Welcome to my online CV!
Contact me for a CV with complete personal data. (I left some data out for privacy reasons.)

Personal Data

Name:Machiel van Hooren
City:Zeist
Email address:contact [at] machiel [dot] info
Date of birth:1984
Nationality:Dutch

Skills

Broad experience developing various game engine systems and tools
Advanced level C++, including C++20
Cross-platform development for consoles and PC/MacOS/Linux
Certified scrum master
Excellent debugging skills, including assembly level debugging
Performance optimization and multi-threading
Netcode and client-side prediction
Game engine development
Console game certification
Advanced knowledge of the Visual Studio IDE
Graphics APIs including Vulkan
Compiler / scripting language development
Cloud back-end development (Azure)
Open-source software development
Working with large code bases
Guiding junior developers
Code reviewing
Interviewing job applicants
Excellent written English and good spoken English

Work history

November 2023 – Present: Co-founder Rangatang
Founded Rangatang, a Utrecht based game-development studio startup.

Februari 2023 – October 2023: Core Tech Lead
Employer: Ronimo Games, Utrecht
Managed the core tech team. Continued work on an unannounced title until Ronimo Games, sadly, went bankrupt.

September 2022 – Januari 2023: Interim Lead Programmer
Employer: Ronimo Games, Utrecht
Took over as lead programmer for 5 months. Grew the tech team and continued work on an unannounced title.

March 2021 – August 2022: Senior Engine Programmer
Employer: Ronimo Games, Utrecht
Worked on Blightbound optimizations and the ECS system and netcode of an unannounced title.

March 2019 – Februari 2021: Independent game developer
Worked on the open source JitCat scripting language compiler front-end, a Vulkan based 3D rendering library and a small game prototype. All of these projects were developed using the latest C++17 standard.

April 2018 – March 2019: Sabbatical Year
I took an opportunity to take a break from my professional career and work on some personal and open-source projects, as well as just enjoying life for a while.

March 2011 – March 2018: Senior Programmer
Employer: Ronimo Games, Utrecht
At Ronimo Games, I worked on game technology for PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, WiiU, Mac and Linux, using mostly C++ and C#.

September 2010 – February 2011: Mobile Game Developer
Employer: Rough Cookie, Amsterdam
At Rough Cookie I worked on several mobile game projects for iOS and Android.

September 2008 – January 2009: C++ Developer Intern
Employer: Ronimo Games, Utrecht
During my internship at Ronimo Games, I worked full-time on a WiiWare game called “Swords & Soldiers”. I developed a lot of the visual effects for this game as well as the menu system.

April 2006 – January 2008: VB.NET Developer
Employer: Honeywell, Amsterdam, through detachment agency OGD.
At the engineering department, I worked as a programmer on several process automation projects.
I worked full-time for half a year, followed by periods of part-time work.

Education

2006-2010: Game Design and Development
Utrecht School of the Arts
Obtained my MA in Game Design and Development in September 2010.

2003-2006: Artificial Intelligence 
VU university, Amsterdam
Switched to studying Game Design and Development in January 2006.

Awards

2010: Student showcase winner with Paper Cakes
Independent Games Festival 2010, GDC, San Francisco
Paper Cakes is a game made by a group of six students from the Utrecht School of the Arts and the University of Southern California. It was selected as one of ten student showcase winners at the IGF 2010 and nominated for the best student game prize.

2010: Best Original Game Design and Best Student Game with Paper Cakes
Dutch Game Awards, Utrecht
Paper Cakes has won two Dutch Game Awards.

The games I worked on at Ronimo Games also won many awards.
For brevity sake I will not include them here.

Activities

2007-2010: Member of the Central Student Council, Utrecht School of the Arts
At the Central Student Council I represented the interests of all students at the Utrecht School of the Arts in dialogue with the board of directors of the school. In 2009, I was promoted to vice-chairman.

2020-2023: Treasurer at ZTTV
Treasurer at my local table tennis club ZTTV.