Jury Members 2025

Anique Mulder is Managing Director at &ranj, a Rotterdam-based studio with a 25-year legacy in serious game development. &ranj partners with governments, NGOs, Fortune 500 companies, and innovaters worldwide to transform complex challenges into AI-powered, game-based solutions that drive behavioral change.

Dr. Menno van Pelt-Deen is a Design[er] Researcher, he explores game design in new and weird contexts. Amongst others, he created games in swimming pools, therapeutic sessions and forests. By creating games with professionals, students and non-game developers, Menno builds bridges between industries, disciplines and people. As a result, he fosters the inclusion of new perspectives and domains into the creative industry of game development. 

Nikita Kayal, Game Designer at ImproVive, has 13 years of experience in making playful games. She started her career making board games for classrooms in India. For the past 9 years, she has been working with immersive media, making games and interactive experiences for social impact, training and learning, healthcare, and performing arts. She loves deep diving into new and broad topics and translating difficult topics into playful experiences. In the past years she has been applying AI to create new ways of storytelling and intelligence in immersive media.

Adinda van Oosten combined a bachelor’s degree in China Studies with a degree in Game Design and Development. After participating in a Game Jam in Guangzhou, she realized she enjoyed teaching more than making games and pursued a Master’s in Game Design and Research in Germany.She worked in Hong Kong as a service-learning tutor at 嶺南大學 (Lingnan University), where she created her own courses and organized the Global Game Jam. In 2019, she launched the YouTube channel Acreates, offering tutorials for game-making enthusiasts and interviewing indie developers from around the world. In addition to her digital work, she is also a mentor and coach for creative professionals.

Erwin Bell has been passionate about game design from an early age. As a child, he created levels in Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, inspired by his favorite movies and TV series. He believes there is a game for everyone, and that “I don’t play games” simply means you have not found the right one yet.He began his career as a games journalist before studying game design at HKU, where his team placed third at the first Dutch Game Awards. Erwin went on to consult on more than 15 commercially released games before discovering his passion for teaching. Today, he is a game design lecturer at Fontys ICT University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven. Known for his critical approach, he challenges students to improve their work, guided by Jaron Lanier’s belief that “the critics are the true optimists.”

John is a seasoned game developer and consultant who leads Liminal Group, helping studios integrate generative AI into their projects. He is known for his design credit on the classic board game Blood Bowl and for founding the NAF, the global players’ association for Blood Bowl fans. Currently, he is developing LoreWeaver, a narrative design tool that uses AI as a creative accelerator, helping designers quickly weave complex stories and lore. John is very excited to bring his expertise to the Dutch Game Awards jury this year.

Klaas is Event Manager at MeetToMatch and co-creator of its agency label, Representing Games. In addition to organizing and managing a wide range of B2B events across the industry, he specializes in tailored, hands-on support for development studios, publishers, governments, and event organizers. His work often focuses on pitch deck and build preparation, dealmaking support, matchmaking, securing publishing or funding opportunities, and general consultation on the business side of the industry. He also facilitates deal-focused initiatives such as pitch sessions and acceleration programs.

Laura de Looff worked as a publishing producer on over 30 commercially released indie titles (digital and physical) for PC and console. She is currently handling business development and community for B’GAME Incubator, serving as Senior Publishing Producer at SOEDESCO Publishing, and is the founder of Otter Worlds, a company offering advice, support, and self-publishing services for game companies.

Wytze works as a curator at The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision in Hilversum, one of the world’s largest audiovisual archives. The institute’s collection is constantly expanding to provide an accurate reflection of the Netherlands’ media history and legacy. Based in Hilversum, the heart of Dutch broadcasting, Wytze focuses on developing and broadening the collection beyond traditional media into newer fields, including Dutch video games, contributing to the preservation of the nation’s gaming heritage.

Back in the year 2000, Collin co-founded game developer Two Tribes together with Martijn Reuvers. The company is probably best known for the Toki Tori series of games. During its peak, Two Tribes grew in size to around 15 people was able to work with famous IP’s such as Ice Ace and Portal 2. At the end of 2016, after releasing RIVE, their last and arguably best game yet, Collin decided his spark for game development was gone and quit development to go on a trip around the world to clear his head.After returning home, he soon realised it would be a waste of his almost 20 years of experience to leave the industry. Since then he has been supporting other game developers in the Netherlands and Belgium as well as becoming Incubation Manager at Dutch Game Garden in 2023 until it had to close its doors in late 2024.

Rami Ismail is a Dutch-Egyptian independent games & tool developer with over 20 genre-defining and award-winning titles across PC, console, web, and mobile. The co-founder of the influential indie games studio Vlambeer, Rami worked on award-winning and genre-defining games such as Ridiculous Fishing and Nuclear Throne. His development of tools like the industry-standard dopresskit.com, his prolific & popular public speaking, and highly-regarded consultancy and insights have helped shape industry opportunities for game communities & independent game developers worldwide.Rami continues to advocate the creation of a fairer and more equal industry for developers anywhere through his work at gamedev.world and globalgames.fund. His versatility and work resulted in him receiving a wide range of recognition, including the prestigious Game Developers Choice Ambassador Award, the IndieCade Gamechanger Award, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 nomination.

Stephanie is a co-founder of Game Drive, a full-service game marketing agency for indie developers whose clients include well-known Dutch developers like BlackMill Games of the WW1 Game Series and Total Mayhem Games of the We Were Here series, as well as a variety of international studios like Pine Studio, creators of Escape Simulator, and Funselektor Labs with several hit racing games.Stephanie has experience with nearly all of the facets of marketing, but her biggest interest lies in the strategy and operations side.In her free time, Stephanie likes traveling and spending time with her two kids. Before settling in The Netherlands, she has lived in Ivory Coast, Sweden and Zimbabwe. She loves animals and spending time outdoors, which is why African safaris – Game Drives – are one of her favourite things in the world!

Kela is a (solo) game developer and 3D artist, known for her game Mail Time, and winner of the Best Art category at the Dutch Game Awards 2023.

Lucia de Visser is an experienced game developer, director, and entrepreneur with a background in game production and, more recently, film production. She is the co-founder and former CEO of Total Mayhem Games, known for the award-winning We Were Here series—a cooperative puzzle adventure franchise that has reached millions of players worldwide.Together with her team, Lucia helped grow Total Mayhem Games from a student project into an international studio with multiple successful releases on consoles and PC. The studio has won several awards, including Best Game Design at the Dutch Game Awards and Best Small Studio at the TIGA Awards.Lucia is now building a new creative chapter with Make Way Games, a studio that uniquely connects film and games. Drawing on her extensive experience, she serves as a jury member for the Dutch Game Awards, celebrating and encouraging innovation, narrative, and creative boldness within the Dutch games sector.

Tomas Sala is a Dutch video game designer and developer. He co-founded Little Chicken Game Company and is more recently known for his solo projects, including The Falconeer and Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles.