Zico Bakker

Founder & Producer

Founder and producer based in Gouda with 10+ years across game production, design and studio building. I lead teams, shape pipelines and turn ambitious ideas into shipped products — from investor-backed studio titles to a self-published mobile portfolio I build end-to-end.

zicobakker95@gmail.com +31 6 41892076 LinkedIn zibagames.com zibaentertainment.com Gouda, NL

Experience

Co-founder & Producer — Duckland Games B.V.2023 — Present

Breda, NL • Forgotten Playland

Co-founded Duckland Games and drive production of Forgotten Playland, a live 4-player social party game on Steam.
Lead studio operations, production planning, team coordination and stakeholder communication.
Build pipelines across design, engineering and art for a multi-year live-service roadmap.

Founder / Lead — ZiBa (Games & Entertainment)2016 — Present

Gouda, NL • Word Waves & a mobile portfolio

Own and run ZiBa, shipping Word Waves (language learning, iOS & Android, 10 languages) plus a growing catalogue of self-published games & apps.
End-to-end product lead: design, Flutter development, web, ASO, monetization, finance and support.
Built and maintained brand, storefront presence and automated web deploys across studio channels.

Game Producer — Studio Red2021 — 2023

Remote / NL • Ascenders

Helped scale the studio from 5 to 40 developers; set up HR, policy, equipment and dev pipelines.
Sole producer on Ascenders: Simulation, leading a team of 15 for a 6-month companion-app build.
Drove trailer production and scrum practice across a cross-functional Unreal Engine 5 team.

Web Developer — Tuincentrum Holland2014 — 2017

Built and maintained production websites and a custom grow-tent configurator. JS (jQuery), HTML5, CSS3, PHP, SQL.

Studio Titles

Forgotten Playland: Party Edition2023 → Present · Steam

Co-founder & Producer — Duckland Games B.V.

A live, 4-player social party game where an attic becomes a chaotic Playland of minigames. As co-founder I lead production end-to-end.

Co-founded the studio and set up its production pipeline across design, engineering and art.
Own planning, coordination, stakeholder comms and the multi-year live-service roadmap.
Backed by a ~$7M raise to build a next-generation social party experience.

Live-serviceSteamProductionScrum

forgottenplayland.com Steam Funding ducklandgames.com

Ascenders2021–23 · UE5

Game Producer — Studio Red

A large-scale sci-fantasy action-RPG. I joined early and helped grow the studio while producing key milestones.

Helped scale Studio Red from 5 to 40 developers.
Sole producer on Ascenders: Simulation (15-person, 6-month build).
Produced the funding trailer; project closed a US$6.4M round.

Unreal Engine 5RPGTeam of 15

ascenders.gg $6.4M round

Kari: Vanaheim2019–20 · UE4

Tech & UI Designer

A mythic puzzle-adventure shipped on Steam after a 32-week production, rated 88% positive.

Concept design, wireframes and prototypes for inventory, crafting and hazard systems.
Built interface flows around clarity, connecting the systems that carried the experience.

Unreal Engine 4UI/UXSystems

Steam

ZiBa — Self-Published (solo, full-stack)

Word Waves2023 → · iOS & Android

Owner / Lead — ZiBa Games

A gamified vocabulary & language-learning app, live in 10 languages. Owned end-to-end: product, design, development, marketing, finance and support.

FlutterLocalization ×10ASO

zibagames.com/wordwaves

ZiBa Entertainment — mobile games & apps2024 → · iOS & Android

Solo developer & publisher — design · Flutter · ASO · monetization · web · CI/CD

A self-published catalogue built and shipped single-handed — each title from first prototype to store listing, localized changelogs, ad/IAP monetization and an automated web presence.

Deadlight

Zombie-survival chronicle · roguelite runs

App Store · Google Play

Streaks

Habit & goal tracker

App Store · Google Play

Klack & Klack Sort

Juicy arcade & a 100-level color-sort puzzle

Details

MedMate

Medication reminders & caretaker alerts

Details