At the age of 14 I started programming in PowerPoint’s VBScript environment, quickly after that I switched to Visual Basic 6 learning basic programming skills. A few years later I applied these skill to write my first ‘database’ application for the Salida youth crisis relief center. The application used VB6 and flat files on an FTP server to mimic a real database. Around the same time I wrote my first game, a two player top-down shooter. A year later I rewrote the database application in C#, now using a real database (MySQL) which allowed users to really work together. This application is still used daily by approximately 20 people at Stichting Cardan.
Since 2008 I started focusing on games. In 2008 I discovered Microsoft’s XNA framework (a managed DirectX wrapper for PC, Xbox and Windows Phone). Since then I’ve been an active member of the XNA community. While I was learning the framework and general game development techniques I started keeping a blog. At this blog I periodically post tutorials and code snippets. I also wrote a few tutorials for popular XNA sites like www.ziggyware.com (now defunct) and www.sgtconker.com (renamed to MadGameDev). With these tutorials I won a couple of prizes.
In 2010 I met a few game designers and artists working on the game Hollandia. They had just won a Dutch Game Award but their programmer was unable to continue working on the game engine, which caused the project to stall. I rewrote most of their engine and coupled it to an existing physics framework. Around the same time I worked with a 15 man strong team on an extensive web shop project for Q-Free. We developed a process that automatically pulled new releases from source control and integrated them into our web shop.
While finishing up my Bsc. in Computing Science I worked at Science LinX (2009-2012) where I grew from a system administrator to serious game developer with a diverse set of responsibilities, from building exhibits to managing projects.
January 2015 I graduated Cum Laude and I now poses a master's degree from Utrecht University. During my master I also I interned at Abbey Games (creators of Reus). After that I worked SilverFit where I used the Kinect camera to help the elderly recover or stay fit.
Currently I work at the Dutch e-tailer Bol.com as an expert engineer and cloud liaison.