Core Games
Creator Platform UX for Players, Makers, and a UGC Ecosystem
Core is a user-generated games platform that gave creators the tools to build, publish, manage, and share playable experiences. The challenge was not just designing screens. It was helping two very different audiences (players and creators) move through a connected ecosystem of creation, discovery, identity, publishing, social features, monetization, and account management.
As the primary UX designer for much of the platform experience, I worked across the product to turn complex systems into clear workflows, reusable patterns, and approachable interfaces.
My Role
Associate UX/UI Director
I led UX design across player-facing and creator-facing features, partnering closely with product, engineering, game design, art, leadership, and executive stakeholders. My work included strategy, information architecture, user flows, wireframes, interaction patterns, prototypes, visual design direction, Figma systems, and implementation support.
The Problem
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Core had to support a wide range of user needs within one connected platform.
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Creators needed to build projects, manage assets, publish games, understand performance, configure content, and participate in the economy.
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Players needed to discover games, create accounts, customize avatars, join friends, navigate social systems, purchase cosmetics, and understand what Core was.
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The UX challenge was making a powerful platform feel approachable without oversimplifying the tools creators needed.
Scope of Work
I designed and supported UX across multiple parts of the Core ecosystem, including:
Creator Tools
Editor workflows, project management, publishing flows, creator portal experiences, configuration tools, and feature documentation.
Player Experience
Onboarding, account creation, game discovery, navigation, social features, avatars, cosmetics, and platform-facing UI.
Platform Systems
Reusable interaction patterns, Figma libraries, visual standards, design documentation, stakeholder prototypes, and UX alignment across web, launcher, and in-product experiences.
Marketing and Product Communication
Web experiences, product vision materials, investor presentations, and launch-supporting design assets.
Key Challenges
Balancing novice and expert creators
Core needed to welcome new creators while still supporting more advanced workflows. I focused on reducing friction, clarifying hierarchy, and designing interfaces that could scale as users became more familiar with the platform.
Making publishing feel manageable
Publishing a game involves many decisions: metadata, imagery, settings, visibility, validation, and confidence that everything is ready. I worked on flows that broke complex publishing tasks into clearer steps and helped creators understand what was required before going live.
Connecting player discovery to creator success
Game discovery was central to both sides of the platform. Players needed to find experiences quickly, while creators needed their work to be surfaced clearly and fairly. I explored layouts, navigation patterns, and content systems that helped the platform feel active, browsable, and creator-driven.
Creating consistency across a growing platform
As Core expanded, features could not feel like separate one-off interfaces. I established reusable UX patterns, Figma components, and interaction standards to help create a more consistent experience across player, creator, and platform surfaces.
Designing for production realities
Many designs had to move from concept to implementation in a real engine and live product environment. My background in UI implementation helped me design with technical constraints in mind and communicate clearly with engineers.
My Contribution
I helped define how users moved through Core’s creator and player ecosystem, from early flows and rough wireframes to high-fidelity designs and production-ready direction.
My contributions included:
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Defining user flows and information architecture for creator and player-facing features.
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Designing wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups for complex platform workflows.
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Creating reusable Figma patterns and UI systems to improve consistency across features.
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Partnering with product and engineering to translate requirements into practical design solutions.
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Supporting Unreal and web implementation through design documentation, asset preparation, and production feedback.
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Reviewing design work, mentoring designers, and helping maintain quality across the broader UX/UI experience.
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Creating executive-facing presentations, product vision materials, and launch-supporting design assets.
Design Approach
I focused on:
Clarity over complexity
Breaking dense systems into understandable steps, labels, states, and flows.
Reusable patterns
Creating consistent interaction models so users did not have to relearn the interface from feature to feature.
Creator confidence
Helping creators understand where they were in a workflow, what was required, and what would happen next.
Player momentum
Reducing friction in discovery, onboarding, customization, and social navigation so players could get into experiences quickly.
Implementation awareness
Designing with engine, web, and production constraints in mind so the work could move from Figma to shipped product.
Outcome
Core shipped as a broad creator and player platform spanning game discovery, publishing, project management, social systems, avatar customization, cosmetics, account flows, launcher experiences, websites, and in-product UI.
My work helped support a more consistent platform experience, clarified complex creator workflows, and established reusable UX/UI patterns across the Core ecosystem.
The project also became a foundation for my later work leading UX/UI direction on Out of Time, where I continued to bridge product strategy, player experience, visual design, Figma systems, Unreal implementation, and team leadership.
Contact
For design inquiries call, email or fill out the form below.
Contact
For design inquiries call, email or fill out the form below.