Sander den Drijver

Game Designer

About Me

Hello! I'm Sander den Drijver, a Game Designer with a focus on creating gameplay mechanics and systems that are player-first, focusing on the experience as a whole to inform my design. My skills encompass taking initial ideas through from ideation, documentation, and rapid prototyping into polished mechanics and balanced systems through rigorous testing.

I have graduated from University of Staffordshire, with a degree in Computer Games Design (BSc) with First class Honours.

I recently put my skills to the test working as an Assistant Game Designer for Sumo Digital Sheffield. While there I worked with the team on 2 unannounced projects, honing my skills in multiple facets of design, including gameplay design with a focus on systems, techinical design, UI/UX design, narrative design, and level design. I also became familiar with Agile work methodology.

My technical skills include Unreal Engine 4 & 5, Blueprint, Jira, Confluence, and Miro.

Recommendations

John Foster

Design Manager

"I worked with Sander at Sumo Digital and was one of the people that interviewed him when he was hired by us as an Assistant Game Designer. Sander's technical ability, creative talent, and analytical approach was very apparent during interview and he continued to demonstrate these abilities throughout his time with us. He brought creative originality to any challenge with which he was presented, and communicated his ideas concisely and clearly. He is also extremely pleasant to work with, getting on well with everyone around him and always keen to learn from their experience. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Sander to any studio looking for a committed and skilled game designer with strong technical abilities."

David Leonard

Senior Game Designer

"I worked closely with Sander who was an absolute pleasure to work with along with being one of the most talented designers I have ever had the pleasure to work with.

Be it high level design, feedback, technical input Sander excelled at it all proving to be an invaluable and highly thought of designer on the team that was friendly and highly collaborative."

Thomas Spradling

Design Manager

"I managed and mentored Sander at Sumo Digital and he was an exceptional, knowledgable, and passionate designer. Even though this was his first job in the games industry, after just a weeks I felt comfortable delegating significant amounts of design work to Sander as I knew he'd be able to deliver quality work on time. He's incredibly inquisitive and always seeking to better himself and his knowledge of design. He was truly a joy to manage and work with and I highly recommend Sander to any games studio looking for a fantastic designer!"

You can find these recommendations and other endorsements on my LinkedIn here!

My Game Design Projects

These projects represent the best of my displayable work as a Game Designer. They showcase my ability to produce and maintain high quality documentation, prototype, carry out testing, analyse feedback, and ultimately create balanced and fun mechanics and systems!

2 Unannounced Projects - Sumo Digital Sheffield - Assistant Game Designer

I worked at Sumo Digital Sheffield for a year during my year in industry, and in that time I worked on 2 unannounced projects.

Owned and maintained several pages of design documentation, which included creating visual media such as diagrams in Miro or tables in Excel and Confluence.
Engaged in rigorous testing, observing play and noting down feedback to help inform future design decisions. I also participated in many playtests and feedback for other designers also.
Owned and maintained several blockout stage level spaces, including open world and multiplayer areas.
Prototyped out gameplay mechanics and systems using Unreal Engine's visual scripting language - Blueprint.
Contributed to Gameplay (Mechanics and Systems), Level, Technical, UI/UX, and Narrative Design.
Contributed Research and Development for mechanics and systems, helping to answer long standing questions.
Participated in brainstorming and ideation of mechanics and systems.
Collaborated with multiple disciplines, such as Writers, Audio Design, UI Artists, and Programmers to develop well integrated mechanics and systems.

Boxed Up!

Now released for free on Steam to positive reviews!

Boxed Up! is a Papers, Please inspired simulation game with a dark comedy twist, about sorting boxes and avoiding the creatures hidden inside.

For this project, I was the Lead Designer, in a team of 27 people. My responsibilities included not only gameplay and level design, but also leading and managing team of designers and communicating heavily with other disciplines.

Coalheart

A narrative driven detective gameplay prototype, set in the underground stations of Coalheart.

This project was my personal plunge into experiential, player-first design at the forefront of my mind. It explores Ludonarrative Harmony and its effect on immersion and player engagement.

Dreamer's Canal

A project submitted for GMTK Game Jam 2025, which I worked on with two friends, and to which I contributed to Gameplay design (with a huge focus on systems!), UI design, and audio design. The game jam was 4 days long.

As a team, we are now working on this game further, to transform it from a quick prototype to a fully fledged demo!

My Level Design Projects

While not necessarily relevant to my skills as a Game Designer working on Mechanics and Systems, these Level Design projects showcase similar skills and approaches to experiential gameplay and agile workflow.