Biography

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rafael.jimenez.chacon.k@gmail.com

Biography:

After living in different countries and cities, I have come to understand that although you can take the person out of the city,but you can never take the city out of the person. This phrase sums up my deep connection to my hometown, Cordoba, in Andalusia, where I always find a home despite the distance. 

With more than 8 years of experience in the game development industry, I have played different roles. From designer to programmer, I have explored different aspects of game development. However, it was in the field of production and management where I finally found my true passion and talent. In this role, my previous experience in different areas converged effectively and naturally. I have played roles from purely Producer to Project Manager or Product Owner, where the management of people, processes, teams and resources has always been my growth area. 

Since my childhood, I have been attracted to videogames. I grew up in the shadow of the PlayStation 1, enjoying classics like Crash Bandicoot and Gran Turismo. I also spent countless hours exploring the worlds of the Super Nintendo with titles like Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In addition, the Game Boy accompanied me everywhere I went with games like Tetris, Pac-man and Pokémon. These games not only provided me with entertainment, but also awakened in me a passion for creating video games.

Since I was a child, the dream of creating videogames was always present in my mind. this dream for me was similar to when a child is asked what he wants to be when he grows up and answers "astronaut" without fully understanding the implications and leaving that dream in the background as he grows up. that sensation that it was in another life when I would develop videogames led me to cultivate and make my other great passion: motor racing. For which I studied electromechanics and worked as a mechanic for a few years. But like an itch inside my brain that I could not scratch the fact of making videogames called me every day of my life and at the age of 20, I decided to take the step and make that childhood dream come true, starting on this wonderful path to become a videogame developer.


Development in the video game industry:

After making the decision to follow my passion for videogames, I enrolled in a double degree in 3D Animations, Games, Interactive Environments + Virtual Worlds, Augmented Reality and Gamification. During this period, I had the opportunity to delve into the fundamentals of videogame creation in all its areas. I explored different roles to discover where my talent best fit and started to gain work experience through my internship as Studio Assistant at I-Real Studio. 

 In addition, I started to gain work experience in my internship as Studio Assistant at I-real Studio. Here, I had the opportunity to actively and efficiently support the production teams. I learned about the workings of a videogame production, as well as the different stages and the usual challenges that arise in the production process.

During my last year of my degree and my internship, I also participated in another project in a partial way. I collaborated in the conception of a new game in Barcelona called "TEOT" (The Evolution Of Time). In this project, I contributed to define the pre-production of a real-time strategy (RTS) game, where players control the growth of a village over time.

However, after completing this stage, I felt the need to continue expanding my knowledge and decided to leave the project. Later, this project would become "Ancient Cities", developed by Uncasual Games.

At the end of that stage, I continued to feel the need to continue forming and deepening in the specific knowledge of videogame production. It was then when I decided to enter the European University of Madrid. Thanks to my experience and acquired skills, I lived an enriching university stage, focused on continuous learning and development as a producer.

During my time in college, I was able to explore specific aspects of videogame production, which allowed me to grow significantly in this area. In addition, having a solid previous foundation, I was able to manage my time efficiently and participate in other work projects. I formed a development team with former co-workers and university classmates, founding Atalaya Games, an indie company focused on the development of a mythological style card game.

In parallel, during my university years, I participated in numerous talks at videogame events, schools and different round tables. In these talks, I shared my perspective as a producer and my experience in the world of videogames in Spain. 

Currently, I work as Producer and Project Manager at Stickylock, where I lead a team of 20 people in Mallorca in the development of a free-to-play style first person shooter (FPS) game. We work closely with the headquarters in the Netherlands to ensure an effective synchronization in the development process of the game.

The Dude