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Résumé

John Stvan

Game Experience & UX/UI Director

John’s LEGO-style avatar

Profile

Great UX is more than just screens; it is about creating seamless, intuitive experiences that empower players, teams, and businesses.

With 15+ years across Bungie, Epic Games, Respawn, and Demiurge, I bring expertise in building high-performing teams, crafting scalable UX systems, and solving complex design problems. I thrive in fast-paced environments, guiding teams through major transitions such as the Psyonix-to-Epic integration, navigating uncertainty in contract-driven work at Demiurge, and driving UX innovation including Notion-based workflow tools at Epic.

Areas of focus include AI-powered design workflows, UX for productivity tools, and collaboration using Notion, ChatGPT, and Figma.

Qualifications

Strategic UX Leadership

Built and managed multidisciplinary design teams across AAA titles and live services while standardizing processes and raising quality bars.

Systems Thinking

Designed scalable UX and UI systems for complex products including Fortnite ranked mode, Rocket League free to play, and the Destiny companion ecosystem.

Operational Excellence

Introduced workflow and collaboration tooling in Notion to improve project tracking and cross-discipline alignment across large design groups.

Mentorship and Culture

Coached junior and senior designers, established clear career paths, and reinforced a healthy feedback culture across studios.

Experience

Escape Velocity Entertainment

Remote

October 2025 – Current

UX Design Director / Experience Director

Led the experience direction for EVE’s core gameplay systems by improving combat clarity, strengthening team morale and collaboration, revamping development processes, and helping steer the game toward a more cohesive, readable, and player-focused experience. Worked with game leads and production to establish collaborative and highly effective processes that empowered entire clusters of teams.

  • Vision Clarity: Led a major HUD and in-game experience overhaul focused on combat clarity, reducing player cognitive load and improving moment-to-moment gameplay readability.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Helped pivot the game’s player experience direction by aligning UX strategy, gameplay communication, and cross-discipline execution around clearer design pillars.
  • Structural Integrity: Revamped development workflows through structured acceptance criteria, collaborative review practices, and clearer ownership models across UX/UI, VFX, Audio, Gameplay, and Production.
  • Morale Composition: Improved team morale and creative momentum by creating clearer goals, healthier feedback loops, and a stronger sense of shared ownership during a critical stage of development.
  • Effective Communication: Partnered with studio leadership to translate high-level creative goals into actionable experience design strategy, improving the cohesion and quality of player-facing systems.

Demiurge Studios

Boston, MA · Remote

April 2024 – August 2025

Director of UX & UI

Directed multiple UX and UI teams for partner studios including Riot and Netflix, aligning delivery with external expectations while strengthening the internal UX discipline.

  • Strategic Direction: Defined UX vision and execution plans across concurrent projects with external partners, ensuring consistent interaction patterns and design language.
  • Team Structure & Scaling: Implemented team structures and rituals that clarified ownership, improved communication flow, and accelerated review cycles.
  • Capability Building: Mentored designers at varied levels, established critique frameworks, and codified best practices for motion and interaction design.
  • Complex Delivery: Led UX and motion design for a Netflix initiative, balancing shifting leadership inputs with production constraints to land on time and at quality.
  • Process Improvement: Introduced intake, prioritization, and definition of done checklists that reduced rework and improved partner satisfaction.

Respawn Entertainment

Los Angeles, CA · Remote

May 2023 – April 2024

Lead UX Designer — Apex Legends

Owned UX delivery for Apex Legends across multiple seasons, including a high-visibility anniversary season, while maturing team process and mentorship.

  • Seasonal Feature Ownership: Guided discovery to ship for multi-system features, aligning UX with design, production, and engineering for clean handoffs.
  • Quality & Consistency: Drove design reviews and usability checks to maintain interaction standards across menus, flows, and live service updates.
  • People Development: Mentored designers with structured goals, portfolio guidance, and regular feedback to raise individual and team impact.
  • Cross Functional Alignment: Streamlined ways of working with production and engineering to clarify scope, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.

Epic Games

Raleigh, NC · Remote

October 2021 – May 2023

UX/UI Director — Fortnite, Rocket League, Rocket Racing

Led UX design initiatives across Fortnite and Rocket League while building team structures and workflow tooling for a large group of designers.

  • Flagship Mode Delivery: Directed UX for Fortnite ranked battle royale, defining goals, information hierarchy, and feedback loops for a competitive audience.
  • Business & Player Impact: Contributed to Rocket League free to play experience, balancing retention, progression, and monetization considerations.
  • Org Building: Mentored and supported more than forty designers across teams with career paths, leveling signals, and clear ownership areas.
  • Tooling & Workflows: Built Notion-based tracking and collaboration tools that improved visibility, status clarity, and cross-discipline coordination.
  • Design Systems: Established reusable components and interaction patterns to speed delivery while preserving quality across products.

Psyonix (Epic Games)

San Diego, CA

September 2019 – October 2021

Director of UX & UI — Rocket League

Led UX and UI during the Psyonix to Epic transition with a focus on scalable systems, team guidance, and consistent player experiences.

  • Transition Stewardship: Supported integration planning and alignment of UX processes and standards through the studio transition.
  • Systems & Patterns: Drove component and pattern libraries for menus and flows to reduce design and implementation variance.
  • Partner Collaboration: Coordinated across production and engineering to land features that respected technical constraints and roadmaps.
  • Coaching & Reviews: Ran structured critiques and design reviews to maintain quality bars across surfaces and releases.

Bungie

Bellevue, WA

June 2010 – September 2019

Senior UX Designer — Destiny, Destiny 2

Key contributor to the Destiny companion app and Destiny 2 systems with a focus on research, prototyping, and player-centered design.

  • Companion Ecosystem: Helped design and evolve the Destiny companion app that set the bar for web and mobile integration in live service games.
  • Research to Execution: Used prototyping and player insights to shape flows, information architecture, and usability improvements.
  • In Game Systems: Drove clarity and readability in high-density screens through hierarchy, feedback, and motion principles.
  • Cross Surface Thinking: Connected out-of-game and in-game experiences to reduce friction and support continuous play.

UX Designer — Halo: Reach, Destiny

Worked on Halo Reach, Destiny, and the Destiny companion app while helping establish foundational UX processes for long-term interface design.

  • Franchise Contributions: Supported UX across Halo Reach and Destiny with a focus on clarity, discoverability, and player feedback loops.
  • Foundational Process: Helped establish UX processes and documentation that informed future interface work at the studio.
  • Prototyping: Advanced rapid prototyping to explore interactions and de-risk implementation.