Ruben Caliandro
Technical Art Director | Senior Unity Engineer and Generalist
- Date of Birth
- June 7, 1990
- ruben.caliandro@gmail.com
- Phone
- (+39) 333 736 8333
- Location
- Turin, Italy | Remote only
Creative and technically versatile Technical Art Director and Software Engineer with 9 years in the game industry and 16 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 ARPG The Lonesome Guild (released in Fall 2025 for 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.
Turin, Italy
Sep, 2020 — Present
5 years 4 months
Technical Art Director at Tiny Bull Studios:
Technical Art Direction, Creative Direction, Technical Game Design, Game Programming, UX/UI
- Led the Technical Art Direction of The Lonesome Guild, a fantasy action RPG for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, published by Don't Nod Entertainment, and released in 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
Sep, 2009 — Jun, 2013
3 years 9 months
Film Projectionist, Cinema Teatro Cuore:
35mm Film Projections.
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
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, Programming (Unity C#), 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.
- Programming (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.
- Gameplay Programming, Networking (GameSparks), Lighting (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 proposes an effective and feasible solution for 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.
- Gameplay Programming (Unity), VR, Graphics Programming (C#, HLSL, fully custom lighting system)
- Italian
- Native speaker
- English
- Professional working proficiency