Veteran Systems Design Lead

Systems Design & Leadership

I’ve spent more than 15 years designing and building player-centric systems and content for some of the most notable games.

My professional background is built from designing for long running and AAA games.

77+

15+

Years of experience

Releases

3

AAA Titles

Career Highlights

Player-First Systems

My goal is always to create experiences that delight, engage deeply, are safe, and feel fair. Those goals have always driven me in designing for Fortnite, VALORANT, Destiny 2, D&D, and Magic: The Gathering.

Multiplatform Experience

I've been programming and scripting for over 20 years to implement systems and designs. I'm comfortable picking up new environments and proprietary tools. Experience with Unreal, Python, C++, SQL, LUA, BungieScript, and Selenium.

Battle Royale, shooter, MMO, strategy, RPG, card games, board, social, esports, and events.

I've shipped on PC, mobile, console, and tabletop titles.

Diverse Genre Expertise

Deep Technical Roots

Credits

Fortnite

• Design owner and lead of Fortnite ranked and competitive systems.

• Managed loot, storm circles, matchmaking, progression, and balance for ranked and competitive modes.

• Ranked mode systems design for multiple modes including Battle Royale, ZeroBuild, Reload, Ballistic, Rocket Racing, Crown Jam, and Arenas.

• Live operations for playlist management of modes.

• On-call coverage and response to critical issues affecting ranked and competitive modes.

VALORANT

Staff Systems Designer
Riot Games | 2023-2024

Senior Systems Design Lead
Epic Games | 2024 - 2026

• Lead of design for the global in-game tournament system "Premier".

• Owner of the designs for competitive play features and ranked systems.

• Designed player career, fantasy esports, and social metasystems.

• Met with community stakeholders and did media appearances to promote competitive VALORANT.

• Collaborated with teams for the releases of VALORANT on console and in China.

Destiny 2

Senior Systems Design Manager
Bungie | 2021 - 2023

• Owned seasonal feature design and implementation on Destiny 2 for reward acquisition loops, seasonal story campaigns, and secret content.

• Pitched seasonal features which I then designed, implemented, and supported post launch.

• Teamed with narrative talent to improve game design direction to match worldbuilding and IP development efforts.

• Resurrected sunset exotic missions and locations to return beloved content to the game.

• Improved the loot system for both weapons and armor in seasonal content which dramatically improved player engagement with seasons.

• Managed and mentored designers in learning proprietary tools, designing loot and progression systems, and implementing seasonal content.

• Magic Online Lead Designer for game modes, tournament structures, prize payouts, championship series, and world championship event.

• Designer on numerous card sets including: Warhammer 40,000, Lord of the Rings, Secret Lair, Commander 2016, Commander Legends, Battlebond, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Double Masters, Streets of New Capenna, Unfinity, Dominaria United, and Legendary Cube.

• Principal design, prototyping, tools creation, database administration and card design for a new mobile Magic game Spellslingers.

• Incubated and prototyped ultimately unreleased D&D and Magic digital titles.

Magic: The Gathering

Game Designer
Wizards of the Coast | 2011-2021

Extra Credits

Extra Life Charity Fundraiser

More than $10,000 raised for Seattle Children's Hospital

Magic Card Artist

"One with Death"

Competitive Gaming Background

More than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
Competed in Quake PC, Legend of the Five Rings TCG, Halo PC, Doomtown TCG, World of Warcraft TCG, Vs. System, Magic: The Gathering, MTGO, Highlander TCG, and Mega Man TCG.
High rankings/results achieved:
Guild Wars (Top 10 guild leader), World of Warcraft (Gladiator, Duelist, progression raid WotLK, server first Blood Elf Thunderfury), League of Legends (Diamond 2, Season 2), Destiny 2 (Day 1 Raids - Deep Stone Crypt 3/4, Vault of Glass 4/5, Vow of the Disciple 4/4, Root of Nightmares 4/4 | Solo Dungeons - Pit of Heresy, Prophecy | 5x Flawless Trials Cards), Once Upon a Galaxy (Top 100), Bungie Pentathalon (2nd Place), Cafe Mox The Gauntlet (2nd place), Riot Rumble League of Legends (2nd place), VALORANT (Premier Winner x 1, Second Place x2, Playoffs x6), Uma Musume global (Top 100 club), PCS Rocket League (2nd place S9, 3rd place S8).

Mental Health & Accessibility Advocate

Professional Commendations

• Founding lead of the Accessibility @ Bungie

• Panelist at 7 Industry Roundtables at GDC and PAX

3x Wizards of the Coast Hackathon Winning team (Battlebond, Commander Legends, MTGO features), Heroes of the Realm 2020, MTGO Community Cup Competitor 3x (Winner 1x), Bungie "Put a Dent in the Universe" Award

Non-Designer Credits

• Marathon

  • Playtesting and Design Feedback

• MtG Sets Avacyn Restored to Dominaria United

  • Playtesting, Card Designs

• Duel Masters & Kaijudo

  • Playtesting, Card Designs

• D&D Organized Play Adventures 4E & 5E

  • Playtesting, Design Feedback

• Duels of the Planeswalkers Series

  • Support and Testing

• Baldur's Gate 3

  • Testing and Feedback, Tabletop Design SME

  • Credited as Wizard of the Coast Publishing

• Board Game Testing and Design Feedback

  • Lords of Waterdeep + expansions

  • Betrayal at House on the Hill, Betrayal Legacy, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate

  • D&D Adventure System Games: Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, Legend of Drizzt

• D&D Insider

  • Live Operations

• Wizards Play Network

  • Database Administration and Client Testing

The Player Experience Comes First

From the beginning of my time in game design, I have been invested in player experience. I first developed this focus at Wizards of the Coast, where I was initially a Training and Live Ops Coordinator for Magic Online. Here I was tasked with improving the player ticketing system for customer support.

As I quickly learned the workings of the game's back end systems and servers, I started running competitive Magic Online events at venues like PAX and MTG Worlds, frequently with hybrid online/in-person structures.

I was then hired into Magic R&D as a Designer, where I chiefly worked on what was, at the time, a fairly minor part of the game — Commander. I helped develop Commander product design in the early releases and also worked on other innovative Magic products like Battlebond.

During this time, I developed and pitched Spellslingers, a version of Magic designed for mobile which provided a more accessible experience for new players. Spellslingers, on which I did Principal Systems Design and tools development, was eventually launched to the public on mobile and steamwas ultimately sunset to make room for Magic: the Gathering Arena to move into mobile.

After Spellslingers, I moved into an Incubation and Publishing role, getting five total prospective titles prototyped and ready for development. I continued to design cards for Magic products before moving to a new position as a Destiny 2 Senior Systems Designer at Bungie.

At Bungie, I was very proud to have developed a 14-week season of Destiny 2 content in just eight weeks, alongside five designers who were brand new to Bungie. Working on what Bungie calls "investment design," I assembled the cinematics, activities, and other component parts of the game to ensure that everything flowed smoothly. I also reworked the game's seasonal loot logic to maximize player enjoyment — I never wanted someone to have to grind for a particular piece of gear for too long.

It's been my experience that newer designers tend to set rewards based on the average amount of time it will take a player to acquire an item. But in high-population games, statistical rarities become real experiences for a certain number of players, and design needs to take these players into account.

Knowing the line between a hard-fought victory and unnecessary frustration is just as critical in calibrating reward systems as it is in designing a combat encounter.

I was also a Founding Lead of Accessibility @ Bungie, a group I spearheaded to introduce Destiny 2 features like the autofire option for players who had difficulty repeatedly pulling a trigger to fire single-shot weapons. I think of accessibility under the umbrella of player safety and experience. It is trivially easy for someone to fall out of playing a game for any number of reasons, acquired disability being one of them. Implementing accessibility features, then, is a player retention issue.

From Bungie, I was hired by Riot as a Competitive Staff Systems Designer on VALORANT, owing to my experience integrating online and in-person esports. I led the effort to connect VALORANT in-client play to in-person pro play, which launched as Premier.

Premier provides the best in class "Path to Pro" experience for players looking to go from sharpening their skills as ranked players all the way up to competing on a global stage.

Additionally, I worked on VALORANT's matchmaking, ranked, and social systems, where my priority was to maintain as close a connection as possible between in-game rank and player skill. Doing so required a fair amount of tuning, often per region, to match players' high bar for competitive integrity.

When I moved to Epic, I continued my Competitive design focus as Senior Systems Design Lead on Fortnite. I faced a new set of design challenges in working on a multiplayer title with a very different set of player expectations and gameplay style. But my design philosophy, shaped by my early days in operations and backend work, has remained consistent. Every aspect of a game, from the typical conception of "game design" to support, accessibility, and metagame ranking structures, is a part of player experience and must be considered as a part of the holistic design process.

My mission is to make sustainable games sustainably. I love big, ongoing multiplayer titles like Magic, Destiny 2, and Fortnite, and my career has been focused on their development. But there are always major challenges involved in producing these kinds of games, from retaining players to communicating about updates to establishing fair and profitable monetization strategies. Against the outdated norms that designers should focus on a narrow conception of game design, I believe we should be aware of and involved in addressing these challenges. By doing so, we can develop player-centric design that encourages a sustainable game ecosystem.

Player-centric design on big games means we don't try to squeeze players. We don't try to get more "time on device" simply for the sake of inflating metrics when players are already playing as much as they can without quitting their jobs or eating into their social lives. We keep the game engaging and comprehensible. We focus on exciting players to keep them coming back, and if they do leave for a while, then we acknowledge it when they return.

The result is a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable game, one in which players look at the time they've spent with it and can feel like they've done something fun, impressive, and exciting.

I had the privilege of working closely with Robert during my time at Epic, and I can confidently say he is one of the most exceptional systems designers I’ve encountered.

Robert has a rare ability to take on highly complex challenges, break them down to their core, and rebuild them into elegant, impactful solutions. His depth of thinking, creativity, and precision consistently elevate both the work and the team around him.

What truly sets Robert apart is his dedication—he approaches every problem with focus and care, and he’s always ready to step in, support teammates, and tackle high-pressure situations head-on. His leadership and collaborative mindset make him an invaluable asset to any team.

I wholeheartedly recommend Robert to anyone looking for a world-class systems designer who brings both technical excellence and a genuine commitment to team success.

Tully Ackland
Design Director
CoD: Warzone | Fortnite

★★★★★

What it's like to work with me...

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