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Ruben Caliandro

Technical Art Director | Senior Unity Engineer and Generalist

Contact
  • Date of Birth
  • June 7, 1990
  • Email
  • ruben.caliandro@gmail.com
  • Phone
  • (+39) 333 736 8333
  • Location
  • Turin, Italy | Remote only
About

Creative and technically versatile Technical Art Director with 8+ years in the game industry and 15+ years of programming experience.

Expert in Unity, game programming (C#), real-time rendering, shader programming, lighting, post-processing, and GPU/CPU optimization. Proven ability to bridge artistic vision and technical execution while coordinating small to mid-sized teams of artists and programmers.

Currently leading the technical art pipeline for the five-year production of the upcoming ARPG The Lonesome Guild (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S), combining Unity’s capabilities with custom tools and production-friendly workflows. Former full-stack web developer with a strong foundation in software engineering.

Work Experience

Turin, Italy

Sep, 2020 — Present

4 years 10 months

Technical Art Director at Tiny Bull Studios:

Technical Art Direction, Creative Direction, Technical Game Design, UX/UI

  • Led the Technical Art Direction of The Lonesome Guild, a fantasy action RPG in development for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, published by Don't Nod Entertainment, and releasing on Fall 2025
  • Designed and maintained optimized shaders, VFX, lighting/rendering setup, and art production workflows
  • Developed custom Unity tools to support artists and reduce iteration times for crafting environments, characters, cutscenes, cameras, gameplay props and others
  • Developed shaders and tools for Substance Painter/Designer to allow artists to author and preview custom texture layouts for environments and characters
  • Mentored junior technical/VFX/lighting artists and collaborated on a daily base across programming and art departments
  • Actively contributed to Creative Direction alongside a 4-person creative leadership group for The Lonesome Guild and upcoming projects
  • Contributed as Technical Game Designer, authoring production-ready technical design documents and occasionally proposing creative, feasible alternatives to address complex or production-expensive gameplay challenges
  • Led the UX/UI team during critical development phases, ensuring sustainable workflows, driving feature design, and implementing high-fidelity UI assets and motion design
  • Main Technologies: Unity, C#, CG/HLSL/GLSL, Shaderlab, Amplify Shader Editor, Substance Painter/Designer, Xbox/PS5/Nintendo Switch, Photoshop, Figma, UIToolkit

Turin, Italy

Dec, 2016 — Aug, 2020

3 years 8 months

Graphics Programmer at Tiny Bull Studios:

Shaders/VFX, Stereoscopic Rendering and Game Programming

  • Developed custom shaders, post-processing, and VFX across multiple Unity projects using HDRP, URP and Built-in rendering pipelines
  • Engineered stereoscopic-safe rendering techniques and VFX for VR, addressing issues where traditional effects break due to depth perception in head-mounted displays
  • Designed and implemented tailored solutions to address core VR challenges, including motion sickness mitigation and cinematic presentation
  • Contributed to the development of a fully custom rendering and lighting system based on echolocation for the game Blind, a VR-exclusive title released on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR
  • Worked as both Graphics and Gameplay Programmer across a wide range of applications including mobile games, physics simulations, e-learning platforms, AR/VR product showcases, and real-time adaptations of 3D animated shorts
  • Performed targeted CPU and GPU optimizations for PC, mobile, and console platforms, ensuring stable performance under strict hardware constraints
  • Main Technologies: Unity, C#, ShaderLab, CG/HLSL/GLSL, Oculus, Vive, PlayStation 4

Turin / Sunnyvale, CA

Apr, 2010 — Sep, 2017

7 years 5 months

Full-stack Web Developer at Various companies (Italy & USA):

Full-stack Web Development

  • While outside game industry, provided a strong foundation in software architecture and project management
  • Worked solo or in small to mid-sized teams
  • Developed some open-source repositories and contributed to many others
  • Main technologies: Node/Express, Ruby/Rails, Angular, AWS, Docker, Databases, PHP
  • See LinkedIn and GitHub to know more
Volunteer

Sep, 2009 — Jun, 2013

3 years 9 months

Film Projectionist, Cinema Teatro Cuore:

35mm Film Projections.

Education

Jan, 2013 — Oct, 2017

Università degli studi di Torino - Computer Science Department

Master of Science: Computer Science (Virtual Reality and Multimedia)

Thesis: Visual Effects for Real-Time Stereoscopic Rendering

Score: 110/110 cum laude

Sep, 2009 — Dec, 2012

Università degli studi di Torino - Computer Science Department

Bachelor of Science: Computer Science (Networks)

Score: 110/110 cum laude

Sep, 2004 — Jul, 2009

High School P. Gobetti

High School: Science

Thesis: Mathematics applied to 3D Computer Graphics Programming

Key Projects

Sep, 2020 — Present

The Lonesome Guild — Action RPG | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

A vibrant and heartfelt action RPG that explores the power of togetherness in a world struggling with loneliness

  • Technical Art Direction, Creative Direction, Art production pipelines, Technical Game Design, UI/UX, Tools Programming

Dec, 2019 — Jan, 2020

Underwater VR — Oculus VR Experience

A VR showcase in which you cruise aboard an underwater vehicle to explore some of Italy's largest energy company's facilities.

  • Unity, C#, HLSL, Volumetric lighting, Stereoscopic VFX

Nov, 2018 — Mar, 2019

Skill Steal — Prototype (Unreleased) | PC

A distopic multiplayer battle royale where opponents can steal each other's skills.

  • HDRP, 500+ realtime lights in a closed arena at 60+ fps

Dec, 2016 — Oct, 2017

Visual Effects for Real-Time Stereoscopic Rendering — Master of Science Thesis

Some VFX are not suitable for VR because they alter the correct perception of depth. The thesis shows a possible solution for a kind of distortion VFX applied to 3D models.

Dec, 2016 — Sep, 2018

Blind — Oculus, Steam VR, PSVR

Blind is a narrative-driven psychological thriller for virtual reality where the player is blind and must explore their surroundings using echolocation.

  • Unity, C#, VR, fully custom lighting system
Languages
  • Italian
  • Native speaker
  • English
  • Professional working proficiency