Michael Rud -A Developer's Journey.
I am a Game Producer and Senior Game Designer with 20+ years shipping games across AAA studios and my own independent studio. I have taken titles from early concept to commercial release on PC, console, and VR.
On the production side, I managed hiring, studio budgets, and investor relations. I secured publisher deals with Deck13 and Oculus Publishing. I built roadmaps, ran sprints, and kept cross-disciplinary teams of four to seven aligned toward defined milestones.
On the design side, I prototyped combat systems, designed missions and levels, and shaped player progression. I worked hands-on in Unreal Engine 5, including Blueprints.
Most recently, I founded and directed Playwood Project. I led the full development and release of two titles. Wartile shipped on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Tilt Five. Successor shipped on PC and Meta Quest VR in 2025.
Before that, I spent more than five years at IO Interactive, starting as an Environment Artist on KANE & LYNCH 2, then as a Game Designer and Design Lead on HITMAN.
Playwood Project
Copenhagen, Denmark
Game Producer & Director
on Wartile & Successor
Operational leadership, managed a cross-disciplinary team of 4–7 developers, oversaw hires, salary and employee contracts, facilitated studio offices, budgets and book-keeping.
Owned milestone tracking, built and maintained production roadmap, and submission schedules across multi-year cycles, balancing scope, risk, and delivery status with team leads.
Ran day-to-day sprints and refined production processes, including moving static documentation from Confluence to Miro for live, system-wide visibility, and adapting standups to lightweight daily check-ins to maintain the team’s creative momentum.
Led the PC-to-VR port of Successor for Meta Quest, restructuring pipeline and workflows mid-production, coordinating optimization for Android-based hardware, and adapting controller input, UI, and audio for VR.
Ensured platform readiness and QA quality across PC (Steam), PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and Meta Quest VR, reviewing builds, leading QA efforts, and store submissions.
Planned and executed marketing, PR, and community efforts for the Steam EA and launch of Wartile & Successor.
Coordinated remote and external partners, co-development studios, outsource vendors, and publishers, managed scheduling, review loops, and quality gates across time zones
Stakeholder relations and reporting, communicating vision, progress, and risk to publishers (Deck13, Oculus Publishing), investors, and conference audiences.
Contributed hands-on to gameplay systems, prototypes, and level design in Unreal Engine 5.
IO Interactive
Copenhagen, Denmark
Senior Game Designer & Lead
on HITMAN
Managed the game design backlog and supervised a team of 4-5 game designers, aligning priorities, reviewing work, and supporting consistent delivery across milestones.
As Product Owner, designed systems and features for economy & progression covering equipment, gadgets, intel, and upgrades, designed toward a live-service model.
Facilitated comprehensive play-testing with User Research, including on-site sessions with US audiences, and synthesized feedback into actionable design improvements.
Prototyped missions and levels with a strong focus on player agency, systemic gameplay, and replayability, collaborating closely with cross-disciplinary teams.
IO Interactive
Copenhagen, Denmark
Environment Artist
Kane And Lynch 2
Prepared levels for art outsourcing and ensured that assets and layouts were production-ready and met the visual art direction.
Zeitguys
Copenhagen, Denmark
Environment Artist / Lead
Recoil Retrograde (cancelled)
Supervised a team of 3–4 artists, managing workflows, pipelines, and quality standards to ensure consistent output across levels.
Contributed environment art and level design across multiple stages of production, translating the project’s visual direction into cohesive in-game environments.
Education
Danish Design School
Copenhagen, Denmark
Graduated with Master's Degree in Digital Design
specializing in Game Design. Received BA in Ceramic and Glass in 2001.
Business School HHX
Ballerup, Denmark
Student
Three-year business-focused upper secondary education.
Teaching
DADIU
Copenhagen, Denmark
Guest teacher and mentor
Guest teacher and mentor at DADIU (National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment).
Public Schools
Denmark
Lecture
Delivered guest lectures introducing game development to students (5th–9th grade).
Skills & Tools
A broad set of toolkit, built over the years.
+ Production
Roadmap Planning
Milestone tracking
Risk frameworks
Agile / Scrum
Stakeholder reporting
Leadership & ops
Team building
Hiring & contracts
Vendor management
Publisher relations
Investor communication
Design & creative
Level design
Systems design
Progression design
Prototyping
Playtesting facilitation
Go-to-market
Launch planning
Marketing campaigns
Steam Early Access
PR & speaking
Engines & tools
Unreal Engine 5
Glacier (IOI)
Jira
Hansoft
Perforce
Confluence
Platforms shipped
Steam (PC)
PlayStation
Xbox
Nintendo Switch
Meta Quest VR