About Me

I’m Menno van der Heijden, a Dutch Game Designer with 8 years of professional experience, born and raised in Belgium where I currently still reside.

Ever since the age of 4 I’ve developed an interest in video games. My parents initially made a good effort to prevent any sort of gaming from entering our household, but at the age of 6 I received my first Nintendo Game Boy as a birthday gift from my Godfather. To this day, I mark this as the moment I began pursuing a career in Game Development as a Designer.

Besides playing games, I’ve always enjoyed exploring how they are made and to hear the stories of the people behind the scenes. My favorite titles include Dark Souls, Nier: Automata, Final Fantasy, Runescape, Monster Hunter and Dark Cloud 2.
The people who always inspired me and continue to do so on a daily basis are Hirohiko Araki, Yoko Taro and Hideki Kamiya.

Other hobbies include walking, swimming, programming, Dungeons & Dragons and language learning. I have a profound interest in human history and love the many anecdotes of what humanity has been up to throughout the ages.

Finally, I am the proud owner of 3 wonderful cats whose presence on my desk may make work slightly more difficult, but also make life a lot more enjoyable.