Summary

• 3C Expertise – I have extensive experience designing 3C on multiple major AAA projects and conducted in-depth research of the subject. If you google “how to design game controls”, you’ll likely find my article from 2017 as #1 in the list 😊. My most recent article, which focuses on FPS character feel, can be found here.
• System Design + UX Expertise – capable of doing both system design and UX for the feature or game system, starting from the initial idea and game design, and then proceeding to wireframes, high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes.
• Units, Classes, Abilities Design & Game Balance – spent considerable time designing, tuning and balancing character classes and abilities for RPG and FPS games, designing units for RTS, and doing a lot of tuning and balancing in these genres.
• Problem Solving – I have a proven track record of designing features and systems with high levels of complexity, such as cross-platform multiplayer flow, character customisation/inventory/progression system, settings screens, and controls customisation. I also have a lot of experience dealing with complex feature requirements that can involve multiple stakeholders or development teams, telemetry, playtesting, and user research labs.
• Platform Compliance – I am well-versed in platform technical requirements and compliance (TRCs) across various platforms, including PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and mobile. On multiple projects, I have been responsible for ensuring that the game UX and feature sets meet TRC compliance standards.

Experience (Focused on 3C, Gameplay & System Design)

Senior Game Designer at KRAFTON/Vector North (February 2025 – Current)

Project “Gold Rush” (February 2025 – Current)

Cooperative Action/Adventure in the retro futuristic sci-fi setting.

3C & System/Feature Design deliveries:

• 3C (Character, Camera, Controls) design and prototyping – Fortnite-style 3rd person character traversal and locomotion, fluid and easy to pick up and play.
• Weapons & gadgets design and prototyping – designed and delivered multiple weapon types and traversal gadgets, from the initial paper design to Unreal Engine BP prototypes and then supporting code implementation, tuning and balancing.
• Vehicle handling tuning – tuning and balancing of a unique hovercraft vehicle through multiple iterations until high-quality game feel was achieved.

Senior Game Designer at Sumo Digital (December 2017 – July 2024)

Gears of War: Reloaded (January 2024 – April 2024)

Remaster of one of the major third-person shooter brands.

System/Feature Design deliveries:

• Cross-platform multiplayer flow that had to be built from scratch for the project and involved multiple stakeholders and compliance to different platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Steam).
• Design update of in-game communication and social features to support Play Fab and cross-platform friends.
• Gamepad Customisation design.
• Accessibility feature set design (colour blind options, closed captioning).
• Design update for Video Options with a new flow and improved UX.

Unannonced Project (April 2023 – December 2023)

PVP mode of Destiny-style FPS.

Gameplay Design deliveries:

• Designed and tuned combat abilities of multiple character classes.

Unannonced Project (October 2020 – March 2023)

Online PVP First Person Shooter for Tencent.

3C & System/Feature Design deliveries:

• Character traversal/locomotion and controls (Apex Legend/Titanfall level of complexity) for a high-paced first person shooter with a lot of verticality. Using this experience, I wrote an article about FPS character feel.
• Character Death & Respawn System.
• Match Start & End System.
• Home Page & Party System that was taking into account 3rd-party launcher and its social features.
• Matchmaking Flow design.
• Character Customisation System.
• Season Pass & Store front end design.
• Game Settings design (Controls Customisation, Accessibility, Video Options, etc.).

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (December 2017 – September 2020)

BAFTA-winning platformer for Sony, PlayStation 5 launch title.

System/Feature Design deliveries:

• World Map – the biggest single feature of the game, the game progression hub, “little game inside the game” with different camera, controls, and its own set of unique mechanics. Heavily interdependent with other features, and required a lot of coordination inside 100+ people team to be successfully delivered.

• Multiplayer Flow – local/couch co-op + online co-op multiplayer where UI and HUD had to adapt on-the-fly to any number of players that could drop-in/drop-out from the game at any moment. Additionaly, design for online matchmaking rules (utilising PSN functionality) and social features (e.g. mute, block, party management system, etc.).

• Character Customisation – design for a Zom-Zom Shop (e.g. Costume Shop) and its first user experience, Store and Customisation features and UI.

• Level Flow & Progression – designed how the player starts the level, complete the level, what are progression criteria, and how the player’s progress is celebrated and showed in the game (including little touches like an ability to bonk your teammates with a trophy cup or photobomb the winner’s photo).

• Game Settings & Game Assists design.

• Gamepad Customisation design which was taking into account hand-crafter nature of Sackboy/LittleBigPlanet art style and allowed physically re-arrange gameplay actions.

• Action Almanac – designed in-game help system about various Sackboy moves, coordinated video recording of the moves, reviewed the final videos.

• PSN Trophy Set – designed the game achievements/trophy set, from brainstorm coordination to the final implementation, making sure that the trophy set follows PSN requirements.

Game Designer at Ubisoft Kyiv (May 2014 – December 2017)

Design for PC versions of: Watch Dogs: Legion & Watch Dogs 2, Far Cry: Primal & Far Cry 4

3C & Feature/System Design deliveries:

• PC controls and input system design for complex open-world games like Far Cry 4, Far Cry: Primal, and Watch Dogs 2, with multiple character modes/contexts (On Foot/Driving/Drone, etc.) and mini-games/exotic gameplays. All this with a requirement to be fully re-mappable, switch on-the-fly between different input methods, and implemented in a proprietary engine (so in some cases, my work was designing what extra input functionality should be added to the engine for proper PC support). This process also involved plenty of prototyping of unique PC-specific solutions, and validation of them in Ubisoft User Research Lab. Later, I shared this experience as a conference talk and so far my most popular article “Designing Game Controls” which is currently #1 in a search for “how to design game controls”, was translated into multiple languages and even sometimes used as a reference in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) research papers.

• Video Options design for Ubisoft AAA games – designing of the graphics quality presets, graphics first user experience flow and player-facing benchmark.

• Save System Design for Far Cry: Primal – unique PC-specific feature that allowed the player to have multiple save slots.

• Designed the requirements for PC-specific telemetry and user testing on multiple projects. Spent 9 months supporting post-launch of Watch Dogs 2 PC and helped to retain the players in the game by designing extra accessibility settings and PC-specific features, based on telemetry and player feedback.

Some feedback (external and internal) about PC versions I worked on:

“Having spent about 15 hours playing Watch Dogs 2 with a mouse and keyboard, it’s easily a superior option to using a gamepad, at least in terms of accuracy and convenience.” (PC Gamer)

“As a whole, FC Primal stands out as one of the very best PC version of a Ubisoft solo game.” (Ubisoft Editorial)

Game Designer at Arkadium (November 2013 – May 2014)

Game design of two games for Microsoft Game Studios (Microsoft Sudoku, Microsoft Jigsaw).

Feature/System Design deliveries:

• Multiple input methods for Microsoft Sudoku with ability to switch on-the-fly between them, playtested and successfully validated through Microsoft User Research Lab.
• New game modes for Microsoft Sudoku with icons instead of numbers and irregular grid, which players loved as a daily challenge.
• Designing content packs and their progression for Microsoft Jigsaw, passing strict content review from Microsoft side.
• Designing Daily Challenges for the launch version of Microsoft Jigsaw.

Game Designer at N-Game Studios (August 2007 – May 2013)

I was a primary game designer in the small independent studio for 6 years, where a big part of my work was related to gameplay and system/feature design.

Feature/System & Gameplay Design deliveries:

• RPG mechanics design for Wizardale project – midcore MMORPG for social networks. Designed and delivered an original PvP combat system for three unique character classes, each with its own set of spells, items, and abilities – favorite part of the game for many players. In addition, designed the game progression and open economy that allowed the players to trade items.
• Units, abilities design and game balancing for multiple strategy games, in RTS and Tower Defense genres.
• RPG mechanics design for a client-based MMORPG up until Pre-Alpha stage, after which it was cancelled due to budget changes on the publisher’s side. Character classes and abilities, progression design, character customisation and inventory system, economy design, design of the social features.
• System & Economy design for an online strategy based on “Twilight Imperium” table-top game up until the Alpha stage, after which it was cancelled due to budget changes on the publisher’s side. Units, abilities design, tech tree, progression and economy design, cinematic battle visualisation design.