Concept · UX/UI · Design System · Games
Dragons Lake — a game studio that looks the part.
Dragons Lake shipped work on AAA titles (Outriders, Godfall) but was a smaller, lesser-known name next to giants like Keywords and Virtuos — and its hardest problem wasn't clients, it was hiring the scarce senior engineers and artists every studio chases. I designed a technological business-card that doubles as a careers hub: AAA proof up front, a dark, high-craft interface that signals the studio's own competence, and a frictionless path from "current openings" to "apply."
Context & Challenge
Great AAA work, quietly told — and a talent market on fire.
Dragons Lake had the credentials — console-grade co-development and porting on AAA/AA+ projects — but not the visibility. In a global market where experienced game specialists are scarce and the big studios out-spend everyone for them, a generic corporate site loses the hire before the conversation starts. The brief: make the studio read as premium and technological — proof enough for a senior engineer to apply, and for a publisher to trust it with a console milestone.
Research & the core insight
The site isn't a brochure — it's the studio's first tech demo.
Work started with competitor research and client data-gathering. The landscape: giants like Keywords Studios (12,000+ people) and Virtuos (4,000+, 1,500+ projects) win on scale; Dragons Lake had to win on craft and focus. The market signal was unambiguous — hiring senior game talent is the industry's hardest problem, and employer brand (shipped work, culture, a studio that looks competent) is the decisive lever. The insight: for engineers and artists, the website itself is evidence — a studio that builds a beautiful, fast, technological site proves it can build beautiful, fast, technological games.
Thousands of people, hundreds of shipped projects, brand recognition. Hard to feel special as a candidate.
Premium, technological, careers-first. The site has to make a smaller name feel like the sharpest choice.
Persona
Two audiences, one demand: prove you're real.
Boring, low-tech or unremarkable work after AAA; a no-name studio with nothing real shipped; a studio whose own site looks cheap ("if they can't build this, can I trust their craft?"); unclear stack / quality bar; a faceless outsource-conveyor vibe; friction in applying.
Real AAA/console proof; a visibly technological, high-craft site; clear role tracks (Engineering & QA · Art & UI · Game & level design); transparent roles; fast Apply / "Let's talk".
An unproven partner missing a console/AAA milestone; hidden technical gaps; NDA / security / IP risk; poor cross-timezone communication; can't scale the team.
A demonstrated AAA/console track record + detailed case studies; clearly scoped services (Co-development, Game porting); an offices / global-delivery map; a credible, technological presentation that reads "safe pair of hands."
No documented personas were handed over — these are built from market research and the site's own logic. Both audiences share one pain: credibility. Prove you're real, and the hire (or the deal) follows.
The strategy
Close the fear, then attract — prove you're real, then grow your own talent.
How we close the fear — credibility
A dark, cinematic, technological interface — custom motion and a tight responsive build — that signals engineering and design competence at first scroll.
AAA titles up front, plus thorough, well-written cases (challenge → tech → result). For a senior engineer or a producer, deep cases are the strongest trust signal.
How we attract developers
A real careers hub — openings by department, vacancy search & filters, easy apply, and a conversational "Let's talk".
A University / academy page for aspiring developers — the seed of a pipeline Dragons Lake planned, to train its own future engineers and artists.
Co-development and Game porting, clearly scoped for producers and publishers.
Selected pages
Every page earns a hire or a lead.
The site is organised around two jobs — convince, then convert: a cinematic Home that leads with AAA work, clearly-scoped Services, a University academy, deeply-written case studies, and a conversational "Let's talk". And at its centre, the page that carries the studio's hardest job.
Career — the heart
Hiring, made the centre — not a buried link.
The Career hub is the core of the experience: current openings grouped by department (Game & level design, Engineering & QA, Art & UI, Management & operations), a vacancy search with filters, a clean vacancy page, and low-friction Apply — plus a conversational "Let's talk" for both candidates and clients.
More of the system
Building trust — the pages that prove it.
Around the careers core, the rest of the site is built to raise trust. An About us that answers who we are and what we do, backed by our successful cases as proof. An education call-to-action that says we don’t just hire talent — we grow our own future specialists. And a Services section that explains what we do in depth, with a dedicated page for each audience we speak to.
Selected screens
A dark, technological interface — the studio's first tech demo.
Black + cyan (#00ABC2), custom motion, and a tight responsive build (375 / 768 / 1440) — the interface itself is the proof of craft.
Reality
The live site is gone — the design is the record.
Dragons Lake was later absorbed into its parent holding, Room 8, and the original site is no longer live — so this case shows the design, prototype and system as the record of the work. The build still lives on in the Awwwards directory, where it earned an Honorable Mention.
Impact
No vanity metrics — design that did a hard job.
Looks its level
A technological interface built to convert scarce senior talent — the studio's hardest problem.
End-to-end delivery
Competitor research, client data, wireframes, prototype, UI, responsive (375 / 768 / 1440) + a tokenised design system & dev spec.
End-to-endRecruiting made first-class
Careers moved from a buried link to the core of the experience — openings, filters, apply, "Let's talk".
Externally recognised craft
The site went on to earn an Awwwards Honorable Mention.
AwwwardsWhat shipped