Stardock Entertainment, independent publisher of games including Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod and Elemental: War of Magic has hired Civilization V Lead Designer Jon Shafer to help lead the studio’s design and modding efforts. Shafer will bring additional modding expertise to the recently launched Elemental: War of Magic and will take the lead in designing the next as-of-yet unannounced Stardock title.

Shafer hails from Firaxis where he was lead designer and principal gameplay programmer for the 2010 smash-hit, Civilization V. Last month, the company announced it was restructuring its games division, which included bringing Fall From Heaven creator Derek Paxton on board as senior producer. The addition of Shafer to the development team bolsters Stardock’s commitment to fans to continue to support Elemental: War of Magic well into 2011 and beyond.

“Jon represents the best and brightest in PC gaming design. We welcome Jon to our growing team of world-class PC game developers, designers, and producers ,” said Brad Wardell, president & CEO of Stardock. “I am also looking forward to working with Jon on one of our upcoming PC games. His passion and skill at game design combined with Stardock’s commitment of long-term support for its titles and technological expertise will drive our PC games to new heights.”

“With Elemental, Stardock essentially developed an incredible new game engine optimized for the creation of PC strategy games,” said Shafer. “I’m excited to take on a leadership role at Stardock and help the company extend the ability for modders to take this engine and be able to create dramatically different games.”