Overview
We are seeking an experienced Senior Gameplay Animator for the development of a new Hack and Slash title!
The Senior Gameplay Animator is an experienced and well-rounded craft expert. They have practical experience of prototyping, developing, and implementing combat, locomotion, and other gameplay animations, can effectively balance aesthetic goals with technical constraints, and have a proven track record of execution from concept to ship.
The ideal candidate has held a Senior role on at least one published title, is equally comfortable with keyframe and motion-capture animation pipelines, has extensive experience in Maya and MotionBuilder, and has worked with multiple game engines and animation systems.
Responsibilities
- Wear multiple hats including Rigging and Combat Designing.
- Work closely with multiple departments.
- Ideate, implement and iterate on animation assets, balancing the needs of style and function.
- Focus on character development, choreography, and timing of each move.
- Collaborate with the Senior Programmers to achieve the perfect balance between animation fidelity and gameplay responsiveness, to integrate moves into the game engine, and to monitor and troubleshoot any technical issues that might arise.
- Animate keyframed characters, creatures, and props by hand.
- Assemble, edit, clean up, and enhance motion capture data shot on stage.
- Assemble and prepare navigation, combat, and world interactive move-lists for shooting on the motion capture stage
- Assist with mocap shoots, informing the stage crew of prop needs, checking for continuity and keeping track of editing needs for combat and navigation moves
- Be extremely proactive
- Actively advance skill set and abilities by keeping aware of industry trends and techniques, evaluating competitive products, and learning new software packages and traditional art methods
Requirements
- A strong demo reel that demonstrates expert knowledge of fundamental animation principles, and the ability to create a full range of lifelike performances from the subtle to the dramatic and powerful
- Proficient command of weight, timing, and posing through both keyframing and the manipulation of motion capture data
- Develop complex rig systems
- Knowledge of deformations and topology for body, cloth, and hair
- High level of proficiency in Maya, MotionBuilder and or similar software
- High comfort level with learning and utilizing animation systems and game engine pipelines
- Ability to rapidly prototype, iterate, and explore animation style and functionality
- Excellent communication, time-management, and organizational skills
- Ability to reach across multiple disciplines to gather feedback and address cross-functional issues
- Strong mentoring skills, production-sensibilities, and the drive and talent needed to produce and implement the highest quality work.
- Is familiar with multiple game engines.
- Minimum of 5 years’ industry or related experience.
- Can handle with ease both written and verbal English communication.
- Design and develop weapon animations
Nice-To-Haves
- Experience with scripting
- Understands the nature of character animation in Action-adventure games (like “God of War”, “Devil May Cry”, and “Darksiders”)
- Understands the nature of character animation in Souls-like games (like “Bloodborne”, “Lords of the Fallen”, Nioh”, “Dark Souls”, and “The Surge”)
- Confident in UE4 animation tools