Hey there! My name’s Dylan Valev and I’m currently a junior studying Interactive Media and Game Development with a Technical Art Concentration. Hailing from New York, I am driven by my strong passion for game development and try to involve myself in as many projects as possible, often filling in the roles as programmer and designer. I’ve self-published a small mobile game called Paper Protector on Google Play and a time travelling puzzle game called Sliptime Sleuth on Steam. Additionally, I am very involved in the local game development community, spearheading the effort in the creation of WPI’s International Game Developers Association chapter, where I currently serve as its president.
Growing up as a first generation kid, I was often left to my own faculties to entertain myself, since I didn’t know how to speak the language. It didn’t take much time for clover-picking in backyard cookouts to become fetch quests for my make-believe residents in overgrown grass, seeding the roots for a passion in storytelling and role playing that would stick with me for my entire life. It wasn’t until entering college however that I really started my journey as an artist. Inspired by Heartmachine’s Hyper Light Drifter and Chucklefish’s Starbound, I decided to pursue game development as a very last minute (and admittedly risky) decision! Initially I came in with a tech concentration, but quickly found 3D art to be much more fulfilling. Since then, I’ve taken many 3D art classes for 3D animation, motion capture, rigging, and 3D modeling.
For this course, I wish to improve my skills in the modelling (including texturing and UV mapping) aspects of the pipeline. I find myself often halted in my prototyping when faced with implementing such things, so I hope this class will overall improve my skills as a generalist and independent developer.
Outside of school I’ve taken an interest in making VFX in Unity’s particle system and shader graph. Additionally, I enjoy writing, and have had some of my work published in the GDC Vault!
You can find my work at davalev.dev
Detailed! I give you this badge because all your work is very detailed and thought out.
Your Minit poster is *thought-provoking* because it reflects humans’ (or at least my own) never-ending chase for meaning or purpose, the inevitable crisis following that failure, and the realization that “it’s the little things that matter” and things are what you make of them.
I give you the familiar badge because the time traveler puzzle game theme reminds me of a game I playtested and I wonder if it’s the same. I think that’s a cool concept. Aside from that, I would have given you the impressive badge because you seem to have a large variety of art including 2D and 3D work.
DETAILED!
Some of these projects look like they must have taken a really long time. We’re all still growing artists, so I have a huge respect for how you were able to commit to large projects and see them completed.
From me you’re given a well-earned detailed badge. I feel like in each project I can see the time you spent making sure it was how you wanted it to be. From the shorter animations to the full-blown games I can see how much effort and detail were crammed in. Bravo
Striking!
Your VFX stuff is really cool, and they are very bright and striking.
Hi Dylan,
I’m giving you the impressive badge. Your VFX effects are really high quality and cool! And your steam game release was very impressive when I first saw it. Nice work.
I’m giving you the Impressive badge for your VFX because they look super good, and it seems like a very difficult thing to master!