RIK BOERMA

LEVEL DESIGNER

About Me

My name is Rik Boerma and I have been playing games as long as I can remember. I have recently graduated Cum Laude from the Game Design & Production track at Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) in the Netherlands, having worked on many different game projects, both solo and in teams, with two games published on Steam.

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.

Before joining BUas, I worked as a QA tester for three years, two of which at Nintendo of Europe. Recently, I also wrapped up a Level Design Internship at indie studio Verdant Games.

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.

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. Here, I learned about working across cultures and what set creative industries like games apart from others.

SKILLS

Game Design Skills

Blockout / Whiteboxing
Simple 3D modelling
Prototyping
Researching
Visual scripting
Playtesting & iterating
Documentation

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 (2024-2025): Blocked out, iterated and polished levels and concepted & prototyped gameplay mechanics for a roguelite action game currently in development.
Game Design & Production at Breda University of Applied Sciences (2021-2025): 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 recommendations below were written for me after working at Verdant Games and Nintendo of Europe respectively.

Mihail Kostov, Lead Level Designer at Verdant Games:

"Normally, I don't write recommendations, but Rik truly genuinely deserves every word. He was both incredibly professional and a great pleasure to work with. His strong technical skills, paired with a deep experienced understanding of game and level design, pushed our project forward in meaningful ways over the past few months.

What stood out most about Rik was his initiative and proactive mindset. He showed remarkable growth in a short time and quickly became an essential member of the team. I'll genuinely miss working with him as he moves on to new adventures and challenges.
I wish him nothing but success in whatever comes next!"

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

"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.

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.

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."