I’m Sven Schetzke. For 17+ years, I’ve worked where player experience, game design and product decisions meet.
From player-facing roles to hands-on systems design, LiveOps, building teams and directing games. Each perspective informs the next.
Player support, user research, playtesting and engagement design taught me to start with what players actually experience, not only what the design intends.
Listen to the experience people actually have.
Turn motivation into systems that work in play.
Give a game the conditions to last.
Build teams that can make good decisions.
A progression from designing individual systems to taking responsibility for people, products and their future.
From engagement systems to a design organization of 25+ and cross-platform product direction.
New demand in an open player economy. A product turnaround that supported renewed investment and a move to Unity.
A career across AAA games, online worlds, player operations, design and research. Select a game for the context.
Original Settlers 8 development, before the project was redesigned. Ubisoft prototyping and Technical Design training. PILGRIM procedural map generation R&D.
I also contributed design review, playtesting and expert feedback to unreleased Ubisoft prototypes under confidentiality.
Today: independent PC game concepts and playable prototypes in Unity and Godot.
Direction & current practice ↗I especially enjoy the moment when an idea becomes playable.
My career has taken me from talking directly with players to designing economies, leading design teams and making product decisions. That range helps me understand what a decision means to the people on each side of it.
I value thoughtful debate, direct feedback and teams that understand why they are building something. Good direction gives people enough clarity to do their best work.
Download my CV ↓