay Area. I started in QA at EA/Maxis, learned live-service design on mobile at KIXEYE and Amazon Games (where I was also on the pitch team), and spent the last few years leading design at Noctua Interactive. There I owned all the design on DreamWalkers, pitched new games and mentored the next generation of designers.
My job at the start of a project is to find the fun quickly, write the rules that protect it, and get a team and a greenlight committee excited to build it.
Bilingual English/Spanish. Open to Lead or Senior Systems Designer and Technical Designer roles, on-site in the Bay Area or remote. Castillo.Pablo.L@gmail.com · LinkedIn
| How I work
1. Build the design house
Before anything gets built I write the house rules: 3–4 pillars, the player fantasy, and the test every feature has to pass. If it doesn’t serve the pillars, it’s out of scope.
2. Find the fun
I get the core loop playable in days, not sprints, and put it in front of players. Their confusion is the brief. I change one thing at a time and keep every tuning value in data, never buried in a graph.
3. Prove it, then pitch it
Retention curves, balance simulations, frame budgets, a ten-second payoff on a stopwatch. I bring evidence to the greenlight meeting, not adjectives.