HypeHype
Technical Director
Responsible for rendering and performance on HypeHype’s gaming and game development platform, targeting Android (Vulkan), iOS (Metal) and web (WebGL, WebGPU).
Background & experience
Hi, I’m Sebastian.
30 years of professional game and engine development experience.
I shipped my first 3D accelerated game in 1999. Since then, I’ve developed games and engine technology for PC, consoles, mobile devices and the web.
My work spans Ubisoft’s internal engines, Unity’s DOTS rendering technology, HypeHype’s renderer, and the GPU simulation and rendering systems behind Claybook. I focus on simplifying complex systems and making efficient use of the hardware.
Experience
Unity
Principal Engineer
Led the DOTS Rendering team, developing high performance rendering technology with Burst C#, targeting PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft consoles.
Second Order / Claybook
Co-founder
Developed Clayfield technology: fully destructible SDF worlds, GPU clay physics, fluid simulation and ray-traced rendering. Optimized Unreal Engine 4 for PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Ubisoft / RedLynx
Senior Lead Programmer
Lead programmer on Pathway To Glory (Nokia N-Gage) and Warhammer 40K: Squad Command (Sony PSP / Nintendo DS). Senior rendering lead on Trials 2 (PC), Trials HD (Xbox 360), Trials Evolution (Xbox 360, PC) and Trials Fusion (Xbox One, Sony PS4, PC).
Talks & publications
Reducing Graphics API Complexity: A Clean Slate Design for Modern GPUs
Examines how decades of GPU evolution shaped today’s graphics APIs and why their complexity no longer matches modern hardware. Presents a simpler design based on GPU pointers and bindless resources, with fewer pipeline state permutations and simpler synchronization.
No Graphics API
An in-depth look at the history of graphics APIs and shader languages, and the hardware assumptions they still carry. Develops a proposed API for modern bindless GPUs, with practical code examples covering memory access, resource management, synchronization and rendering.
Moving HypeHype towards Physically Based Rendering
Presents HypeHype’s transition to physically based rendering, including its deferred pipeline, lighting, ambient occlusion and post-processing. Explains the bandwidth, shader and data layout optimizations used to bring these features to mainstream mobile phones.
HypeHype Mobile Rendering Architecture
Explains the design of HypeHype’s low-level rendering API and platform backends, targeting Vulkan, Metal and WebGPU. Covers API design, shader cross-compilation, resource management and data layout, with a focus on minimizing CPU overhead on mobile devices.
Unity Rendering Architecture
An overview of Unity’s evolution from its built-in renderer to Scriptable Render Pipelines and the Hybrid DOTS architecture. Explains how data-oriented storage, Burst-compiled jobs and persistent GPU data improve rendering throughput while preserving existing authoring workflows.
GPU-Based Clay Simulation and Ray-tracing Tech in Claybook
Explains the GPU clay and fluid simulation, deformable SDF worlds and ray-traced rendering behind Claybook. Covers the optimizations needed to run the simulation and visuals at 60 fps on consoles, and how the technology was integrated into Unreal Engine 4.
GPU-Driven Rendering Pipelines
A practical look at moving visibility decisions and draw setup onto the GPU to render large, detailed scenes with less CPU overhead. Covers mesh cluster rendering, occlusion culling, virtual texturing and virtual shadow maps, drawing on work at Ubisoft Montreal and RedLynx.
Contact
Let’s connect.
For press enquiries, influencer collaborations and business proposals, email contact@sebastianaaltonen.com.
Find my professional profile on LinkedIn and explore my open source projects on GitHub.