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Lead Narrative Animator
1 year ago
Free Range Games grows games the old fashioned way: we don’t put our team in cages, we work distributedly, and we don’t use toxic work/life trade-offs. Some of our crafters have worked together from PS1 to PS5 and will tell you about carving games one triangle at a time from punch cards.
We are some of the folk behind Spider-man, Tony Hawk, Lord of the Rings, Twitch Sings, Oddworld, Callisto Protocol, Shrek Super Slam, and dozens of mobile and web games. We believe every member of the team has a voice in what the game should be.
We prioritize community, family, and love-of-gaming over process, crunching, and TPS reports. And maybe that’s what you want too.
Free Range Games is looking for a highly skilled Lead Narrative Animator who can work closely with our Animation Director in addition to leaders from the Art, Engineering, Design, and Audio departments. This role involves creating compelling in-game narrative sequences and world building animations to sell the immersion and believability of a new game world. The ideal candidate should have a proven track record of directing motion capture shoots in addition to authoring then implementing animation data in the game engine.
Responsibilities:
- Work closely with the Animation Director to understand the creative vision for the game's narrative sequences.
- Direct motion capture shoots and have an understanding of leveraging timecode and facial animation systems.
- Develop and implement high-quality animations leveraging both motion capture and keyframed data.
- Collaborate with the Engineering and Design teams to ensure that animations support the game's mechanics and overall player experience.
- Lead a team of animators, providing guidance, feedback, and support to ensure that all animations meet the highest quality standards.
- Work with the Audio team to ensure a clean hand-off of data so that animations and VO are synchronized.
- Maintain knowledge of emerging animation technologies and techniques to continually improve the quality of the game's animations and workflows.
Qualifications :
- 5+ years of experience in game animation development, including experience as a Lead Animator.
- Have at least shipped one game working as a narrative or gameplay animator.
- Strong knowledge of motion capture pipelines and directing talent.
- Experience with authoring content and implementing it into the game engines such as Unity, Unreal Engine, or a proprietary engine on a former project.
- Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively with the Animation Director, Engineering and Design teams.
- Ability to lead a team of animators and provide guidance and feedback.
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to think creatively to find solutions to animation challenges.
- Passion for narrative storytelling and world-building in video games.
- A portfolio demonstrating experience creating narrative sequences.
Pluses:
- MotionBuilder experience.
- Familiarity with scripting languages such as Python.
- Experience with basic rigging and skinning of characters or props.
- Experience with dynamic systems such as physics based animations.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
Free Range Games is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Free Range Games makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.
E-Verify participant
Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. Free Range Games participates in E-Verify.
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