Team

Michela read her first book at the age of three and books have been a passion ever since, but her true love will always be video games. Her affinity for games, storytelling and epic tales, combined with a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration makes her the perfect cast for the guild leadership.

Ismael has a degree in Computer Science and 15 years of experience in the development and implementation of complex software systems in the field of computer graphics, image and sound synthesis. Alongside his passion for interaction design and digital art, this experience qualifies Ismael as the perfect match for the position of the CTO.

Having a master’s Degree in Mathematics and a bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Melena is constructing the very fabric that drives Return to Nangrim. Her passion for clean code and uncompromising OOP makes her the perfect code-ninja.

Silas’ obsession with procedurally generated materials and non-destructive texturing workflows, in conjunction with his pronounced knowledge in 3D art, predestined him to be the project’s lead 3D artist.

Sophie's love for games and visual storytelling have long been a great inspiration to her and continue to influence her art. Through the combination of her education in scientific illustration and her passion for fantasy, she is able to skillfully breathe life into fictional objects, places, and especially characters.

Andrea has been immersed in fantasy and sci-fi worlds since early childhood. He soon began to build his worlds and brought them to life with just his pencil. At university, Andrea studied scientific illustration, where he professionalized his passion for concept art. Needless to say that Andrea is the perfect match for the project, right?

As a language aficionado, Lucas strives to enrich the world of Arafinn with original languages. This passion is fueled by a fascination for invented languages, sparked by fantasy and science fiction, as well as a scientific interest in the relations between language and culture. This helps him to breathe life into the cultures of Arafinn by creating their languages.

Pascal loves dwelling in fictional worlds. His main interests lie in fictional languages and story writing. He also likes using his voice to bring a language (or a song) to life. Having studied English and German Literature and Linguistics, in addition to his experience with fantasy works through books, movies and games, he found his place in the team as story writer and part of the language projects.

Seth is a writer from the US of A. His contributions to Arafinn started with inscribing its lore into the little things such as letters and pages of in-game books to helping carve out Nangrim’s narrative structure into the story that players will one day become characters in.

Michael has specialized in sound for VR, which comprehends music, sound design and particularly spatial audio. He learned his craft as a film music composer, sound designer and re-recording mixer for more than a decade in the film industry only to discover his true passion: game development.

With his degree in Game Art Animation, years of teaching 9th/10th grade and many lectures for aspiring game developers, Andreas is an artist turned programmer with a knack for setting simple and powerful rules to govern, which does not want to be governed. Thus it is hit fate to be the project's AI programmer.

If you understand 1010, we speak the same language. Alexander has been a software engineer in different areas for over a decade now. Alexander's passion for game technologies, software, tools of any kind, and programming languages makes him the perfect choice to build anything that benefits Return of Nangrim.

Christian is a hyper-motivated cookie clicker and an adept gaming connoisseur. With his exceptional skills in programming and a knack for the intricate arts of code, he is an invaluable asset to the project's programming shieldwall.

Murezi is an excellent game jammer and gaming enthusiast; Coupled with his interest in the dark arts of programming, he's the perfect member of the project's programming strike team.

Leo is part of Sycoforge's programming strike team. With his Japanese background, he has excellent knowledge of the Western and Japanese gaming markets and upcoming trends. He also works as a sensei for games programming at the SAE.

Melissa is a dedicated gamer and excited about everything game dev. With an academic background in Digital Ideation, she fits perfectly into Sycoforge's art pipeline.

Lawrence is a passionate animator and 3D generalist with a strong technical background, which makes him the perfect choice for Sycoforge's in-house animation pipeline plumber.

Luca's superpower is the finding and exploiting of vulnerabilities in an arbitrary system. This ability and his in-depth knowledge of quantum shifts make him the number one quality overseer at Sycoforge.

As a twenty-year roleplaying gamemaster and worldbuilder, Severin now forges stories and puzzles for Arafinn. Storytelling and game development have become passions and professions for him. He also works as a freelance 3D artist and a tutor for game design and visual effects at the SAE.

Philip has a master's Degree in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He has several years of experience in the publishing industry. Philip’s precise work and expertise is of great value to the project.

Igor's disposition for the dark arts and his very morbid art style make him THE creator of dark moods and atmospheres. Igor is responsible for designing the ethnic art of the Nangrim Dwarves.

Hans honed his art skills while studying Visual Communication at the University of Jakarta. His pencil has been part of the Return to Nangrim project from the very beginning. His technical drawings and concepts breathed life into the habitat of the dwarves.

Phu is an emerging illustrator and character artist from Viet Nam. His strength lies in the drawing of mind-blowing fantasy characters, but his superpower is the drawing of realistic hair and beards of all shapes and forms.

David’s short stories illustrating the everyday life of the dwarves are legendary. His unique style and his ability to bring simple paper to life is charming.

Maksim, alias Max, has a special flair for the realistic rendering of metals and fabrics. During his studies at the University of Ekaterinburg he specialized in the design and illustration of characters and weapons. He is responsible for the dwarven weapons, jewelry and the royal dwarven coinage.

Beside studying Computational Linguistics at the University of Zurich, Dominique's life revolves around front-end development. In addition to his work as a developer and CSS guru, he is also a valued expert on new media and online marketing.

Asdrubal is a gifted 3D artist with many years of experience in 3D modeling and game asset creation. His outstanding work is appreciated by the entire production team, who call him “Michelangelo of Orlando”.

Cherrelle is a Senior 3D artist living in New Zealand. She has been fascinated with games since she was young. This passion led her to conquer the world of gaming and get her hands on famous AAA games like Uncharted 4 and the Last of Us. Cherrelle’s superpower is character design.

Krzysztof has a master’s degree in Graphic Design and Animation in Poland. His great experience in character animation and rigging has driven a lot of games, movies, and commercials and awarded him the title "Master of Puppets" in the team.

Anthony is a Philippine based 3D artist who has earned his stripes by working on numerous high-profile projects such as Uncharted 2, Madden NFL 11 and Medal of Honor: Warfight. His interest in art, drawing and sculpting certainly contribute to his unique character creation skills.

Srdjan started pursuing his passion for 3D Art while still in the high school, after watching LOTR for the first time. He studied Graphic Design along with 3D Art and, following graduation, decided to stick with 3D Art and go all in, learning more about Anatomy. He has successfully finished more than 50 projects to date.

Martin is a Swiss composer known for his numerous works for TV documentaries and commercials. Music has been his passion for his whole life – he started composing at the age of 7 – which is reflected in his work. He fully commits to a project, embodying every aspect of a topic in his music.

With a degree in Orchestration and Audio Post-Production, Marco is the perfect composer for the enchanted world of Nangrim. Marco is a Maestro of epic classical music. He has worked on numerous projects, including iconic games such as Star Wars Battlefront II and Halo Wars II, and Netflix's House of Cards.

Caleb is a prolific music composer for film, television, commercial and video game projects, and works with respected filmmakers and game developers. Together with Marco, he composed the main theme of Return to Nangrim.

Daniel’s love for video games goes back to the early 80s. Paired with his greatest passion, the composing of music, he created the soundtrack to popular titles such as Dota 2, Counter-Strike and Heroes of Sky Realm. With his edgy and heavy-orchestral style, he is the best choice for embodying the pure power of the dwarves.

Jose's affinity for extraordinary instruments, especially when they are a thousand years old, and his musical spirit has made him a true master of medieval and ancient music. Jose is responsible for the ambient music and various musical atmospheres in Return to Nangrim.

Katt’s musical pursuits have taken her all over the world in a multitude of capacities, from being a soloist in Carnegie Hall, to rocking out in the indie music festival South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, but video game music is something that has always been close to her heart.