Tom van der Schaaf

Tom Van der Schaaf is a Director of Engineering at Talespin’s Netherlands office, where he leads the company’s development team. At Talespin, Tom focuses on designing, improving and initiating core technical systems, implementing a common methodology and coding standards for all products, and managing the company’s product engineering efforts. Previously, Tom led the development team at Sticky Studios, which Talespin acquired in 2017. While at Sticky Studios, Tom developed dozens of published games including Suicide Squad: Special Ops, Geostorm, The Maze Runner and The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, Project Rampage VR, and Tomb Raider VR: Lara’s Escape.

At Sticky Studios, Tom led the development of interactive software for attractions at the Epcot theme park at Disney World. Prior to this, Tom worked as a scientific programmer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and developed a large composite VR display for use in education.

In 2008, Tom received a PhD in Computer Science from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where he published a thesis on parallel computer graphics. He also obtained a Master of Computer Science and a Bachelor’s degree from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Throughout his education, Tom conducted scientific research on the VR domain, focusing on high-end projection-based solutions such as stereo tiled displays and CAVEs.

Tom’s research on remote visualization over an optical grid was published in the Future Generation of Computer Systems (FGCS). Additionally, he has presented research at several international conferences and workshops, including the ACM International Conference on Virtual Reality in Hong Kong and the 7th annual Immersive Projection Technology (IPT) Symposium in Orlando, Florida.