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RIK BOERMA

LEVEL DESIGNER

About Me

My name is Rik Boerma and I have been playing games as long as I can remember. I am currently in my third year of the Game Design & Production track at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, having worked on many different game projects, both solo and in teams, with my first game published on Steam.

 

I have a wide taste in games, ranging from Action Adventure games like Zelda, to strategy games like Civilization, or platformers like Ori. Aside from playing and making games, I greatly enjoy baking, going out in nature, travelling to new places, snowboarding and drawing.

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As a level designer, I enjoy finding inspiration anywhere, whether it be in the games I play, the places I visit or the people I work with. I particularly enjoy crafting memorable, unique challenges by utilizing the game's mechanics to their fullest.

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I have a history in management, having studied International Business Administration at the Radboud University of Nijmegen and Management in the Creative Industries at the University of Amsterdam. I have also worked as a QA tester for three years, two of which at Nintendo of Europe, before I decided to dive deeper into the world of making games by studying at BUas. Currently, I am doing a Level Design Internship at indie studio Verdant Games.

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Skills

Game Design Skills

  • Blockout / Whiteboxing

  • Simple 3D modelling

  • Prototyping

  • Researching

  • Visual scripting

  • Playtesting & iterating

  • Documentation

  • Sketching

Software Skills

  • Unreal Engine 4 / 5

  • Blender

  • Unity

  • Microsoft Office Suite

  • Perforce

  • Jira

  • Miro

  • Adobe Photoshop

  • Adobe Premiere Pro

  • DaVinci Resolve

Other Skills

  • Scrum

  • Teamwork

  • Working across cultures

  • Presenting

  • Dutch (native)

  • English (C2 level)

Experience

  • Level Design Intern at Verdant Games (2024-present): Blocking out, iterating and polishing levels and concepting & prototyping gameplay mechanics for a roguelite action game currently in development.

  • Game Design & Production at Breda University of Applied Sciences (2021-present): Learning game design with a specific focus on level design. Worked on both solo and team projects, found on my home page.

  • QA Tester at Media Monks (2020-2021): Checking video & web content made for a large client for any mistakes, reporting issues and suggesting improvements.

  • MSc Management in the Creative Industries (2019-2020): During this Master's programme, I learned managerial techniques for creative industries, like guiding effective brainstorming sessions and encouraging creativity while also keeping the project on track.

  • QA Tester at Nintendo of Europe (2017-2019): I checked the Dutch translations of games such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3. This meant checking for display or grammar issues, but also any other improvements related to the player experience, like making the text fit better with the character or ensuring it would make sense in any context the player might see it in. This job also involved frequent communication with other testing and translation teams from all over Europe.

References

The recommendation below was written for me when I left Nintendo of Europe after working there for two years as a QA tester.

"Mr Boerma had a very sure command of his working area and was very familiar with all processes and aspects of the department. Due to his rapid comprehension, he always found practicable solutions which he resolutely and very successfully implemented in his area of tasks.

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He always rose to the challenge, even in the face of heavy workloads. Mr Boerma worked very thoroughly and quickly. He contributed his thoughts well and performed his tasks systematically and with great efficiency. He was a very ambitious and dedicated employee who always showed extraordinary commitment to our company.

 

The quality of his work always met and far exceeded requirements. Mr Boerma was a very good motivator within any team he joined, bringing positivity and smiles around him, as a great benefit for the project he was assigned. Due to his excellent flexibility he could be assigned to a variety of tasks. We always valued him as a reliable, dutiful and sincere colleague. Furthermore, Mr Boerma has excellent foreign language skills that he invariably applied profitably.

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Mr Boerma always worked to our full satisfaction and met our expectations in every respect. His manner was always impeccable. In his dealings with superiors and colleagues he knew how to create an atmosphere of trust and openness."

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- Amaury Bagnariol, Assistant Manager (QA) & Nina Rau, Senior Human Resources Consultant at Nintendo of Europe

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