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References

Colin Cragg
CEO

Available on LinkedIn

Michael How
Lead Level Designer at Creative Assembly

Available by e-mail:
[email protected]

Ylva Mesonero
Senior Producer at Blue Scarab Entertainment

Available by phone, on request

Recommendations (33):

Blue Scarab Entertainment
Equinox: Homecoming

Colin Cragg
CEO

Michiel has been an absolute inspirational game-changer for our product since day one.

He produces beautiful and believable spaces that our players have been raving about in reviews of our game with our customers consistently referring to his work as "breathtaking" and "gorgeous".

While personally producing amazing results Michiel has also provided tools for the Unreal Engine he developed independently before joining us and expanded upon since. His tools significantly improved the collaborative work of developers across multiple departments and enhanced our QA process. It is hard to imagine the workflow before Michiel turned it into a fast and efficient process for everyone.

Beyond tools he consistently levels-up the work of everyone around him and has also been a fantastic member of the team on a personal level. He is funny, kind, and helpful while at the same time he inspires his colleagues to build great things.

I can not recommend Michiel strongly enough. Anyone wishing to know more should reach out to me directly and I would be happy to sing his praises for as much time as you can spare. This is a 5-star employee and human being and we are lucky to have had a chance to work with him. For all World Creation needs, he is my first call.

Ylva Mesonero
Senior Producer at Blue Scarab Entertainment

I worked as Michiel’s manager at Blue Scarab Entertainment for around 2 years.

During this time Michiel was responsible for the planning and construction of our levels. While working here he planned and executed the construction of 7 levels in our game. During a period of time (6 months) he had an intern assisting him that he was also mentoring at the same time.

As a person Michiel is kind, careful, and hard working. He is technical and often makes tools of his own and shares them to assist the project processes. Throughout the project he promotes best practices, and makes the team aware of useful engine features for best results.

Whenever Michiel works on a new area, or level, he likes to create detailed overviews of the area, specified with the intent and use cases for that specific place. These overviews are very helpful for the team members that later will set dress or test the areas. He would also use these as plans for himself.

As a team member I think he is very considerate of other people, and always goes the extra mile to ensure everyone is on board. He also guides & helps the more junior team members without being asked to do so.

As a level designer, Michiel always tries to understand the narrative of an area before he builds something, to ensure he gets the intent of the level. He is great at creating points of interest, and considers important level design practices, such as line of sight, in his daily work.

To conclude - if you are looking for a hard working, team oriented, and senior level designer for your team, you should hire Michiel!

Lisa Aspblad
Support Director at Blue Scarab Entertainment

I've really enjoyed working with Michiel, he's great at making sure important information about his work reaches other people in the team/functions and is always open to feedback from both co-workers and our community. I've also greatly appreciated him always making time to thoroughly answer any questions and thoughts that someone in my position might have when something needs to be tested or communicated to players.

Iryna Melnychenko
Narrative Director at Blue Scarab Entertainment

During several years we've been working together, Michiel has shown an enormous professional approach to every smallest detail (not to mention big things obviously). Working closely as level design and narrative, I am always impressed to see how each encounter turns into magic when the technical solution grasps and enhances the narrative vision.

It's always quick, delivered on time, and better than you expect. And on top of that, Michiel is just an amazing person to work with, and that means as much as being a real professional.

Tobias Peulicke
Tech/Environment Artist at Blue Scarab Entertainment

Michiel Werring is a very productive and reliable level designer. He has a good understanding how to guide the player and create interesting flow in a level. On top of that he also has a good eye for composition. As an artist it's really nice to work with his level, as there is always an underlying aesthetic throughout the experience, providing a good base to work with.

Claudio Scuderi
Quest Designer at Blue Scarab Entertainment

Working with Michiel at Blue Scarab was a true pleasure. He is a reliable and friendly Designer who not only excels in level design, but also brings exceptional value through his ability to create practical tools to make everyone work easier. If you are searching for a competent and easy to work with Designer, he is the guy!

Maezza Romero
Social Media Manager at Blue Scarab Entertainment

My name is Maezza Romero, and I’m a Social Media and Community Manager. I worked with Michiel for about 10 months during my contract at Blue Scarab. We worked together on Equinox: Homecoming, a horror / murder mystery inspired horse MMORPG. Although we were in different departments, him in Level Design and myself in Marketing, our paths crossed frequently, especially when it came to designing player-first events. (Seasonal and general!)

My role often involved creating seasonal events, suggesting world decoration, and finding ways to keep the world feeling exciting and alive for players new and old. Every time I approached Michiel for support, he exceeded my expectations. Ideas I initially proposed as small or simple were consistently pushed into something far more exciting through his input and direction.

His work is consistently high-quality, thoughtful, and, most importantly, deeply player-driven. Which, as a Community Manager, is huge! I felt incredibly lucky (and regularly inspired) that I got to work with someone who not only cared about how their work looked personally, but also considered the potential impact it could have on players.
Michiel is also incredibly professional. He communicates clearly, shares his process openly, and provides strong reasoning behind his design decisions. He also is regularly open to feedback, and is comfortably flexible if it comes down to changes.

Beyond our work together, observing his work in level design more broadly was always impressive! He operates at a very high creative level, bringing artistry, care, and passion into everything he creates. I truly admire the way his mind works. I often found myself asking questions out of curiosity because his process interested me so much! (Which he was also always open to sharing when we had a moment free!)

On a personal note, Michiel is also an incredibly kind and supportive person. Whenever I needed help, reassurance, or simply someone to talk things through with, he was always there. We had some great laughs and conversations. I feel I learned a lot from him.
I can’t recommend Michiel enough. He’s someone who stands out on any team he’s part of and consistently delivers work that inspires those around him. Thanks for all you did and hope to cross paths with you sometime in the future!

Martin Kupski
UI/UX Designer

Michiel has been a great support to the team! He is one of the kindest and hard working people I've met in the industry. He takes criticism well and has a professional aura around him, as well as a sick announcement voice. The tooling and design work he has done with the engine is top tier and he has a vast knowledge about level design, as well as other gamedev wisdoms that would be a boon to any studio.

Thomas Huttenlocher
Composer & Sound Designer

Mika is truly a force of nature. It’s rare to come across someone who combines such deep expertise with a highly professional approach, while also maintaining such a friendly, collaborative, and solution-oriented mindset.

What continues to impress me is that, beyond delivering exceptional work himself, he constantly looks for ways to support the rest of the team. Time and time again, he has created custom-built tools tailored specifically to our workflow, helping us work faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

Anyone considering hiring him would be incredibly fortunate to have him on their team.

Arrowhead Game Studios
Helldivers 2

Chris Brettman
Level Designer

"Michiel was my lead on Helldivers II and joined at a time that I considered to be a personal low point for myself. As my new lead, he took the time to get to know the rest of the level design team and me at a personal level to make us comfortable enough to be open with professional and private concerns that could alter the work environment.
He quickly proved himself to be someone you can trust to confide in your worries, concerns, and ambitions. It didn’t take long for my low point to subside after being under his management.

Under Michiel’s mentorship, my skills as a level designer were enhanced, and I started to design some of the best work of my career at that time.
One of his skills I appreciate the most is his ability to identify another designer’s methods and work styles, notice their strengths and weaknesses, and offer feedback and guidance for improving weaknesses, and fostering whatever it is that makes your strengths tick, helping you understand your own process along the way.

Our collaboration is one of the highlights of my time on Helldivers II. His feedback as my lead and senior was invaluable, and he showed me what it means to be a senior. He helped and encouraged me (along with the rest of the team) to think outside the box, identify what was lacking not just in our discipline but at a holistic level.
Michiel draws inspiration from his vast knowledge of history and games. Not a day went by that I didn’t learn something valuable from a game or historical event that would help elevate the level I was working on at any given time.

Michiel’s dedication to making a great game, great team, and great work environment has stuck with me and will serve as a benchmark for all future projects.
He would be an asset of incredible value on any team."

Simon Sundström
Level Designer

I joined Arrowhead at the same time as Michiel back in July 2022, me as an intern and him as the Lead Level Designer. He immediately took me under his wing and became a mentor, and to this day he’s still someone I really look up to and learn from.

What I really admire about him is that he’s not only a great level designer, but a great game developer overall. He has an artistic eye, incredible tech knowledge and he creates tools and spreadsheets that makes everyone’s life a lot easier.

I would highly recommend him, not only for his game development skills, but also for his leadership and interpersonal skills.

Hanna Severien
Environment Artist

Michiel and I worked closely together at Arrowhead making primarily missions for Helldivers 2, he is a detailed oriented designer with a high work ethic. His work, particularly his pre-production, was always incredibly thorough and comprehensive, making my life as an artist easy.

Michiel is a great addition to any team and I can highly recommend him!

Starbreeze Studios
OVERKILL's the Walking Dead

Hunter Wright
Lead Level Designer at Starbreeze Studios

"My name is Hunter Wright and I am lead level designer at Starbreeze Studios. I was Michiel's boss on Overkill's The Walking Dead, and sat next to him for the last year and a half. Michiel was great to work with both as colleagues and as a direct report. He was always willing to go the extra mile to get things done and had a great sense of what is fun for the players. I could always rely on Michiel to work independently without much oversight and knew I could expect quality work from him.

Michiel was primarily responsible for the map Doctor's Orders for the main game, and the DLC map, Best Served Cold. When he started Doctor's Orders had a rough layout blocked in, which Michiel then finished out the block out, reworking areas that needed improvement, as well as doing all the scripting. He also helped design the puzzles and seeing the map to completion. For Best Served Cold, Michiel was the primary designer on the map and was a huge help with establishing the flow of the map, the puzzles, and the overall feel of the level. He also mentored one of our interns which was a huge help to me as I was super busy with other tasks at the time.

Michiel was well versed in all areas of design and fulfilled many different roles during my time with him. If I had to pick one role that he excels at it would probably be his scripting. He was able to make scripts for his levels that performed well and he was able to quickly fix any edge cases or problems that QA uncovered.

He gives lots of updates on where things are, in addition to what he needs to make his levels work. He also took the initiative to schedule extra scrum meetings for the designers that he is working with to make sure that they were all on the same page for the Best Served Cold map. Michiel was always open to hearing my feedback and often requested that I look at stuff he was working on to make sure that it was heading in the right direction.

Michiel cares a lot about the people that he works with and takes great pride in his work. I always see him helping out people with things for both work related stuff and things outside of work. He never wanted his levels to be broken or behind so he made sure to put in extra effort when necessary if he wasn't happy with something.

I would have no problem recommending him for a game design position, and I feel that he would make a great addition to your studio."

Bart Huisman
Technical Designer at Starbreeze Studios

"Having worked closely with Michiel at Starbreeze, he impressed me from day one by his eagerness to adopt standards and best practices and a willingness to dive into the technical end. Embracing the collaborative nature of development and drawing on the resources he has, Michiel takes responsibility for his own growth: he does not ask you to do something repeatedly for him, he works to understand the issue so he can resolve it himself in the future. He will speak up when he feels something is wrong, and is dedicated to making the best product.

Michiel shines on the interpersonal side. He balances a good sense of humour with his professional attitude, which makes being around him a pleasure. Dedication is the keyword again, as he is not just dedicated to his work, but also to the well-being of his friends and colleagues.

Michiel makes for a great designer and I’m sure he will go on to empower many future projects with his skillset, eagerness to learn, and warm personality."

Arie Gijsenbergh
Level Designer at Starbreeze Studios

"I had the pleasure to work with Michiel at Starbreeze on Overkill's The Walking Dead on both the main game & its DLC's.

Michiel works at a very high standard and takes a lot of responsibility over his work which is something he proved in particular during the development of the last DLC. Michiel was the main responsible level designer on this DLC & lead a pod (strike team) of several designers to complete this level as well as mentoring an intern at the time. This DLC level managed to give the players more agency and introduce more coop mechanics which made it one of the more varied missions in the game.

Michiel is technical, thrives under pressure and very friendly as well which makes him a great colleague to work with!"

Owen Evans
Level Designer at Starbreeze Studios

"It was a pleasure working with Michiel at Starbreeze studios. He was open minded and creative in his approach to solving problems within his or others levels. He gave constructive feedback and vice versa was able to take criticism, always with a keen desire for improving levels so players would love the experience. He was a friend as well as a colleague, and I would not hesitate to recommend him."

Creative Assembly
Halo Wars 2

Lewis Macguire
Senior Tech Designer at Creative Assembly

"It is rare to come across someone with the combination of the technical and creative skills, alongside the genuine care both for the craft and his colleagues that Michiel brought to our team. I was thoroughly impressed with the speed with which Michiel adapted to a non-standard tool set, and went on to create great levels and complex script systems with minimal assistance from the technical design team. His understanding and mastery of the tools developed so well and so quickly that he independently provided training and mentoring for new trainees in the tools when time amongst the technical design team was short. Michiel’s passion for the games he works on extends beyond the workplace - I for one will miss learning new board games and strategies with him over lunch time and out of work events, as well as missing my Elite wingmate!

Michiel would make a great asset to any team looking for a technically skilled and creatively gifted level designer, and any team that values passion for the craft, and comes with my strongest recommendations.,,

Alan Thomas
Senior Artist at Creative Assembly

"I had the pleasure of working directly with Michiel on several levels of Halo Wars 2. On a personal level he was a great guy to work with and I would love to be able to work with him again in the future. Some people just really understand that making games is a collaborative effort. Michiel is one of those. Hardworking, considerate to other disciplines, full of great ideas and able to implement them too. A great guy to have on any team!,,

Catherine Woolley
Senior Level Designer at Creative Assembly

"I was fortunate to interview Michiel for the Level Designer role he took up at Creative Assembly, from his interview we could tell he could be a great asset to the team.

Luckily we were not wrong, I sat next to Michiel for six months, where I helped keep an eye over him whilst he settled in. He took to the custom in-house toolset with minimal time and was able to start creating mission scripts very shortly after picking up the tools. He was always happy to take on additional work and would carry it out with a very critical eye, ensuring that every element of it was up to scratch.

While carrying out his work to a very high standard he was also managing to handle overseeing Lordbound outside of work, managing university students and the project. Which always felt like a great way to help out future game developers (students) while maintaining a project outside of work.

Michiel was never afraid to ask questions when there were answers needed, or to criticize his own, or others work. He was always willing to help others and was always willing to discuss and communicate with everyone when needed.

He was a great asset to the design team and I can see him being a great asset to whichever team he joins next!.,,

Guerrilla Games Amsterdam
Horizon: Zero Dawn

Patrick Munnick
Senior Producer at Guerrilla Games.

"As a producer I worked with Michiel on Horizon: Zero Dawn. I got to know Michiel as a real team player who owns an area of the game and is driven to bring it to completion and deliver the best possible content. He is eager to learn new things and always willing to share his knowledge with others. I enjoyed working with him! ,,

Floris Kooij
Lead Level Designer at Guerrilla Games.

"It has been great having Michiel help us as an intern. He was pretty much thrown in the deep end, but kept his head above water and adapted to our tools quickly. He has been steadily improving the whole time. He works hard, is enthusiastic about his work and on top of that he is always cordial, cheerful and eager to help out. ,,

Laurens Simonis
Senior Technical Designer a Guerrilla Games.

"Michiel is an awesome guy to work with. He is very diligent. If there was a technical issue he needed my help with, he would describe very clearly what it was he was trying to achieve, what he did to try and achieve it, and what failed. He was very open to my suggestions and try those. If there was a bug in code from another department, and I asked him to try a few things & document the result, I got the best feedback and report I could wish for. I wish all designers were as methodical and thorough in this respect as Michiel. A pity to see him leave us. ,,

James Kneuper
Principal Designer at Guerrilla Games.

"Working with Michiel has been a pleasure. His designs are well thought out, he takes feedback in stride, and is eager to both learn and share his knowledge. Working on Horizon: Zero Dawn, Michiel took on challenges well beyond what would be expected of his position and delivered time and again. I recommend Michiel without reservation and hope to have the opportunity to work with him again in the future. ,,

Ben McCaw
Senior Writer at Guerrilla Games.

"I worked with Michiel at Guerrilla Games, where he was responsible for designing and building random encounters for Horizon: Zero Dawn. I was continually impressed by his work ethic, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. He worked hard to create fun, believable encounters that covered all the bases for an open-world game. On a personal level, I found him to be affable, funny, and always willing to learn. I would recommend him for any AAA team. ,,

Skyrim Mod: Lordbound
Sideproject

Daniel Lewis
Game Designer at Outplay by day;
Level Designer for Lordbound by night.

"Michiel has thrown himself at the challenge of producing an ambitious DLC-sized content modification for TESV: Skyrim with incredible gusto, passion and discipline. As project lead he has done a remarkable job of not only keeping the team together, focused and on target, but also in keeping in touch with its design, providing feedback and direction and leading its overall vision during the collaboration.

In his design work he always shows good attention to detail, keeping both gameplay and 'feel' of the areas in mind, and is always receptive to, and acts on received feedback across all areas of design, from levels and quests, to narrative and artistic directions. It is a testament to the many hats Michiel wears that the project continues to move from strength to strength. ,,

Elena Knödler
Level Designer at Crytek by day;
Level Designer for Lordbound by night.

"As part of his modding team, I had the pleasure of working with Michiel. His sophisticated grasp of level design principles and his ability to balance between professionalism and amusement during review and scrum meetings create an enjoyable but productive atmosphere. His detailed feedback on changes he would like to see in the levels are well-founded and, in my opinion, Michiel’s highest skills lie at this moment with environmental storytelling and player flow. His abilities surrounding team management’s many aspects have well improved over the time I've known him, learning how to keep even a team of volunteers productive.

For all these reasons and for his ambitious drive to create, I am sure he will be a fine addition to any team either in the position of level designer or in a management position. ,,

Conrad Stroebel
Intern at Force Field VR by day;
Level Designer for Lordbound by night.

"Working with Michiel as World Lead and Level Designer on Lordbound has been an enjoyable experience. He is an easy to work with, competent, friendly designer that strives to deliver the best quality on all his tasks. He is very meticulous in his work, and has proven to be able to handle heavy workloads without sacrificing quality and time with the team. With a can-do attitude and ability to learn and take on new pipelines, I would easily recommend him to anyone."

James Brown, Dungeon Designer

"From progress maps to level design and environmental storytelling, Michiel continues to improve the projects overall quality along through his proficiency."

Nicholas Lamb, Core/System Designer

"He cultivates professionalism in himself and in his teammates. In the various technical, logistical and personnel challenges that Lordbound has encountered, Michiel has gotten up to tackle each one in turn."

Rebecca Dastina Falktorp, Level Designer

"Michiel has shown great knowledge about identifying problems in tools and pipelines, and shown fortitude developing solutions to create a better work environment for the rest of the team."

Luci Holland, Composer

"It's been a pleasure working with him on Lordbound - he really respects the value of artists and their work, and puts the energy & well-being of his team first to ensure the project is something everyone will be proud of."

Arcanuum (Alias), Illustrator

"Michiel is able to provide meaningful constructive critisism to his teammates' work so they can deliver the best quality."

Theodore Hilhorst, Dungeon Designer

"Michiel is a positive force within the team ensuring that everyone receives all necessary information while keeping meetings short and efficient."