Meet the Team

Stefan M. Baier

Co-Director / Co-Founder

Stefan, Co-Director at Streamline Studios, is responsible for corporate administration, supporting senior staff, and promoting the studios’ values and competencies to clients and partners worldwide. He is the architect behind the production framework portion of, ‘Streamlink’, Streamline Studios’ proprietary business process.

In addition, Stefan fulfills project based roles as producer, project manager, and handles technical assessments related to content pipelines and game development projects. With more than a decade of experience in combining art, technology, and design he has been instrumental to the studio’s success ever since he co-founded Streamline Studios back in 2001. He has worked on every project and production in the studios’ history including ‘HoopWorld’, the arcade sports title released on WiiWare.

He has fulfilled a variety of roles within the studio including Pipeline Architect, Executive Producer, Creative Producer, Production Manager, and Lead Designer. With his experience and knowledge within his field of art, design, and tools he has continuously lead the studio on the forefront during technology and console transitions.

Prior to founding Streamline Studios, Stefan worked with Valve Software, and Rewolf Entertainment contributing as Lead Level Designer to the mod-gone retail title ‘Gunman Chronicles’, a first person futuristic shooter, which shipped in December 2000.

Stefan has had media appearances on Tech-TV’s ‘Hot Click’ and Gamekings’ ‘Evolution of …’ series. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events, and conventions. In his talks he covers topics that revolve around distributed development, art engineering, engine technologies, triple-A development practices, and ethics in video games.

Mike Shurtleff

Co-Director / Co-Founder

Mike, Co-Director at Streamline Studios, is responsible for business operations, strategy, finance, and IT. He supports senior staff by implementing efficiencies into Streamline Studios’ proprietary business process ‘Streamlink’, and has been instrumental in transitioning and establishing Streamline Studios Malaysia.

Prior to his current position he served in a variety of roles within Streamline Studios’ IT department including, CIO, and CTO. Mike’s knowledge of tools, technology and crisis management contributed greatly to the rapid growth and success of Streamline Studios.

Mike’s background in Information and Technology stretches back to 1997. He has worked with startups and corporations alike, including Gateway Computers, Verizon, Dell, HP, and AMD.

Renier J. Banninga

Global Art Director / Co-Founder

Renier, Global Art Director at Streamline Studios, is responsible for artistic direction, quality standards, supervision, training and leadership within the worldwide art department.

His deep knowledge, ability to scope out projects accurately, training methods, and experience have been key to Streamline Studios’ success and reputation as a leading high quality production studio. Under his supervision the art department experienced little to no crunch times, a rarity in game production.

Renier has contributed to every project in the studios’ portfolio ever since he co-founded it back in 2001. He has been honored twice with the Animago Award, in 2004 for his outstanding ability in modeling animal stills, and in 2005 for his work on ‘Ghost Story’ a TV trailer accompanying the marketing campaign for the launch of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2. His work has been covered in many articles, most recently in “Streamline Studio: Terminator Salvation – the making of” and in “Streamlining Digital Content: A Studios Profile”, both published by the CGSociety. He has had media appearances on Tech-TV’s ‘Hot Click’ and the Dutch Gamekings’ ‘Evolution of Character Design’. He has given numerous presentations covering topics like engineering art, planning and pre-production in triple-A development. In addition he has taught tutorial sessions and lectures revolving around modeling techniques, digital sculpting, and UV mapping at industry events including GDC, GDCE, and Streamline Studios’ Academy.

Renier joined the games industry back in 1998, by working together with Valve Software and Rewolf Entertainment on the mod-gone retail title the Gunman Chronicles, a futuristic first-person shooter for the PC. The release of Gunman Chronicles in December 2000 brought huge commercial success that essentially paved the path for him and other members of the Gunman core team, to establish Streamline Studios in the months after the title’s release.

Jeroen Leurs

Senior Artist / Co-Founder

Jeroen Leurs, Senior Artist and co-founder of Streamline Studios, is responsible for creating and developing creative tools and systems, as well as training and managing the company’s creative staff.

Jeroen, brings more than ten years of experience in 3D / 2D creative to his current position and has been an integral member of the team since joining the studio back in September 2002. From his initial work on Electronic Arts’ James Bond: 007 Nightfire, through Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, Overlord, and Terminator Salvation, Jeroen has consistently grown his creative capabilities and delivered art that demonstrates the high-quality, and artistic relevance points of Streamline Studios’s production philosophy.

Prior to joining Streamline Studios, Jeroen worked in art for a number of industries including pharmaceutical, municipal and architectural companies. He graduated from the Hogeschool for Multimedia in Rotterdam and holds a degree in Multimedia Design.

Alex Huneker

Human Resources Manager

Alex Huneker, Human Resources Manager at Streamline Studios, is responsible for staff recruitment, internal career management, and retention at the studio. In addition he enforces company policy, handles drafting and contract negotiation, and deals with matters related to payroll, relocation, and mediation.

He recently moved to Kuala Lumpur, where he plays a vital role in setting up Streamline Studios’ new production facility. His expertise in labor agreements and cross-cultural communication are an essential part of establishing the studio in the region.

Alex is a frequent speaker at Universities and often speaks on topics such as “breaking into the industry” and “careers in games”. He has recently co-authored for the Dutch Educational book “Professional Playground” and “The games industry: an introduction” together with Skylla Janssen and Micha van der Meer. The two educational works have been published for use in studies and programs within the field of game education. His active contribution in game education aims at bridging gaps between education and the games industry.

Alex joined Streamline Studios in 2006 and has fulfilled a variety of roles within the company. Initially starting as an intern in the studio’s HR department, he actively developed his career with focus on the Human Resources field, making him a valuable asset to the company. In 2007 he worked as an Account Manager and within Streamline’s Business Development unit, where he helped secure the biggest project in the company’s history.

Prior to working at Streamline Studios, Alex contributed to “Gameplay 2005”, the largest game event in the Netherlands, where he organized a pavilion featuring Dutch universities and colleges providing game related courses. Before that, he managed creative teams at “Rookie Entertainment” a student company that produced media projects for clients including “Vodafone Netherlands”, “Zylom”, and the NOS, a Dutch state television channel, for which the company produced the notable NOS Cycling Race game in conjunction with the promotion of the “Tour de France”.

Alex’s educational background lies in “Media and Entertainment Management” and he specialized in the two majors “Human Resources” and “Law” during his last two years at University. In his final thesis “Intellectual Property Rights of Music and Videogames”, he analyzes the legal ground of IP protection and exploitation of IP beyond the medium “video games”. He holds a Bachelors of Economics from “INHolland University of Applied Sciences”.

He has been credited for his contributions and his work in Unreal Tournament III, Terminator: Salvation, Overlord, Overlord Raising Hell, HoopWorld, and BLOF’s Pickering Player.