Velan Studios is looking for a technical artist to help drive the visual direction of its game by defining and developing the pipeline, tools, shaders, and other technical art components necessary.
July 31, 2018
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Location: Troy, New York
About Us:
Velan Studios is a growing independent game developer focused on bringing ground-breaking new game experiences to existing and emerging game platforms. We are a group of passionate, seasoned industry veterans who are working on a new Original IP that has a killer art style and tone with novel gameplay mechanics you haven’t seen before. If you’ve been working in AAA console for years and really want to get back to working with an experienced small, scrappy, and agile team to create something breakthrough and original, we want to hear from you!
About the Role:
We are looking for an experienced and passionate technical artist to be the bridge between graphics engineers and the art team and to help drive the visual direction of our game by defining and developing the pipeline, tools, shaders, and other technical art components necessary. The Lead Technical Artist will be a critical contributor in bringing our visual concept design into reality.
We are looking for someone who’s always learning about new techniques, technologies and loves figuring out a better way of doing things; a key team member who wants to share their knowledge and help make the artists on their team produce cutting edge visuals in new and better ways! These traits will be critical to the role, as we are building our own tech and tools in a new modern and efficient way that is scalable from PC to console and mobile.
Summary of Responsibilities
The ideal candidate is an accomplished technical artist who can bring their experience and expertise in dealing with technical issues around content creation in video games.
The ideal candidate is also a versatile game artist with strong environment lighting and materials creation experience and the leadership qualities to mentor, direct, and collaborate with both veteran and junior artists. In this role, the Technical Art Lead will work in a small team with the Art Director, gameplay programmers, artists, and animators to create eye-opening, visually-captivating experiences.
Qualifications
5+ years of game industry experience on console and/or PC platforms.
Minimum 2-year 2D/3D art degree, architecture degree, or equivalent.
Experience working in Unreal, Unity, or other AAA engines.
Experience building tools to improve pipelines across all aspects of game art production.
Knowledge & experience in modern lighting and rendering techniques (PBR, Baked GI, Forward +, Deferred)
Relevant programming or scripting experience architecting and building tools for artists.
Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with programmers, designers, producers, and artists.
A deep understanding of art pipelines on modern game consoles.
A solid grasp of runtime performance and how to scale content for different platforms.
Familiarity with the majority of modern 3D software packages (Maya, Motion Builder, Substance, ShaderForge, zBrush etc.).
Responsibilities
Identify and/or select tools and technologies to enhance the content creation process.
Collaborate with other technical and aesthetic experts within the studio to define clear goals for the toolset, pipeline, and construction processes.
Contribute to the creation and verification of new tools, shaders, etc., that can be used to successfully execute on the project’s artistic vision.
Spearhead R&D efforts for tools, content and new technologies in relationship to art and visual aesthetics.
Collaborate with engineering to develop cutting edge tools and technologies.
Work with the other content producers to ensure proper game performance and optimizations.
Review pipelines and content creation process to identify best practices, and work within constraints.
Define, document, and supervise the graphic production pipeline (modeling, animation, characters, lighting, VFX, etc..)
Partner with the Art Director to execute on the project’s aesthetic vision.
Create, organize and lead training sessions for the team members on the tools and techniques chosen and follow through that they are being well used throughout the project.
Guide and provide support to development team members.
Preferred Qualifications:
BFA or equivalent.
Shipped multiple 3D game titles.
Strong technical proficiency in understanding proprietary tools and technology.
Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
Strong 2D drawing and/or digital painting skills.
Passion for making and playing great games, with an awareness of current titles and industry trends.
About Velan Studios:
Velan Studios’ mission is to create ground-breaking game experiences centered on new forms of play across both existing and emerging platforms. Velan Studios is an independent studio comprised of a diverse team of seasoned developers who have worked at various AAA studios like Vicarious Visions, Naughty Dog, Harmonix, Guerilla Games, Avalanche Studios, Retro Studios and more. Velan Studios is based in Troy, NY.
Interested? Apply now.
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