Manou IJpelaar

My name is Manou IJpelaar, co-founder and Game Designer at Studio Mantasaur, where we released the co-op puzzle platformer All Hands on Deck last year.

What motivates me most as a designer is designing systems that feel intuitive and meaningful and iterate on these to make them as satisfying as possible for players! I’m based in the Netherlands and open to on-site, hybrid, or remote work.

In my 4+ years at Mantasaur, I was responsible for puzzle and level design, gameplay implementation, tutorials, testing/QA, project management and coordinating closely with our artists and programmer from concept through release. Running my own studio also taught me how to balance player experience with production realities such as scope and prioritisation with a practical design perspective.

Bachelor of Applied Science - Game Design
University of the arts Utrecht (HKU) 
2018-2022