We love creating a large amount of highly stylized art and in-game assets. To achieve the beautiful, stylized visuals we strive for, it’s vital to have a Technical Artist that can act as a creative contributor and technical bridge between artists and programmers.

Apply your various skills to create things like advanced IK & Rigs, procedural animations, and procedural props, while developing Export Pipelines, and more!

Own our character animation pipelines and help push us to our maximum potential to realize the vision of our current and future games!

We seek collaborative individuals that are excited to contribute innovative and original ideas across all aspects of our game's production & design, working together as a team.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Create animation rigs, systems, and setups at the highest quality possible while staying on schedule
• Create believable and accurate deformations based on knowledge of physical anatomy using skinning, blendshapes and other applicable deformation techniques as they develop
• Author simulation setups and/or rigging for cloth and stylized hair
• Assist the animation team in troubleshooting setup and animation problems as they arise, especially as they relate to projects
• Stay informed about the latest improvements in Maya and on the latest in animation techniques from various sources of media
• Contribute to the design and improvement of the character set-up process, including improvements to tools and workflows
• Edit and improve existing character animation systems, such as facial setups and animation transfer tools
• Write and maintain scripts using Python and PyMel in support of animation rigs, workflows for animating/rigging characters, expediting the character setup and animation process, or to aid the art team
• Support Core team by creating tools and improving the DCC-to-Engine art pipeline
• Act as an intermediary between the animation and technical teams to clarify and communicate the workflows, needs, and terminologies of each team
• Understand (and assists when technical needs arise) the entire process of creating cinematics including set construction, camera setup, character blocking, character animation, motion capture, cloth simulation, animation troubleshooting, and ensuring that scenes run properly on the real-time game engine
• Work with Character Artists to create a model that meets technical needs

Qualifications

• This role is open to Junior through Senior level. Title and Compensation will be adjusted to match experience.
• Experience with character setup, python scripting and a solid understanding of all technical aspects of Maya animation
• An understanding of basic animation principles
• Working knowledge of MEL, Python, and scripting as it applies to character setup and animation
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables

Other Skills

• Help evaluate new technical tools and make suggestions in either the implementation or practical uses of said tools
• Possess an understanding of animation techniques for the purpose of proactive problem solving and troubleshooting
• Maintain an understanding of skeletons, facial animation methodologies, constraints and other Maya tools and systems used for character animation

Bonus Qualifications:

• Gardens is a small, highly collaborative studio. If you have skills in multiple disciplines, be sure to let us know! We’d love to explore ways you can bring your whole self to the project.
• Experience with Houdini and other procedural generation tools
• VFX capabilities
• Can create simple animations for the purpose of testing new and existing systems, and animate cameras and simple objects for gameplay and cinematics, as necessary
• Has experience with Mecanim and/or IK animation systems in Unity
• Knowledge of character cosmetic rigging, implementation, and systems

Gardens Offers*

• Competitive pay
• Stock Options
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401k Contributions
• 35 Hour Work Weeks
• Training and mentorship
• Unlimited paid vacation, holiday and sick time with flexibility in timing

• Flexibility in work location(s) -- Gardens will open a physical studio location in the future. Employees will have the choice to continue working remotely, or to relocate and work on site.

* Benefits and perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Gardens and the country in which you work.

To Apply

Send your application to careers@gardens.dev with the title "Character TD".

Please include specific skills you would bring to a new project, as well as any links to current and/or past projects.

All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, legally protected physical or mental disability, covered veteran status, status in the U.S. uniformed services, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Who We Are

Gardens is a new remote games studio from developers of games like Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Blaseball, Spider-Man, Dustforce, Skyrim, Ashen, and more. We’re named after the games we grow together — lush, living worlds that bring players together to cultivate lasting friendships. Worlds that offer surprising multiplayer experiences and flourish with the help of their communities.

We believe a team of diverse voices has the most to say, and we are committed to providing a healthy, inclusive, collaborative, and transparent work environment for all!

We offer competitive pay, stock options, unlimited PTO, 35 hour work weeks, and robust benefits (including full medical and vision, dental, 401k contributions and more)!

We are currently creating our flagship project — a shared 3D fantasy adventure inspired by our favorite memories playing online games over the years.

It’s the world we want to play in every day!

←View other open positions at Gardens.