Hi, I am Mauricio Castillo!

I am an independent game programmer and community builder from Monterrey, currently working on The Cauldron Kids at Pet Golem Games. I have 3+ years of experience working on independent titles, building tools and prototypes, and participating in jam games.

In addition to my work in games, I’ve organized multiple community events in Mexico including congresses, game jams, workshops and meetups, all with the purpose of empowering the humans behind the screen.

Games

A thumbnail of the game Fostering Apocalypse.

 Fostering Apocalypse 

Tech Lead @ Incisor Studios

A 2D narrative adventure game, developed by the studio I co-founded, Incisor Studios.

  • Designed and implemented a custom VN system to use dialogue authoring tools, FMOD and an extended Unity Timeline in conjunction.

  • Carried technical tasks and organization from pre-production to launching on Steam.

Thumbnail of the Cartomancy Anthology logo.

Cartomancy Anthology

Game Programmer @ Compact

Programmed and designed “Thanks, Come Again”, a narrative shopkeeping game.

  • Created a Scriptable Object based architecture which allowed for fast iteration and implementation for the game’s story, for easy designer interaction with the engine.

  • Wrote custom shaders for both a 3D environment mixed with 2D sprites and a mixed-space UI in Unity.

  Ready? STEM… Go!  

Project Lead @ Winterfox

A 2D educational platformer with sub-mechanics inspired by science, robotics and chemistry.

  • Led a team of 5 people with no previous game development experience as the lead producer and programmer.

  • Utilized no-code solutions and customized them for ease of use.

Working on The Cauldron Kids: The Summoning of Mr. Vermicelli with Pet Golem Games.

  • Coded and designed central systems, gameplay elements, UI/UX, and created custom no-code solutions.

  • Contributed to game design, art, and led technical organization and tasks for the project.

The Cauldron Kids

Lead Programmer @ Pet Golem

Other game projects.

  • ASYT

    A procedurally generated game of pinball with a focus on speedrunning, dashing, and juice.

    Created for Ryan’s Lil Jam 2020

    itch.io

  • Norterrestres

    A dual-controller rhythm game where you perform in two very different music shows, in two very different dimensions.

    Created for Global Game Jam 2022

    GGJ Site

  • Respawn In-Counter

    A guessing game about reading dialogue hints and giving the appropriate dropped loot to the correct videogame hero parody.

    Created for Global Game Jam 2021

    GGJ Site

  • The Point

    A middle-finger shooting power fantasy, where the anger you feel is manifested through your demoralizing middle finger.

    Personal project, created in 18 hours

    itch.io

  • Ramen Rush

    A button-mashing arcade game about eating as much ramen as you possibly can within a limited amount of time.

    Created as an university project

    itch.io

Events

LADWEEK

Creative Director + Producer of LADWEEK XV, an arts and technology congress with 200+ attendees in Monterrey, MX.

  • Handled production, financing, branding, sponsorships, scheduling and hosting of the event.

  • Led and produced a team of 7 people for a year and a half to ensure the event’s success.

GGJ ‘21, 22

Site Organizer for the GGJ 2020 and 2021 in Nuevo León, “El GGJ Regio”.

  • Worked on all the visual identity for the jam from motion graphics, stream elements and poster design.

  • Created a community of 200+ jammers and a live broadcast reaching up to 300 viewers.

GGJ NEXT

Site Organizer for the GGJ NEXT 2019 in Nuevo León, a weekend long workshop for young creators.

  • Mentored children aged 8 - 14 in the creation of a game design document and art asset creation.

  • Handled marketing, hosting and organization for on-site safety.

WACOMBATE

AV Producer and Organizer for the Wacombate in LADWEEK XV, a collaboration event with Wacom.

  • Worked with Wacom to comply with brand standards and ensure success.

  • Broadcasted the event to a college campus of 20,000+ people.

  • Created a kinetic stream layout that was updated in real-time to reflect the event’s moments and events.

Skills

C# and C++ Programming, Tools Development, Technical Art, Motion Graphics, UI/UX Design and Programming, Game Design, Public Speaking, Project Management and Production

Awards

Brainmind Fellowship in Videogames — 2021

EGX Leftfield Showcase Selection — 2021

Latinx in Gaming Grants 2.0 Recipient — 2022

Amplifying New Voices - 2023

Software

Unity, Unreal Engine, Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Jira, Notion, Git, Plastic SCM, FNA/XNA, OpenGL, Blender, Maya, Microsoft Office Suite, JetBrains Rider, Visual Studio

Let’s talk!

Thanks for reading my page.

♥