Turbine hires on Ken Rolston as its director of design

Lord of the Rings Online and DDO developer Turbine has hired industry veteran Ken Rolston as its director of design.

Rolston has over a decade of lead designer experience, with a resume that includes the Elder Scrolls franchise and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning from 38 Studios.

"Ken will lead the vision and the implementation of all aspects of game design for Turbine," the firm announced.

Turbine has also expanded its team to include Alan Villani as vice president of technology. Villani was previously in charge of technology at NetherRealm Studios, where he was responsible for "driving the technology platform that supported Mortal Kombat." Villani will be responsible for the firm's digital technology platform that helps drive online engagement and monetization.

Jai Singh has been hired on as executive director of technical operations. Singh previously worked at Zynga, where he was responsible for managing the technology infrastructure the firm's social games. Singh will be responsible for "managing all online operations hosting and computing infrastructure," as well as technical support and network operations.

Finally, Demetrius Comes has been appointed as its executive director of engineering. Comes has over 20 years of experience in the industry and worked with Petroglyph Games previously.

Comes will oversee all engineering functions for the studios product development team including Game Platform, Release Engineering and Technical Production.

Turbine, which is owned by Warner Bros., recently launched Riders of Rohan, the mounted combat expansion to Lord of the Rings Online.