About me
My ambition is to build a successful career in gaming and doing what I love to do, all day, every day, while avoiding the ordinary and deliver tangible value.
Greetings! Thank you so much for taking the time to view this page. I am incredibly grateful for the career I have had since I started way back in university when I began my journey by creating serious games for pharma in 2015. Since then I have had the privilege to work in several key sectors in this vastly changing but extremely innovative industry. From indie titles to mobile and large AAA team-based games, it has certainly been one heck of a ride!
My love for creating virtual worlds stems way back to my early tweens where I spent hours upon hours creating vast spaces in Blockland and then eventually even larger worlds in Minecraft. Combine this with my love of video games and my career was set to try to pursue this passion.
My goal as a Level Designer has always been to create tangible experiences. Be player-focused, high attention to world-building, and most importantly the best teammate I can be for any employer I have the honor to work with. I share a love of learning and evolving my skills to make sure that I can continue to carry my abilities for years to come as well as to be able to adapt but also innovate in this ever-changing industry.
By being the son of two expats (a Greek mother and a Dutch father), I have also been a passionate world traveler. I have had the chance to live on four continents, speak five languages, and a deep curiosity for the world today. I am a native of San Francisco but have been educated in both the British educational system and Dutch academics too. I received my Bachelor of Sciences in 2019 in Game Creation and Technology where I majored specifically in Game Design. I also have done public speaking (for which I am certified from
my early teens living in the UK), I was an ambassador for my university and have actively been mentoring aspiring Level Designers in several online spaces.
Outside of development, I am an active member of the motorsport community. Heavily involved in E-Sports for F1 and for Assetto Corsa of which I have also headed leagues but also been Head Steward for several major online competitions. I also participate in many competitive karting events, some of which are point feeder motorsport events.
I continue to love playing games, learn new languages, exercise, build model cars, travel and do edit videos!
If you'd like to learn more about me, please feel free to contact me through here or check out the podcast I did with YouTuber "DaveTrippin'" (host for Wao Ryo's Only In Japan Channel). You can also learn more about my design experience as well as career from the "Rules of Play" podcast that I did with some of my fellow designers in the industry here as well. Thank you again for taking a look at my website and I am very excited to speak with you soon!
-Willem