You can find all the formal/business/professional information in my resume or on LinkedIn, but this page is here to tell you some more personal stuff about me.

Even though my official name is Nikki, most people just call me Nik (or Nick). I live in Almere, which is a pretty big place (for Dutch standards) in the center of The Netherlands. It’s only half an hour away from our capital Amsterdam, which is where I work.

Background

Almere is where I was born and raised. I got a NES when I turned about eight years old and from that moment I knew I wanted to make games when I grew up. My next console was the original PlayStation. I skipped the SNES and Nintendo 64, although I do own both now. Even before high school, I spent a whole lot of time coming up with game ideas, drawing maps, writing stories and so on. I tought myself how to make websites and earned some money with that during school, but what I really wanted to do is turn my concepts into real games.

Me getting into the Game Design & Development course of the Utrecht School of the Arts brought me a step closer to that. It gave me the opportunity to spend time actually getting to know the development process, the required software, to work in a team, meet the right people in the industry and make prototypes. It was the start of what I’m hoping will be a long, fun and interesting career in the games industry. After I gratuated as a Master of Arts, W!Games (now Vanguard Entertainment Group) immediately hired me as a full time game designer and that’s where I still work now.

Why the name Patt3rson?

When I ran a gaming website a very long time ago, we thought it would be something different to let editors have nicknames and sign their articles with that. The idea was to choose the name of a game character, from your favorite game or just because the character was cool. At that time, I was playing the very first Medal of Honor on PlayStation. The main character in that game was James (Jimmy) Steven Patterson, so I picked Patterson. When the Xbox 360 came out, I had to enter what was going to be the Gamertag I would probably use forever. I had already used Patterson online, so that’s what I entered. There were no real alternatives and I didn’t want to come up with something on the spot that I would regret later. But I decided to change the E to a 3 to make it look more like a gaming handle instead of an actual name. So now I use it as a Gamertag, my Twitter name, online registrations, and of course this portfolio. Unfortunately, Patt3rson was already taken on PSN…

Player

I buy every console the day it is released and I keep all the ones that are necessary to play the games of every generation. I’m not much of a PC gamer though, I only play the best games I really want to play and are not available on a console. My Xbox 360 is easily the one I spend the most time playing on, followed by PS3 and then Wii. I either bring my DS or PSP on the train, switching between them whenever I start to play and finish a new game on one of them.

I’m a sucker for Achievements and Trophies. I couldn’t care less about my overall Gamerscore or Trophy Level, but I’m a true completionist and I can’t stand progress bars that aren’t completely full. Modern Warfare 2 almost got the best of me! Although I do have all Achievements for that game, I can’t waste all my time on leveling while there are still so many great games to play and my backlog pile is getting ever closer to the ceiling.

The genres I like are adventures, shooters, strategy games and RPGs. Broken Sword, Myst, Gears of War, Call of Duty, Civilization, Company of Heroes, Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy are just a few examples. I play most games in single player, but when I do play multiplayer it’s usually co-operative. Together with a couple of friends, I started LIFE COOP, a website we post cool recorded gameplay footage to. I do all the recording, editing and writing.

My all-time favorite games are Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Shadow of the Colossus, all for entirely different reasons. Uncharted is an epic adventure with unmatched presentation and production values. I respect Naughty Dog for their ability to mix and pace many types of gameplay into such a streamlined and thrilling experience. Hideo Kojima has been my hero ever since I wanted to become a game designer. The first Metal Gear Solid was a masterpiece, but I think Snake Eater’s storyline and setting surpass it. Shadow of the Colossus is a piece of art, with very elegant design solutions and implied narrative in a game that essentially consists of only boss fights. I have learned much from these games and I will continue to do so.

Writing

I also write a lot about games. After an attempt at my own gaming website, I worked for the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine for four years. I was originally hired to write walkthroughs, which I had been doing for years, but quickly became an all-round freelance writer, doing reviews, previews, interviews and other articles. This helped me a great deal in my work as a game designer. Writing stuff down about a game after analyzing it can teach you a lot. Reviews to get to the bottom of what makes it good or bad, walkthroughs to figure out the structure and finer details. Although nobody probably reads them anymore because they are not published, I still write the occasional review to keep my writing and analyzing skills up. All the walkthroughs I wrote can be found on GameFAQs.

Yes, I do like other stuff

Although games are a big part of my life, both personal and professional, they’re not all there is. I’m a big movie fan as well, and I’m very much into sports. Soccer (or football, whatever you want to call it) is my favorite sport, both to watch and play. Every Monday evening, I play indoors with a couple of friends and colleagues in matches that always magically seem to end in a 5 – 5 draw.

Although American Football is not very popular in The Netherlands, I like it a lot and take any chance to watch it on TV or in real life. I’m a big fan of the Steelers and was fortunate enough to go to a match in 2008, during the season in which they won the Superbowl. I also got to see the Penguins in the same week, but I’m not much of a hockey fan.

Cars are also something I really like. I used to draw a lot of them when I was younger. Now I’m especially into souped-up versions of regular street cars. You know, more powerful editions of normal cars with a slight exterior upgrade. Until recently, I owned a very sporty version of a VW Golf IV, the 2.3 V5. That doesn’t sound very impressive by American standards, but it’s still a fast and good looking car.

More?

I can keep going on and on, but I think I’ve covered the most basic information about me and my interests. If you want to know more, feel free to contact me.