Edward Zhang
Sr. Game Designer - Sid Meier\'s Civilization || Adjunct Professor - University of Maryland
- Role
- Sr Game Designer (Econ & Combat Lead) at Firaxis Games
- Location
- Sparks Glencoe, MD, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Edward Zhang
One more turn! I’m a game designer who’s caught ‘em all with Pokémon and now conquering new frontiers on Civ 7. Ready to shape worlds—one pixel at a time!
Experience
Sr Game Designer (Econ & Combat Lead)
Jun 2023 — Present · MD, US
I serve as the dual-system owner for both the empire-level economy and tactical combat on Civ VII, guiding design from late production into live-service balancing. Introduced Town Specialization to make the new City/Town split meaningful—now a fan-favorite feature. Re-imagined Happiness as a yield: low values trigger penalties, high values unlock Celebrations and global buffs. Set the pacing & weights for every core yield (Food, Production, Gold, Happiness, Science, Culture, Influence) across all eras. Founded the “Zealots” Deity-level playtest group, driving top survey scores for both Economics and Combat. Drove some of the most popular design changes: Isabella Ability rework, Growth Curve Adjustments. Led a mixed pod of engineers and created pipelines for a dozen artists; appeared in patch videos (1.2.0, 1.2.2) and global press tours, including IGN China.
Education
Emory University
Bachelor's degree, Economics
Georgia Institute of Technology
Master's degree, Digital Media
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