{
  "name": "Ron Millar",
  "headline": "Product Design Leader & Hands-on Builder",
  "location": "San Francisco Bay Area",
  "availability": [
    "Remote",
    "Hybrid",
    "On-Site"
  ],
  "interests": [
    "Design Director",
    "Product Design Lead",
    "AI Creative Tools",
    "Project Management",
    "Game Design",
    "UGC Platform Building",
    "VR/AR/XR"
  ],
  "summary": "Experienced design leader who connects product strategy, team building and hands-on prototyping. Former Chief Creative Officer at VRChat; led product design at Nilo and game design at Blizzard. Builds with AI every day, from early concepts to shipped features and support for live games and platforms.",
  "skills": [
    "Product design",
    "User experience design",
    "AI creative tools",
    "AI prototyping",
    "Agent UX",
    "Game design",
    "Product strategy",
    "Project management",
    "Roadmaps",
    "User-generated content platforms",
    "VR/AR/XR",
    "Creative direction",
    "Team building"
  ],
  "contact": {
    "email": "ronaldmillar@gmail.com",
    "website": "https://ronmillar.com/",
    "socialProfiles": [
      "https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-millar-2a9bb660/",
      "https://github.com/Gamedesigner",
      "https://x.com/ronmillar"
    ]
  },
  "resume": {
    "html": "https://ronmillar.com/resume.html",
    "pdf": "https://ronmillar.com/assets/Ron-Millar-Resume.pdf",
    "text": "https://ronmillar.com/resume.txt",
    "pdfSha256": "e7e3d68d5c6f38ac22c2baa8f61272cf2ebae4c29cfaf8968618784c584f299d"
  },
  "sections": [
    {
      "label": "Summary",
      "body": "Experienced design leader who connects product strategy, team building and hands-on prototyping. Former Chief Creative Officer at VRChat; led product design at Nilo and game design at Blizzard. Builds with AI every day, from early concepts to shipped features and support for live games and platforms."
    },
    {
      "label": "Experience",
      "body": ""
    },
    {
      "label": "Nilo | Product Designer",
      "body": "Led product design for AI creator tools including Idea Forge, Asset Pack Maker and World Agent, partnering with engineers and artists from first prompt to playtest. Defined agent UX, creator workflows and 3D editor interactions; used AI daily to build dozens of playable prototypes and tools for testing ideas early. Shaped product strategy and roadmaps, contributed to hiring a new creative team, and used AI to improve project management and team communication. Built and showcased early versions with the team through a16z speedrun and a $4M seed round. Creators have made 100,000+ models with Nilo.",
      "dates": "Jan 2025 - Sep 2026",
      "bullets": [
        "Led product design for AI creator tools including Idea Forge, Asset Pack Maker and World Agent, partnering with engineers and artists from first prompt to playtest.",
        "Defined agent UX, creator workflows and 3D editor interactions; used AI daily to build dozens of playable prototypes and tools for testing ideas early.",
        "Shaped product strategy and roadmaps, contributed to hiring a new creative team, and used AI to improve project management and team communication.",
        "Built and showcased early versions with the team through a16z speedrun and a $4M seed round. Creators have made 100,000+ models with Nilo."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "ronmillar.com | Product Designer / Consultant",
      "body": "Bigscreen (Jun - Jul 2024): mapped the acquisition-to-launch journey with the team and delivered a roadmap and user journey map. Epic Games (early and summer 2025): reviewed Fortnite and UEFN discovery, then consulted with the Music and UEFN groups.",
      "dates": "2024 - 2025 | Intermittent engagements",
      "bullets": [
        "Bigscreen (Jun - Jul 2024): mapped the acquisition-to-launch journey with the team and delivered a roadmap and user journey map.",
        "Epic Games (early and summer 2025): reviewed Fortnite and UEFN discovery, then consulted with the Music and UEFN groups."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Self-directed | Career Break and Independent Projects",
      "body": "Travel and hands-on learning in AI, games, apps, music technology and physical making.",
      "dates": "Jul 2023 - Jun 2024",
      "bullets": [
        "Travel and hands-on learning in AI, games, apps, music technology and physical making."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "VRChat | Chief Creative Officer (Head of Design & Product)",
      "body": "Shaped creative direction, product strategy and roadmaps as part of the team that grew VRChat from about 40 users to millions and raised over $100M in Series A-D funding. Built the team, contributed to hiring and partnerships, and worked on the Steam launch and expansion to Meta Quest. Spent 8,000 hours with the community, creators and streamers. Designed across UI/UX, Avatar Dynamics, Trust and Safety, Community Labs, world discovery and social systems; contributed to creator marketplace and monetization design. Wrote PRDs and specifications, ran A/B tests and experiments, and collaborated with engineering and data on creator rewards and monetization features.",
      "dates": "Mar 2016 - Jul 2023",
      "bullets": [
        "Shaped creative direction, product strategy and roadmaps as part of the team that grew VRChat from about 40 users to millions and raised over $100M in Series A-D funding.",
        "Built the team, contributed to hiring and partnerships, and worked on the Steam launch and expansion to Meta Quest. Spent 8,000 hours with the community, creators and streamers.",
        "Designed across UI/UX, Avatar Dynamics, Trust and Safety, Community Labs, world discovery and social systems; contributed to creator marketplace and monetization design.",
        "Wrote PRDs and specifications, ran A/B tests and experiments, and collaborated with engineering and data on creator rewards and monetization features."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Fun Bits Interactive | Game Development Consultant / VR / Audio",
      "body": "Designed gameplay, scripting, dialogue and spatial audio for HALP!, an Oculus-funded Touch demo; created all sound design and spatial audio for Oculus Story Studio's Lost. Designed player flow and progression for Apophis 2029, collaborated on Republique, and built the team's daily task tracker.",
      "dates": "May 2012 - Mar 2016",
      "bullets": [
        "Designed gameplay, scripting, dialogue and spatial audio for HALP!, an Oculus-funded Touch demo; created all sound design and spatial audio for Oculus Story Studio's Lost.",
        "Designed player flow and progression for Apophis 2029, collaborated on Republique, and built the team's daily task tracker."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Float Hybrid | Product Designer / Consultant",
      "body": "Collaborated with John Gaeta, Peter Oberdorfer and a multidisciplinary team to research, design and prototype Kinect, AR and VR experiences.",
      "dates": "May 2010 - May 2012",
      "bullets": [
        "Collaborated with John Gaeta, Peter Oberdorfer and a multidisciplinary team to research, design and prototype Kinect, AR and VR experiences."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Earlier Experience",
      "body": ""
    },
    {
      "label": "Blizzard Entertainment | Game Design & Creative Leadership",
      "body": "Lead Designer on The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne; Chief Designer on Warcraft I and II; original Lead Designer on StarCraft. Created art, animation, stories and character voices alongside the team.",
      "dates": "",
      "bullets": [
        "Lead Designer on The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing and Blackthorne; Chief Designer on Warcraft I and II; original Lead Designer on StarCraft. Created art, animation, stories and character voices alongside the team."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Lionhead Studios | Lead Designer / Consultant",
      "body": "Lead Designer on Black & White 2 and Battle of the Gods; consulted on Fable.",
      "dates": "",
      "bullets": [
        "Lead Designer on Black & White 2 and Battle of the Gods; consulted on Fable."
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Skills",
      "body": ""
    },
    {
      "label": "Design leadership:",
      "body": "Product strategy, roadmaps, hiring, team building, mentoring, creative direction, cross-functional collaboration, project management."
    },
    {
      "label": "Product & UX:",
      "body": "Interaction design, creator workflows, user-generated content (UGC), creator economy, marketplaces, discovery, monetization, Trust and Safety, VR/AR/XR, A/B testing."
    },
    {
      "label": "AI & prototyping:",
      "body": "Agent UX, AI-assisted development, Claude Code, Codex, MCP, Figma, Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, Roblox Studio, TypeScript, React, Three.js, Python and C#."
    },
    {
      "label": "Game development:",
      "body": "Game and systems design, worldbuilding, art, animation, voice, sound and music; from concept to ship to supporting live games and platforms."
    },
    {
      "label": "Selected AI Projects",
      "body": ""
    },
    {
      "label": "WestCoastSynth:",
      "body": "Standalone modular synthesizer with original DSP.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "WestCoastSynth",
          "url": "https://westcoastsynth.net/"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "AICookd:",
      "body": "Discovery site for AI-created projects.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "AICookd site",
          "url": "https://aicookd.com/"
        },
        {
          "label": "X account",
          "url": "https://x.com/aicookedcom"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "PlunderPit and Layout Lab:",
      "body": "Multiplayer treasure hunt and procedural level-design tool.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "PlunderPit",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/plunderpit/"
        },
        {
          "label": "Layout Lab",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/plunderpit/layout-lab.html"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "ProcLvL:",
      "body": "Procedural level design and playtesting with eight AI agents.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "ProcLvL",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/proclvl/"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Esper:",
      "body": "Cinematic 3D photo investigation with voice commands.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "Esper",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/esper/"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "GrokDeck:",
      "body": "Open-source workspace for Grok Bot agents and conversations.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "GrokDeck",
          "url": "https://github.com/Gamedesigner/grokdeck"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "BattleCrew:",
      "body": "Browser-based tactical wargame set in the world of Cairn.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "BattleCrew",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/work/battlecrew.html"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Boother:",
      "body": "Parametric expo booth design with 3D models, plans and costs.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "Boother",
          "url": "https://ronmillar.com/boother/"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "GameModMashups:",
      "body": "Curated feed of viral cross-game mods.",
      "links": [
        {
          "label": "GameModMashups site",
          "url": "https://gamemodmashups.com/"
        },
        {
          "label": "X account",
          "url": "https://x.com/GameModMashups"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "label": "Patents (granted, VRChat Inc., named inventor)",
      "body": ""
    },
    {
      "label": "US 12,327,305",
      "body": "Safety Policy for Contact Interactions Between Avatars (Jun 2025)"
    },
    {
      "label": "US 12,482,162",
      "body": "Dynamic Interactions Between Avatar Attachments (Nov 2025)"
    },
    {
      "label": "US 12,164,698",
      "body": "Locomotion Using Finger Tracking (Dec 2024)"
    },
    {
      "label": "US 12,493,359",
      "body": "Locomotion Using Finger Tracking (Dec 2025)"
    }
  ]
}