Maksym Rudek · portfolio

Maksym Rudek — Applying for Game Lead at Voodoo.

Applying for Game Lead at Voodoo.

Two tracks — shipping craft and building teams — converging into one role.

scroll

By the numbers

10+
years in tech
~20
hyper-casual prototypes
2-wk
prototype cadence
10
people recruited
5 yrs
fully-remote studio
5,000+
premium paid downloads

The path

Voodoo asks → delivered

Read it top to bottom like a level. Every node is tagged GAME and/or LEAD and mapped to something the role asks for.

  1. Founder · Studio LeadLEADGAME

    Built a studio from zero

    No funding, no safety net — a fully-remote studio shipped to mobile and Nintendo Switch.

    I started the studio with zero external funding and ran it as owner-operator for five years: hiring, contracts, budgets, roadmap and the final call on what shipped.

    The team scaled between 3 and 12 people depending on the project — ten recruited in total, on a mix of full-time and part-time contracts, coordinated fully remote across CET ±3h.

    Ownership wasn't a value on a slide; it was the operating condition. Every kill, every hire and every ship was mine to own.

    • 10people recruited
    • 3–12team size
    • 5 yrsfully remote

    Voodoo asks

    Lead a fully remote team across CET ±3h

    Delivered →

    Ran a fully-remote studio across CET ±3h for five years.

    Voodoo asks

    Operate with a founder's ownership mindset

    Delivered →

    Owner-operator from zero funding to shipped titles.

    Voodoo asks

    Set clear goals and keep a high talent bar

    Delivered →

    Set the roadmap, hired to the bar, held people to clear goals.

  2. Premium iOS · end-to-endGAME

    Sole Light

    A premium iOS title taken end-to-end — 5,000+ paid downloads on a polished, satisfying core.

    Sole Light was a paid premium game I produced end-to-end: concept, core loop, feel, art direction, release.

    Premium means players pay before they feel anything — so the first thirty seconds had to be satisfying, readable and juicy, or the sale never happens. 5,000+ paid downloads say it landed.

    • 5,000+paid downloads
    • premiumiOS release
    Sole Light — gameplay

    Voodoo asks

    Make a game more satisfying, juicy and exciting

    Delivered →

    Shipped a premium core polished until the first thirty seconds felt satisfying.

  3. Nintendo Switch · certified twiceGAMELEAD

    Pocket Pool + DLC

    Built for Nintendo Switch and expanded with DLC — both cleared certification. Tens of thousands of downloads, zero live-ops.

    Pocket Pool shipped on Nintendo Switch and reached tens of thousands of downloads, then I expanded it with a DLC release — a deliberate second build, not a live service.

    Both the base game and the DLC had to clear Nintendo's certification bar: performance, compliance, stability, submission — pass or resubmit. No shortcuts for a small team, twice.

    • tens of thousandsdownloads
    • 2Switch certifications
    Pocket Pool + DLC — gameplay

    Voodoo asks

    Ship a title and support it with post-launch DLC

    Delivered →

    Shipped Pocket Pool on Nintendo Switch, then expanded it with DLC.

    Voodoo asks

    Hold a hard quality and certification bar

    Delivered →

    Passed Nintendo Switch certification for the base game and its DLC.

  4. Publisher-side · hyper-casual pipelineGAMELEADFlagship

    Kwalee — the prototype pipeline

    10 months, ~20 hyper-casual prototypes, a two-week cadence, a five-person team — marketability tested on the publisher's side of the table.

    For ten months I ran a hyper-casual prototype pipeline in collaboration with Kwalee: roughly twenty prototypes, one every two weeks, with a five-person team.

    Each prototype was built to be tested for marketability — real CPI and retention signals — then killed or iterated on the data. This is the funnel Voodoo runs: velocity and validation discipline, not hit-chasing.

    Crucially, I operated as a producer on the developer-partner side of a global publisher — the same seat, the same decisions, the same tempo. Most candidates have only seen this from inside a single studio; I've seen it from the partner side of the table.

    • ~20prototypes
    • 2 wkscadence
    • 5team
    • 10 moduration
    Prototype reel (private)

    Voodoo asks

    Run a fast prototype pipeline — build, test marketability, kill or scale

    Delivered →

    Ran ~20 prototypes on a two-week build / test / kill cadence.

    Voodoo asks

    Build and run a small team (~4)

    Delivered →

    Built and led a five-person pod through a relentless pipeline.

  5. PC · systems designGAME

    Blitzdeck

    Systems-design depth and continuous craft — the game-feel end of the spectrum.

    Blitzdeck is a PC rogue-lite deckbuilder where the interest lives in systems: synergies, pacing, run variance, the moment-to-moment feel of a good turn.

    It's the counterweight to hyper-casual velocity — proof the craft goes deep on core gameplay, not just fast.

    • rogue-litesystems design
    Blitzdeck — gameplay

    Voodoo asks

    Own core gameplay and game feel

    Delivered →

    Designed deep core systems tuned for moment-to-moment feel.

  6. Outside games · strategy & dataLEAD

    Strategy & data, outside games

    IT consulting and fintech — decision-making with money and data on the line.

    Before and alongside games I worked in IT consulting and fintech: strategy, and data-driven decisions where the numbers had consequences.

    • $100k+projects
    • fintech+ consulting

Two tracks, one seat

GAME+LEAD

= GAME LEAD

Craft that ships and a team that ships it.

How I lead

Leadership, mapped to the role

The JD's team responsibilities, each matched to how I actually run a team — and the receipts.

Build a team of ~4

I hire for the bar and the mission, then keep the group small enough to move as one.

↳ Recruited 10 over five years; a 5-person pod on the Kwalee pipeline.

Set clear goals

Goals a distributed team can execute without me in the room — a build and a metric, not a mood.

↳ A two-week prototype cadence: every sprint had a testable target.

Inspire and motivate

Motivation survives on momentum and honesty about the funnel — we kill fast so wins feel earned.

↳ Kept a remote team shipping through ~20 build/test/kill cycles.

Manage performance and growth

Real feedback, real ownership, and contracts that fit the person and the phase.

↳ Grew people across mixed full-time and part-time engagements.

Keep a high talent bar

Small teams only work at a high bar — I'd rather stay under-hired than lower it.

↳ Teams of 3–12 that shipped to mobile and a certified console.

Remote leadership

5 yrs
fully-remote studio
10
people recruited
3–12
team sizes led
FT + PT
contract mix

Redacted production artifacts

  • Pitch deck
  • Game design doc
  • Staffing, timeline & budget

In their words

What it's like to work with me

I asked people I've worked with the same question, unscripted, 10–15 seconds each: what's it like to work with me?

Testimonials — in their words

Fit, at a glance

The requirement matrix

Every requirement from the listing, linked back to the node that proves it. Screen me against the JD in under a minute.

GAME

LEAD

Portrait of Maksym Rudek

The human

Who you'd be hiring

I'm Maksym Rudek a game lead, producer and studio founder based in Warsaw.

Off the clock I'm a street & documentary photographer, which is the same instinct as the work: watch closely, catch the real moment, cut everything else.

Documentary photographer, Warsaw.

Next move

Let's get in touch

Call meLinkedInDownload CV

This site uses Microsoft Clarity for anonymised heatmaps and session replays, but only after you accept — nothing loads before that. Read the privacy & cookies policy.