SVEN SCHETZKEGame design & product direction
EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

The craft.
The people.
The product.

What I bring to a game, a team and a studio. A practical overview of the work behind the case studies.

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Capabilities ↓Tools & workflows ↓Career ↓Learning & sharing ↓
01

Direction & leadership

Give teams a clear direction and room to own the work.

  • Game Direction · Creative Direction · Design Leadership
  • Team Building · Hiring · Coaching · Career frameworks
  • Cross-disciplinary leadership · Stakeholder management
  • Design standards · Roadmaps · Prioritization

Gunzilla: a design organization grown from roughly 5 to 25+.

02

Game design craft

Build systems that make sense together.

  • Systems Design · Core Loops · Gameplay Systems · Metagame
  • Progression · Economy Design · Balance · Rewards
  • Content Design · Quest Design · Worldbuilding
  • Rational Game Design · Rational Level Design

The Settlers Online: new demand structures in a player-driven economy.

03

Player experience

Understand what people experience, then improve it.

  • UX · UX flows · Tutorials · FTUE · Onboarding
  • User Research · Player Psychology · Player Motivation
  • Flow Theory · Self-Determination Theory
  • Playtest design · Facilitation · Observation · Research synthesis

Off The Grid: player engagement, motivation and progression foundations.

04

Product & Live Service

Connect player value with a sustainable product.

  • Product Design · Product Strategy · Product Positioning
  • LiveOps · Engagement · Retention · Economy Health
  • Monetization · Pricing Psychology · Offer Design · Virtual Currency
  • KPI Design · Analytics · Experimentation · A/B testing

The Settlers Online: product turnaround and renewed technical investment.

05

Competitive & multiplayer

Design the incentives around shared play.

  • Multiplayer design · Competitive systems · Social systems
  • Real-money prize tournament design · Tournament execution
  • Reward structures · Live competition systems

Experience across AAA multiplayer and live-service systems.

06

Production

Turn a promising idea into a buildable plan.

  • Game concept development · MVP definition · Prototyping
  • Scope definition · Validation · Production planning
  • PC release strategy · Console release strategy
  • Platform certification · Cross-disciplinary dependencies

Off The Grid: release planning across PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

07

Technical & R&D

Stay close to implementation and investigate new approaches.

  • Technical Design training · Procedural Content Generation
  • Procedural Map Generation · PILGRIM
  • XML · Scripting · APIs · Automation · Working familiarity with code
  • AI-assisted workflows

Ubisoft: original Settlers 8 development, prototyping and procedural-generation R&D.

08

Operations & communication

Keep player needs and team decisions connected.

  • Worldwide player support · Payment operations
  • External partners · First-party platforms
  • Workshops · Speaking · Teaching · Executive communication

Ubisoft: international support and payment operations across online games.

TOOLS & WORKFLOWS

The right tool.
At the right depth.

Production experience, working familiarity and current prototyping practice, without treating every tool as a specialization.

Design & production

Production practice

Jira · Confluence · Excel · PowerPoint · Word · Notion

Game engines

Prototyping & working familiarity

Unity · Godot for hands-on prototypes. Unreal Engine · Snowdrop as part of the broader development toolset.

Visual & 3D

Working familiarity

Photoshop · GIMP · Blender · 3ds Max · SketchUp

Technical

Implementation & tooling

XML · Scripting · APIs · Automation. Working familiarity with code.

Analytics

Product decisions & validation

Power BI · Analytics dashboards · KPI analysis · A/B testing

AI-assisted development

Current prototyping practice

Concept exploration · Development support · Asset workflows · Workflow automation

CAREER IN CONTEXT

A progression
of responsibility.

2026 →

Games Director · Lake System

Concepts, game direction, playable prototypes, market validation and production scope.

2021–2025

Design & Product Leadership · Gunzilla Games

Senior Player Engagement Systems Designer → Lead Game Designer → Associate Game Director / Junior Product Director.

2018–2020

Game & Monetization Designer → Game Lead · Ubisoft

The Settlers Online: systems, economy, LiveOps, monetization and live-game leadership.

2015–2018

Game Design & Technical R&D · Ubisoft

Original Settlers 8 development, systems, UX, Technical Design training, PILGRIM and procedural generation.

2011–2015

Player & Payment Operations · Ubisoft

Player support, worldwide payment coordination and international service leadership.

2008–2010

Game Testing · Ubisoft Blue Byte

Production and quality-assurance experience during Game Design studies, including Anno 1404: Venice.

LEARNING & SHARING

Keep learning.
Pass it on.

Education & foundations

B.Sc. Game Design, Mediadesign University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf. Earlier studies in mathematics and computer science. Research experience with Fraunhofer FIT’s IPerG pervasive games project.

Teaching & exchange

Industry talks, workshops, conference speaking, podcast conversations, game design and worldbuilding teaching, award juries and mentoring.

Professional development

UX, game balance, rational game and level design, content design, worldbuilding, leadership, communication and conflict management.

Off The Grid · Official trailer

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GAMEOGRAPHY

Game details

Explore the expertise ↗