GameMender is a solo, systems-first game balance and progression design practice — not a large studio or agency. I work directly with indie developers, solo devs, and small studios on difficulty curves, economies, and progression systems, with no account managers or handoffs in between. See how the process works or book a free consultation.
The name is literal: I fix what's broken in a game's underlying systems, and leave everything that already works alone. Most of the problems that make players quit aren't content problems — they're math and pacing problems hiding under the surface: a difficulty curve that spikes too hard, an economy that quietly inflates itself into meaninglessness, a skill tree where most of the choices don't actually matter. That's the layer I work in.
Games are emotional math. Every rage-quit and every "this feels amazing" moment traces back to a system working, or not working, as intended. My approach combines probability, data analysis, and system modeling with attention to how players actually behave — not just how a design document assumes they'll behave — to find where a system is quietly working against the player, and rebuild it so it isn't. You can see this approach applied in more depth in the complete game balance guide.
GameMender is intentionally a small, focused practice rather than a large studio. That means every engagement gets direct attention — no account managers, no junior staff doing the actual analysis, no scope creep from layers of process. It also means pricing is scoped to what your project actually needs, which tends to fit indie and small-studio budgets better than agency rates.
That said, an independent practice isn't the right fit for every project — see the honest agency vs. independent consultant comparison for when a larger team actually serves you better.
The engagement process is deliberately simple — share your build, get a breaking-points analysis, walk away with actionable fixes — and every call starts the same honest way: no pressure, no sales pitch, just a conversation about what's broken and whether this is the right fit to fix it. If it isn't, you'll hear that directly instead of a sales pitch anyway.
Curious what past engagements actually looked like? See case studies or read client reviews.
Free consultation. No pressure, no sales pitch — just an honest look at what's broken.
