I'm an industrial product designer, graduated from the Haagsche Hogeschool in The Netherlands. I started my professional career in 1996 working for GBO Design, a successful Dutch industrial design office, with multinational customers like Volvo, Samsonite, Henkel and SHELL. There's a chance that if you've used a refillable glue or correcting roller, I've worked on it. If you've ever used a Sista Sealant gun, you now know one of the minds behind it and its family.

 

I came in touch with Lyra Studios through Underlight in January of 1998, pretty much at the start of the public Underlight beta. After testing for about a month I got the offer to become a GM for the early hours. Seeing the potential Underlight had, they didn't have to ask me twice! Having spent several very busy months as a dedicated GM, I got the chance to try my hand at level design, when certain roleplaying events required level changes. I guess you can say that's the first step on my path to becoming lead artist for Reclamation; who can resist the challenge of creating a great environment? I've worn many additional hats in the meantime, having been active as roleplaying co-ordinator, systems administrator, web developer and DBA. Still, levels and art will always be my first loves.

 

Somewhere in 2001, we started discussing the next game; either a sequel to Underlight or a concept based on our experience with Underlight. Whichever we'd pick in the end, I knew our biggest unique selling point had to come from the roleplaying aspects, rather than the 3D world. At about the same time, Andon came to us with the proposal to build a new 3D engine. I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason, and for me this was the sign that the time was right. Not only could we do what the big names had failed to provide so far - build a game focused on community roleplaying on "small" roleplaying-enforced servers - but we could now do so with state of the art 3D graphics!

 

So... I've said good-bye to the "normal" design world, and I am now active as art director for Lyra Studios, working on our second MMORPG, Reclamation. I'm responsible for safeguarding the unique and vibrant look of the Dreamstate, get my share of gameplay and design discussions, and I make sure our levelbuilders and artists produce the best work they can. It's not always easy, but it's a satisfying job. I'm of a mind that a bad screenshot does a lot more damage than a good screenshot can make up, so much to the chagrin of the PR team, I tend to authorise very few screenshots. Don't be too hard on Stone when there are no new shots - it's my fault :) .

 

That's my story for now. I can't wait to show the working client to the public, but you'll have to be patient a little while longer.

 

-M

 

Oh.. for the sake of completeness, I'm a white rat, born in the year of the black rat. :)