From India to Zagreb: In pursuit of passion for game design

Payal packed her life in two suitcases, said goodbye to family and friends and hit the road to pursue her passion for game design. Destination: Zagreb, Croatia. Landing point: Nanobit. A few months later, she thinks this is the best decision she ever made.  

We asked Payal a few questions about her acclimatisation to our company culture, Zagreb and her role as Senior Game Designer.  

How did you decide to make the move to Croatia to work at Nanobit?  

I have been working in the gaming industry in India for 5.5 years before joining Nanobit. I always had a goal to travel around the world and acquire more knowledge and expertise in the game development industry. It’s noteworthy to mention that while in India, I played My Story: Choose Your Own Path and Hollywood Story: Fashion Star games when they first came out. So, when the opportunity presented itself, especially that it was a role in Nanobit, I did not hesitate to make the decision. Nanobit’s reputation precedes it! 
As the game development industry in India is still nascent – but ever-growing and it has great potential, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to join such a successful gaming studio  and learn as much as I can, maybe I would go back to India and impart this knowledge and eventually break the glass ceiling. 

I moved to Croatia specially to work at Nanobit. Now, I’m enjoying work and life in Zagreb!

What attracted you to work at Nanobit in particular?  

I found Nanobit’s games portfolio quite interesting, especially that is within the area of my expertise as I have had prior experience working in a gaming company in India, producing games to a similar audience. The game “My Story: Choose Your Path”, for example, has its flagship story, ’’Dear Mona’’, which is about a girl and her struggles with teenage pregnancy. I thought the topic was really topical, edgy and well-executed by Nanobit, because it served as a cautionary tale. We now see a lot of games going a similar route, where they address more risqué topics, but I believe Nanobit dipped their toes into the waters pretty early and that definitely piqued my interest in wanting to work for Nanobit. 
Another aspect to why I applied for this role at Nanobit, was the company culture! Browsing through the web pages, I got amazed by the team’s stories, photos, events and accomplishments. The website pretty much captures the spirit of the work environment, which is full of really good synergy! Not to forget to mention that I was also driven by a great motivation to work on new hit titles to take the market by a storm – this definitely was the most enticing of all! 

How would you describe your experience working at Nanobit? 

I find myself lucky to be a part of Nanobit because I jumped right into some really interesting projects without skipping a beat. Additionally, I feel pumped to try and design a super successful hit for the company which would just be the icing on the cake! 

I’ve been given a lot of freedom to express my ideas. I’m definitely learning a lot and moving towards the career goal I have set for myself.

What’s the most important factor for you when deciding on a professional opportunity and did you find that at Nanobit? 

The most important factor for me was the opportunity to be able to work on multiple projects and have a great deal of collaboration with my team while working on designing a game. During my interview process, I was assured every step of the way that the environment in Nanobit is very collaborative and everyone’s opinion is taken into consideration. That’s exactly what I currently experience in Nanobit. Every feature we work on is a stem from team efforts and that’s important because you never know from where or from whom the inspiration might strike. 

 After almost a year at Nanobit, what would you say makes working at Nanobit unique? 

I’ve been here less than a year, but I’ve been welcomed and made to feel at home from day one! The thing that really gets me in Nanobit is how friendly and welcoming everyone has been. 

There isn’t a dull or boring moment at Nanobit. It’s clear that everyone gets along extremely well. This amazing working environment has greatly contributed not only to the morale, but to the quality of the work we do as well! 

Other than my coworkers, it’s been amazing to see the work we do grow and evolve and see people take feedback and apply it to their work. Nanobit really shows that anything is possible when you’ve got a bunch of hard-working and talented people ready to do their best and you show them you care for them. 

Can you describe a typical day as a Senior Game Designer at Nanobit?  

As Senior Game Designer, my responsibilities include, designing mechanics, core-loops and systems for new and existing games. My tasks can range from immensely creative endeavors such as brainstorming and coming up with new features, to more mundane ones such as Privacy Policy research and documentation updates. However, my favorite aspect about working on every one of my tasks is cross-department collaboration. Frequent meets with the analytics and the UI design team and the communication between us allows me to tailor our games to improve our players’ experience. 

What is your experience living in Croatia so far? 

 It’s been bittersweet. I came at a pretty rocky time with the pandemic on the rise, but, everything fell into place eventually. The team from HR reached out to me to make sure I was okay and that help was available, if I needed it! My colleagues were also extremely supportive and they made my transition super smooth. It’s truly great to have that kind of support when you’re an alien in a new country. 

As a silver lining, I experienced my first snow in Zagreb! 
Another experience that I was excited about was seeing the city in beautiful fall colors! Zagreb is a really pretty city and the red & orange just added the right kick to an otherwise foggy day. A pumpkin-spiced Rakia seems like a good idea, right about now. Zagreb itself is a beautiful city and I’m excited to see the rest of Croatia!