Engineer · Author · Systems thinker
Dylan Engelbrecht
Deep knowledge across complex systems — games, software, and markets — applied wherever it creates disproportionate value.
Dylan Engelbrecht is a senior software engineer, technical author, and systems thinker who applies deep cross-domain knowledge wherever it compounds. He wrote Building Multiplayer Games in Unity: Using Mirror Networking and Introduction to Unity ML-Agents (Springer Nature / Apress), contributed to shipped titles including A Township Tale, REAVE, GORN, and A Memoir Blue, co-founded Deeplink Studios (Riftwalker), works on AI-focused communications engineering at AnyVan, and manages a long-horizon, no-leverage portfolio on eToro using the Barnacle strategy.
Technical author and engineer. Springer/Apress books; AI-focused comms engineering at AnyVan; long-horizon investing on eToro.
About
Dylan Engelbrecht is a senior software engineer based in South Africa who works across engineering, authorship, and markets — connecting ideas from each domain wherever they compound.
He currently works at AnyVan on the comms engineering team with an AI focus. Previously a senior systems engineer at Alta (a16z-backed) and co-founder of Deeplink Studios, he shipped and optimized VR titles across Meta Quest, Pico, Steam, and console platforms.
He is the author of Building Multiplayer Games in Unity: Using Mirror Networking and Introduction to Unity ML-Agents, published by Springer Nature / Apress. On eToro he manages a long-horizon, no-leverage portfolio using the Barnacle strategy.
Domains
- Engineering & games Shipped VR and multiplayer titles; performance, networking, ML in games; AI-focused comms engineering at AnyVan. Selected work →
- Technical authorship Springer Nature / Apress books on Mirror multiplayer and Unity ML-Agents. Publications →
- Markets & investing Long-horizon, no-leverage portfolio on eToro — the Barnacle strategy. Investing →
- Media & speaking Press kit, exhibitions, and event history. Press →
Selected work
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A Township Tale
Services ended 2026Cross-platform optimization and scalable session systems
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REAVE
Development discontinuedSystems and optimization on Alta's VR extraction title
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GORN
AvailablePerformance engineering during co-development at 24bit Games
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A Memoir Blue
AvailablePort and optimization for Nintendo Switch at 24bit Games
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Riftwalker
AvailableCo-founder, Deeplink Studios
Endorsements
Recommendations originally written in English.
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Dylan was great to work with. Incredibly enthusiastic, and always on the lookout for opportunities to provide value.
For our second project, he was our only engineer in his timezone, which meant a lot of time management, but also a responsibility to be the go-to person for the dozen or so team members also in that time zone. He was always eager to assist and the team always held him in high regard.
He worked on several large systems across our projects, including a significant focus on performance and memory, to bring high quality experiences to mobile VR hardware.
I would recommend Dylan to anyone looking to drive their projects forward with both technology and passion.
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I’ve worked both for and alongside Dylan in the past, and he’s someone I’d happily collaborate with again. He’s enthusiastic, dependable, and always willing to help. He brings fresh ideas to the table and serves as an excellent “rubber duck” when you need to talk through a problem.
Dylan has a strong instinct for delivering scalable, well-considered solutions and performs exceptionally well under pressure. When deadlines are tight and expectations are high he consistently delivers. He is particularly strong in C# development, which complements his broad and deep experience with Unity.
What truly sets Dylan apart is his ability to confidently engage across the full development stack — from nuanced backend authentication integrations to low-level frontend latency and performance optimisation.
Given the opportunity to work with him again, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
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I had the pleasure of working with Dylan for several years at Alta. His technical knowledge is second to none, and he'd always make time to support and unblock anyone that needed his help.
No matter the challenge, Dylan always had a couple of solutions up his sleeve. He improved performance on our game, wrote custom tools to speed up our workflows and generally made our lives easier with his positive outlook to problem solving.
I'd love to work with Dylan again in the future.
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Dylan Engelbrecht is a highly competent and skilled Unity developer that lead our team in the development of 2 projects during my time at Deeplink Studios.
He was highly effective in guiding the vision of the projects as well as extremely helpful anytime a team member needed any guidance on how to solve any issues within Unity.
his expertise is reinforced by his published work on the use of Unity’s ML Agent frameworks.
Excerpts from LinkedIn recommendations (January 2026). Full text in schema/testimonials.json. LinkedIn may not expose deep links to individual recommendations depending on profile privacy settings. schema/testimonials.json.