9 Dots is a non-profit organization  working to provide girls, students of color, and students from low-income communities with access to the transformative computer science (CS) education they need to thrive in today’s technological world. We create learning environments that engage every student and promote fearlessness in problem solving through our originally designed curriculum and coding platform. 

About the role

The 9 Dots product team is operating like a small indie game studio situated within the larger organization with the goal of shipping 4-6 mini Computer Science games that build the confidence, motivation and the technical skills that students need in order to pursue futures in tech. Currently, we are building a Baba is You-like top-down puzzle game (with the blessing of Arvi Teikari) that will be geared towards a target audience of 10-13 year olds. 

In this role you will be provided with a learning objective and then you will be asked to design a sequence of Baba is You-like puzzles that would enable a student to reach the target learning objective. Learning objective examples include, “I can tinker to learn more about a problem.” or “I can test my predictions to learn more about a problem.” Our learning objectives can be thought of as a level theme or design theme. 

About 9 Dots

Since its inception, 9 Dots has been on the frontier of Computer Science education. We completed one of the first full Kindergarten-6th grade CS curriculum pathways that is both rigorous and standards aligned.  We now seek to push the boundaries of Computer Science Education once more by shipping magical and engaging CS games that build  experience with big CS concepts like Logic, Data management, Automation, Algorithms, Machine Learning, etc. We’re inspired by games like Human Resource Machine and Baba is You, and we believe these kinds of games could be transformative for early CS education if they were modified for younger students. 

9 Dots finds itself at a special moment in time– we have a proven impact. We have exciting ambitions to expand our reach. And we have the time and resources to invest in improving our curriculum. We are looking for a puzzle designer to create a well scaffolded  level sequence in the Baba is You editor that enables a player to reach the target learning objectives. Join us and be part of this mission driven work to make equitable CS education a reality for all. 

Links

• Pitch Deck 
• Art Vibes Mood Board

Deliverable: A sequence of 5-10 Baba is You puzzles aimed at 10-13 year old that hits on our learning objectives.

Requirements

• Professional experience designing puzzles or making games.
• Ability to design for various audience groups age and difficulty wise
• Plays and loves puzzles games!
• The capacity to be self-critical and responsive, & to iterate based on feedback from teammates
• The ability to self-manage & make responsible decisions about time and game priorities
• Great communication skills 
• Highly collaborative in a remote setting 

Bonus

• Experience with the Baba is You editor

Estimated Time: 32  hours over a 2 week period

• 45 minute onboarding meeting with Head of Product
• remaining hours for puzzle creation 
• 1 hr meeting puzzle presentation & discussion

Compensation: $40-50/hr (USD) commensurate with experience