DeenOD StudioDeenod

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We’re building Andalus.
Come build it with us.

DeenOD Studio is a small Toronto team making a metroidvania set in late-convivencia al-Andalus. We’re looking for a Unity developer, a character and UI artist, and an Andalusi calligrapher.

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What we’re building

Andalus.

Granada, Córdoba, Toledo, during the late convivencia and early reconquista. The world is a layered city where mosque, library, garden, market, and underground passage interconnect like a metroidvania map: vertical, recursive, learnable.

Knowledge is the progression system. As you study fragments of an illuminated manuscript and meet teachers across the three traditions of the city, you unlock new abilities — fahm (understanding) lets you read inscriptions that were illegible, sabr (patience) lets you survive longer environmental hazards, hikma (wisdom) lets you de-escalate enemies who would otherwise be lethal. Combat exists, but it is the lesser path. Every mandatory encounter has a non-violent solution.

We are in pre-production. The blueprint is on the title page. A vertical-slice chapter is the next milestone.

What we believe

The work passes through these, or it doesn’t ship.

  1. 01Ihsan in every frame
  2. 02No exploitation patterns
  3. 03Halal by construction
  4. 04Respect the source
  5. 05Constraints become the aesthetic

The longer version of each lives on the studio page. If any of them is the wrong filter, this isn’t the studio for you.

Roles we’re filling

Three, named.

  1. 01

    Unity developer

    Owns the metroidvania core: traversal, ability gating, scene streaming, the manuscript-as-progression system. Comfortable in URP 2D, Shader Graph, and the kind of tight feel that holds up against Hollow Knight and Ori. The ability layer (fahm, sabr, hikma) is the spine of the game — this role builds it.

    Commitment
    Full-time or sustained part-time
    Compensation
    Cash + meaningful equity

  2. 02

    Character + UI artist

    Hand-painted figures and interface, in the studio's visual register (Persian Shahnameh and Mughal miniature for figure-environment relation; GRIS for atmospheric register). Works with the AI-curated environment pipeline upstream and the Spine rigger downstream. UI is treated as architecture, not chrome — mashrabiya, muqarnas, riad courtyard as menu and HUD.

    Commitment
    Part-time or commission, by chapter
    Compensation
    Cash + revenue share

  3. 03

    Andalusi / Maghribi calligrapher

    Sources every Arabic script that appears on screen. Calligraphy is the studio's voice for the unseen — revelation, divine action, the manuscript itself — and it is never AI-generated. Andalusi and Maghribi scripts in particular: this game lives in them. Recorded as strokes for the calligraphy-reveal animation system, not flattened glyphs.

    Commitment
    Commission, by manuscript / scene
    Compensation
    Cash per piece + credit

We will also eventually need a composer, a writer collaborator, and community moderators. If that’s you, the form below is open to you too — pick “Other” on the role field and tell us what you’d be coming in on.

How we work with collaborators

The shape of the deal.

  • Every collaborator is paid — cash, equity, or revenue share. Never “exposure.”
  • Equity vests over four years with a one-year cliff. Standard, written down.
  • Founder retains majority until external funding closes.
  • Roles are weighted by commitment, not titles.
  • A post-ship revenue-share pool sits on top of equity, for everyone who shipped the game.
  • Every arrangement is in a contract before work begins.

Start a conversation

One form. We read everything.

Name, role, a link to the work. A short note if context helps. Direct is fine.