GAME DESIGNER, ARTIST & ANIMATOR
Michael Vandermeer is a Game Designer, Artist and Animator with two decades professional experience based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Showreel
Games
2D
3D
Animation
About
Michael is a creative, hard working, problem solving Game Designer, Artist and Animator who has worked on a wide range of game styles including:
- 3rd person action adventure
- 2d platformer
- Tower defence
- Puzzle platformer
- Projector room experiences
- Digital Choose your own adventure books
- Educational games (for coding, counting and mental health)
- Interactive children’s books (telling indigenous stories)
As a Game Designer his expertise includes:
- Game Design – development and documentation
- Level Design – layouts, art pass, puzzle and gameplay implementation
- User Interface Design – graphics, layouts and translations
- Gameplay Scripting – visual coding and script code
- Management – Art lead and Outsourcing
- Audio Editing – Clean up and in-game implementation
- Testing – For internal and external projects
He is also a talented Artist and Animator with a focus on game art skilled in:
- 3D – modeling, texturing, rigging and animating for characters and environments
- 2D – digital painting, concept art, storyboard, comics and animation
Michael’s professional experience includes working in studio, working from home and as a freelancer with studios such as:
He also contributed over 2 years to The Soulkeeper, an Unreal Tournament 2004 total conversion fantasy melee combat mod.
In 2004 he graduated from Freelance Art School (now Yoobee College) with the Diploma of Character Animation and was awarded “Best use of New Media” for his short film created using the Unreal game engine.
He has built up expertise in a wide range of industry software such as:
Game Engines:
2D Software:
3D Software:
Michael has built a reputation as a hard-working and self-starting creative in the fields of game development, animation and art. A problem solver who can adapt to specific roles or take a wider “all hands on deck” generalist approach depending on the needs of your project.
Michael has been fortunate to collaborate on many projects with indigenous storytellers, gaining a unique expertise in appropriately bringing indigenous cultures to digital mediums.
More recently, he’s been involved in the Web3 NFT art scene as a creator and collector. He also aspires to create his own projects and IP as an independent game developer.