Games For Change - Game Development Internship (Unity & Unreal Engine)

🌌 The Verse — Games & Digital Therapeutics for a Healthier, More Connected World

The Verse builds games and digital experiences that improve mental health, emotional wellbeing, and human connection. We’re a global community of creators, game designers, developers, artists, scientists, storytellers, and students; united by a shared purpose: to make games that make people healther, happier and more hopeful.

✨ What We Do
We design game-based therapeutics, immersive experiences, and playful tools that help people breathe better, feel better, relate better, and grow. Our work blends:

• Game Design + Wellbeing Science
• Emotional Regulation + Prosociality
• Ritual, Story, and Play +
• Community + Co-creation Our philosophy is simple: Human-first. Collaborative. Holistic.

💡 The Problem We’re Solving
We live in a time of polycrisis: rising mental health challenges, loneliness, and disconnection. People need tools that are not only effective, but engaging, inspiring, and accessible.

🚀 How We Create Impact
We move ideas from research → prototypes → tested game experiences in partnership with clinicians, academics, and organizations. Every project aims to foster empathy, prosocial behavior, emotional regulation, and collective wellbeing.

🎮 What We’re Building
The Verse builds three transformative game worlds that use play to improve wellbeing and human connection.

• WalkXR is an immersive Unreal Engine platform that turns real human challenges into embodied gameplay through storytelling, emotional-regulation mechanics, and ritual-based interaction, with themed “walks” like Power of Music, Diabetes Journey, and Bridging Differences.
• Adventures in Breath introduces a new genre of breath-powered play, where players use breathing and humming to explore the magical world of Harmonia, regulate their nervous systems, and unlock sonic abilities.
• Karma: The Six Realm Game is a choice-based prosocial RPG that rewards empathy, cooperation, and compassion, inviting players to grow by building relationships, repairing conflict, and using kindness as a core game mechanic.

Games For Change - Game Development Internship (Unity & Unreal Engine)

*We are an early stage startup with lots of gaming hats to wear. *

• Game Design
• Game Development
• Unity or Unreal programmer: able to code/program. Contribute to existing projects and work with The Verse team to create new games and game mechanics. We are always open to new ideas!
• Story Telling.
• Graphic Design.
• Art Direction.
• Digtal Art & Animation.
• Artists.
• Philosophers.

Requirements & Skills

• Technical Mastery: Experience with Unity or Unreal Engine (C# / C++ or Blueprints) to program, refine, and iterate on game mechanics.
• Creative Vision: Skills in storytelling, art direction, 2D/3D digital art, animation, or narrative game design.
• Agile & Multidisciplinary Mindset: Comfortable wearing multiple startup hats—from game design and philosophy to graphic design and user experience.
• Proactive Collaboration: Strong communication skills and an eagerness to contribute fresh ideas, prototype new concepts, and build collaboratively with a team.

🌍 Who Thrives Here
The Verse attracts people who want their work to mean something:

• Undergrads searching for purpose
• Grad students applying research to real-world impact
• Technologists seeking mission-driven creativity
• Artists & Healers wanting to inspire healing
• Academics craving applied practice
• Builders who want to help shape a “metaverse for human flourishing”

We receive 100+ applications a month from around the world. People join The Verse because they want to grow, collaborate, and create games for good.

💫 Why Work With Us
At The Verse, you’ll get:

• Impact --> Build games and digital therapeutics that help real people.
• Creative Range --> Work across game design, XR, behavioral science, narrative, data, and more.
• Access --> Collaborate with neuroscientists, clinicians, technologists, and transformative tech leaders.
• Community --> Join a distributed team of 50+ innovators, artists, and entrepreneurs.
• Growth --> We support your development with mentorship, hands-on experience, and strong recommendations.

📣 We’re Looking For People Who…
Are passionate about gaming for good, prosocial design, XR, wellbeing, art, storytelling, neuroscience, Buddhism, psychedelics, transformative technology, or building a metaverse that actually benefits humanity. If that’s you, we’d love to meet you.

To apply, send your resume and a note about what excites you about The Verse.
🌐 More info: versebuilding.com
📩 Contact: [email protected]
Join us. Let’s build the future of wellbeing—through play.

Ben Simon-Thomas - Founder The Verse
Contact [email protected] for more info and/or with any questions! We are always interested in connecting with the right people

TheVerse team is 50+ entrepreneurs, artists, and game developers with experiences and expertise (MAs & PhDs) in gaming, world building, metaverses, build in the open, community development, health & wellbeing.

Ben Simon-Thomas - Founder/CEO. Buddhist-leaning entrepreneur and ecosystem developer. Founded startups in the 3D space (SoundFit: 3D Scanning & ODMS: parts-on-demand), social commerce (GroupGain), worked in health-care startups and life style modification businesses (PMRI). MA in Buddhist psychology, degrees in Religious Philosophy and Language. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensimonthomas/