Wargaming

Often at Wargaming I needed to wear many hats and provide quick porotypes or quick context for features/screens. Here are some examples of such work.

Wargaming — UI Technical Designer
Apr 2013 – Oct 2022 (Chicago + Remote)

At a glance
- Focus: Frontend UI + HUD for World of Tanks Console (Despair Engine)
- Tools: Adobe Flash + Scaleform (feature implementation and upkeep)
- Strength: Bridging design, art, and engineering to ship features and fixes in a small, high-output team
- Also: Unreal Engine prototyping (UE5) to demonstrate modern engine fluency

Featured case study
- [Experimental (UE5)](/portfolio/experimental-ue5)
- Role: Senior UI Technical Designer; built a data-driven UI system and helped ship a fully functional core loop with an extremely small team.
- Outcome: Delivered a playable proof of concept and enabled rapid iteration through blueprint tooling, documentation, and mentorship.

Historical overview:
Across multiple roles at Wargaming, I helped build and evolve the World of Tanks Console UI—from early QA through UI art/design and into senior technical implementation. Working in the Despair Engine, I used Adobe Flash and Scaleform to implement features, ship UI updates, and resolve bugs across the frontend and HUD.

The UI team (excluding leadership/production) was lean—two technical designers, one artist, one UX designer, and a small engineering group—yet we delivered and maintained the full WoTC frontend and HUD. My role consistently centered on bridging design intent and visual execution with engineering realities to get features shipped and stable.

In my final months at Wargaming, I focused on prototyping in Unreal Engine 5. Due to NDA constraints, the project is presented as “Experimental (UE5)” to communicate Unreal proficiency without exposing confidential details.

Roles (timeline)
- Senior UI Technical Designer — Jan 2018 – Oct 2022 (Remote)
- UI Designer / Artist — Mar 2014 – Jan 2018 (On-site, Chicago)
- QA Tester — Apr 2013 – Oct 2013 (On-site, Chicago)

Core feature areas
- WoTC frontend UI feature development and updates (Flash/Scaleform)
- HUD implementation and iteration
- Bug fixing and stability improvements across UI systems
- Cross-discipline implementation: bridging UX, art, and engineering
- UE5 prototyping (late tenure)

Achievements (highlights)
- Shipped and maintained major frontend + HUD UI work for World of Tanks Console within a small, high-output team.
- Helped deliver platform milestones for WoTC (Xbox One and PS4 releases) through UI system overhaul work (wireframes, art, components, implementation support).
- Built features and feature updates in Flash/Scaleform while coordinating across design, art, and engineering to keep delivery predictable.
- In UE5 prototyping, shipped a fully functional experimental game proof of concept (core loop) with a data-driven, articulated UI system.
- Onboarded and trained a junior technical designer, enabling parallel execution and faster iteration in a low-headcount environment.
- Contributed beyond UI when needed (shader design, level design, and assorted tasks) to keep the prototype moving.

What I did across projects
- Bridge disciplines: translate UX/design goals into implementable UI behaviors and assets, and keep teams aligned on constraints and tradeoffs.
- Ship in lean teams: prioritize, unblock, and deliver under limited headcount and shifting requirements.
- Build maintainable UI: favor data-driven patterns and reusable components to reduce future rework.
- Enable others: onboard, train, and document so teams can move faster in parallel.

Overview
Experimental (UE5) is an NDA-constrained proof of concept created at Wargaming to demonstrate a modern Unreal Engine workflow. The goal of this case study is to show how I build shippable UI systems in Unreal—data-driven, iteration-friendly, and aligned with product vision—even when the project itself can’t be shown publicly.

Context (NDA-safe)
- Built in Unreal Engine on top of in-house BigWorld server technology
- UI team: 2 UI Engineers, 1 Senior UI Tech Designer (me), 1 Junior UI Tech Designer, plus production support

My role
- Trained and onboarded a Junior UI Tech Designer to scale execution
- Evangelized technical approach and helped align the team on practical UI patterns
- Helped define the creative + UX vision and translate it into implementable UI
- Created/converted art assets for UI use and ensured they were production-ready
- Built forward-facing frontend and HUD UI systems alongside engineering

What I built (high level)
- Development helpers to accelerate iteration: test maps, blueprint helpers, and “cheat” systems used across disciplines
- Data nodes designed with production + engineering to enable rapid blueprint iteration
- Lightweight, efficient blueprint nodes (spec-driven) that empowered Tech Designers to move fast with minimal limitations
- Blueprint proofing and in-game validation to de-risk future engineering cleanup and code work

Outcome / impact
- Delivered the proof of concept successfully and helped open the door for future projects at Wargaming
- Consistently hit deadlines and over-delivered through clear planning and execution

Skills / tools
- Unreal Engine 5, Blueprints, UMG, CommonUI/CommonInput, basic engine fluency, limited C++, asset creation/optimization, project management

Media
Screenshots and video withheld due to NDA. References available upon request.