About me


Located in Spain. Game programmer, designer, and artist.

Passion for games since age 5, which started when I picked up a Game Boy my uncle had left on his living room floor with the game Super Mario Land.

Intuitive game design since age 9, point at which I made games physically (hadn't yet learned programming), by creating structures with wooden planks, bricks, playmobil figures, statistic cards, rules, and fictional economy which occupied every corner of my parent's garden (they were very permissive with me), with which I imitated and expanded on the games I played. I invited my friends to roleplay in these environments (and I objectively think they loved it).

By my 20's, while studying illustration, with the hopes of contributing to the games industry with this discipline, I learned of the possibility to study game development, so I enrolled and graduated in the first catalan game development university (3rd year). I didn't mind putting the effort to adapt my whole mindset to this transition from art to engineering, because I was sure this was my passion.

My artistic, game design and programming disciplines complement each other for game development, but I feel like programming is crucial if I want to make my own games.

Preference for making and playing games which are or have: colourful, both childish and mature, nintendo-like, mmorpg's, well written lore, esthetical and lore consistency through time and releases, well inserted lore into gameplay, original mechanics, well designed core loop, addictive short sessions with well designed characters and interactions, life-like simulators, require involvement and dedication, rpg...

On this website you can mainly see videos of the projects I've worked on, below you will always see a percentage of how much of each game development discipline was up to me. These percentages are not indicative of either time dedicated or effort put in, just a plain portion of the appreciable results.



What I'm working on


I'm currently focused on developing World Builder, and (with continuous hiatuses because developing 2 games at the same time is a bit overkill) Karma Cycle. I also have a third simpler game on stasis called Meteor Golf I do fixes on the first level occasionally.

World Builder
World Builder
Karma Cycle
Karma Cycle
Meteor Golf
Meteor Golf

More details, social media and websites for the first 2 games will be added in time.

Note: For these games, all ideas, codebase and assets have been 99% developed by Dylan Calaf.


Academic projects

These are some experimental games I participated in developing while studying a game development degree:

    Dyson Sphere

    D.S. is a 2D pixel art Sidescroller which takes place in space. You play as Kloe, who can control gravity with a mysterious wrench. It got a ton of reviews on itch.io and was on front page for months.

    Contributions:

    • Core idea

    • Gameplay programming (30%)

    • Character art & concepts (100%), scenario tile pixel art (20%)

    • 2D pixel art animation (100%)

    • Game design (75%)

    • Narrative (100%)

    Destruckt

    It's a physics-packed driving game where you're supposed to deliver all sorts of props through a prop filled city. I worked on this game as final degree project.

    Contributions:

    • Core idea

    • 3D art, props, vehicles (100%)

    • 2D art, decals, textures, UI (100%)

    • Level design (75%)

    • Narrative (100%)

    • Game design (95%)

    Epitome

    An interesting concept for a light-based puzzle game where you control a wizard who can emit and absorb light with his staff.

    Contributions:

    • Gameplay programming (40%)

    • Game design (45%)

    • Level design (95%)

    • Concept art (85%)

    • Narrative (100%)


3rd party work

I worked as a Unity gameplay programmer for 2 years, mainly developing and debugging games for children, at the company Petoons Studio in Barcelona, associated with other companies such as PQube, OutrightGames and Namco Bandai. I also delved into the porting specialty, building ports for 3rd party games to all modern platforms, including PC (Steam & EpicGames), Nintendo Switch, Play Station 4, Play Station 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series.

    My Friend Peppa Pig

    Contributions:

    • Gameplay programming, debugging and asset integration (5%)

    • DLC: Gameplay programming, debugging and asset integration (50%)

    Peppa Pig: World Adventures

    Contributions:

    • Gameplay programming, debugging and asset integration (30%)

    PJ Masks: Heroes of the Night

    Contributions:

    • Gameplay programming, debugging and asset integration (30%)

    Bratz: Flaunt Your Fashion

    Contributions:

    • Gameplay programming, debugging and asset integration (30%)