About Me
Designing Worlds That Feel Alive and Play Beautifully
From vast landscapes to intimate, moment-to-moment gameplay, I specialize in building game worlds that feel meaningful and alive. I care deeply about player agency, emotional arcs, and creating environments that invite curiosity and flow—whether it’s a sandbox, a mission, or a level.
With over 15 years of experience in game and level design, I bring structure to vision, and clarity to chaos. My approach combines hands-on production skill with systems thinking—ensuring ideas don’t just stay beautiful on paper, but are built to be played, tested, and loved.
I Build Game Teams, Not Just Game Features
Great games are built by great teams. I support designers through mentoring, upskilling, and design culture building—empowering them to grow, communicate, and thrive. I believe that clarity, confidence, and craft are trainable skills, and I work closely with teams to unlock their potential.
Beyond the people, I focus on processes. I improve pipelines, reduce unnecessary rework, and use AI tools where it makes sense—helping teams stay creative while hitting milestones. Whether guiding juniors or aligning leads, my goal is the same: build better teams so we can build better games.
Game Design Director & Specialist
I bring over 15 years of experience building engaging game systems, levels, and player experiences—across AAA titles, original IPs, and outsourced productions. I’ve led design teams, trained emerging talent, and shipped games across genres and platforms.
I’ve also built gamified and interactive experiences for businesses that convert sales leads, increase audience engagement, and provide users with a clear understanding of their products.
Beyond design, I specialize in improving workflows, aligning creative teams, and integrating AI tools to reduce friction and increase velocity. Whether it’s helping a junior designer level up or guiding a studio through feature delivery, I’m committed to making the process of making games smarter, faster, and more human.
What People Say About Working With Me
Here’s what others have said about working with me in game development roles and projects.
Shawna is a thinker and actor, always keeps thinking how to polish and make things better objectively, that’s why makes her outcomes outstanding. She is the one that can help any project moving forward, it’s my pleasure can work with her!
Director
Rayark Inc.
Shawna is among those in our team blessed with a unique mix of technical skill and creativity. As a designer, she is always brimming with fresh ideas about how to make things fun and charges into implementation with guns blazing. Definitely somebody I would recommend because of her stellar performance in our project.
Lead Game Designer
Ubisoft
Shawna is a meticulous designer. She would ensure her work is done on her best effort. She has shown creativity on all design work, be it a small content development or major quest design. She can work independently without supervision or work as a group providing all rounded assistance to her teammate. I would recommend her to any game studio that requires this valuable talent.
Senior Game Designer
Firerock Capital
If you need someone skilled in design management, creative strategy, level design, or game development, Shawna ticks all the boxes.
Research and Development Team Manager
BANDAI NAMCO
Shawna provided impecable design solutions and was exceptional with scripting solutions.
Chief Operating Officer
Ammobox Studios
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