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Senior Animation Programmer (Narrative Adventure)

A visionary game development studio founded in 2012, Firesprite builds innovative showcase titles for PlayStation platforms as part of the PlayStation Studios family.

Would you enjoy the freedom to create AAA games working from anywhere in the UK, including our Liverpool studio?

We are looking for a Senior Gameplay Programmer, specialising in Animation, to work with a talented team of programmers and technical animators on a dark, story-driven next generation 'Narrative Adventure' with genre defining goals.

This huge, highly ambitious partnership project takes atmosphere, storytelling, player agency and narrative firmly into ground-breaking territory on next-generation hardware technologies.

This project has AAA ambitions with a heavy focus on art, animation and delivering unique character performances to heighten player presence and immersion to new levels.

As a Senior Animation Gameplay Programmer, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining state-of-the art Animation systems and overall Character and Environment Animation Gameplay architecture. You will be working on next gen platforms and in areas such as but not limited to – Animation Graphs, Animation Compression, Motion Matching, Motion Capture Data, Facial Animation, Joint-Based Rigs, Blend Shape Rigs, Cinematic Animation, Gameplay Animation, IK and FK, Pose-Based Deformation, Systems Architecture, Camera Controls, Physics, etc.

Key Responsibilities:

• Communicate and work closely with the wider team to translate Animation design goals into AAA core gameplay animation systems.
• Facilitate the prototyping, implementation, iteration and polishing of new and existing Animation systems and associated gameplay systems.
• Play a huge part in all relevant gameplay areas to create state-of-the-art Facial and Character Animation systems.
• Report to the Lead Programmer on the delivery of the Technical and Gameplay goals of the Animation systems and tasks.
• Respond to design feedback to help meet the creative vision of the game.
• Provide constructive input to and feedback on potential new features during the initial design, prototyping, iteration, and polish stages.
• Accurately planning of work for you and your team and feedback to Lead Programmer

Requirements

• Strong knowledge of, and experience of programming in C++.
• Strong knowledge of current game-based Animation programming and systems
• Strong knowledge of Unreal Engine Animation Systems (anim graphs, anim blueprints, sequences, etc).
• Experience with profiling and optimising CPU performance of real-time game systems.
• General software engineering knowledge, such as OOP, design patterns & API development.
• Confidence working with 3D maths, vectors, matrices, quaternions, linear algebra.
• Previous experience as an Animation/Gameplay Programmer within the Games Industry.

Additional or Desired Skills:

• An intuition for, and interest in, ‘Animation Systems’
• Experience with Unreal Engine.
• Experience with Console development.
• Experience with Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Machine Learning
• Experience of working with game-play mechanics concerning narrative, action or adventure games.

Benefits

• Private Healthcare
• SIE Performance related Bonus Scheme
• Enhanced Holiday Allowance
• Pension
• Training & Development
• Mental Health & Wellbeing Support
• We are open to you working remotely within the UK