Michael grew up corn detasseling and rock picking in the heart of South Central Minnesota. His love for Agriculture began when he started spending summers on his family’s century farm in Northeast Iowa helping his uncle bale hay and care for cattle. With degrees in economics, English, and law, Michael’s career path led him away from the family farm. Nostalgia for farming led him to recreate the family farm in the game Farming Simulator so that he could at least experience it virtually. This hobby soon grew into a passion for level design, and he began designing other maps for Farming Simulator under the title “MRG Mapping.” Joining Squad Built, Michael hopes to bring to the team his enthusiasm for creating maps based on real life farmland and providing the player with a unique farming experience with each new project.

Michael joined SquadBuilt Inc. in Summer 2022 with four years of self-taught map design experience under his belt. He prides himself in creating some of the best farm layouts in any farming game. His role with the company is to design realistic farms and towns based in the Midwest. This includes creating farm layouts that make sense for equipment usage, determining field sizes and shapes, terrain features, environmental elements, towns that look and feel lived in, and much more.

Michael enjoys being outdoors hiking, fishing, and skiing. He is currently conditioning himself to summit Mount Saint Helens and is working towards further training in mountaineering. When he’s not outside, Michael spends his time reading, cooking, and playing video games. His favorite activity is building new maps to farm on.