Material Artist

Next Level Games Inc.; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 67,000 - 92,000; Full time

Job summary

Next Level Games Inc. is seeking a passionate Material Artist to join their Vancouver studio. In this hybrid role, you will collaborate with the art team to create impactful materials for upcoming titles. The ideal candidate will have a strong portfolio, proficiency in industry-standard tools, and a minimum of three years of experience on AAA games.

Benefits

Competitive benefits and annual leave

Support for mental health and financial well-being

Access to in-studio gym

Discounted shopping for Nintendo products

Inclusive workplace culture

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years professional experience on a AAA title.
• Strong portfolio of in-game material artwork.
• Ability to maintain an organized material and texture library.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Art Director and team to create materials.
• Texture benchmark environment assets for consistency.
• Test and troubleshoot issues in the game engine.

Skills

Proficiency in Substance Designer

Proficiency in Substance Painter

Proficiency in ZBrush

Proficiency in Photoshop

Solid understanding of PBR Shading Model

Expertise in Maya modeling

Knowledge of Procedural Art Generation

Strong communication skills

Organizational skills

Interpersonal skills

Job description

WHO WE ARE:
Next Level Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd.

We’ve been passionate about video game development for over 20 years now, shipping award-winning games for fans across the world and still going strong. Some of our titles include Super Mario Strikers, Mario Strikers Charged, Punch-Out!!, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Metroid Prime Federation Force, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and most recently Mario Strikers: Battle League.

At NLG, we believe that a project finds success when we collaborate. Therefore, we place careful consideration on building an environment where everyone feels welcome and has fun in the process of achieving our shared goals.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:
We are currently looking for an experienced and passionate Material Artist who is excited to join our team! You will play a key role in executing the unique artistic style and creating materials that have major impact on the experiences we create. Key responsibilities of the role include:

• Collaborate with the Art Director, Senior Material Artist and Environment Art team members to create materials that fulfill the art vision for the project
• Use industry-leading techniques creating assets that set an inspirational quality bar for the team
• Texture benchmark environment assets and work with Environment and Lighting Artists to set metrics for consistency across all materials in the game
• Play a large part in the look and feel of our next exciting title
• Maintain and communicate a strong knowledge of innovative game production technologies and the capabilities/ limitations of these technologies as they relate to the project goals
• Test and proactively troubleshoot areas that are not working in the game engine and help to fix them
• Maintain and constantly improve your artistic skills and foster a creative working environment

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• A strong portfolio of in-game material artwork
• Minimum 3 years professional experience on a AAA title, creating real-time environments.
• Proficiency in Substance Designer, Substance Painter, ZBrush and Photoshop
• Proficiency with Procedural Art Generation.
• Solid understanding of a general PBR Shading Model
• A strong understanding of industry leading art techniques and processes
• Ability to maintain an organized material and texture library
• Expertise working with Maya modeling for gaming
• Complete understanding of the High-poly -> Low Poly workflow
• A good sense of how to approach stylizing real-world materials
• Excellent communication, organization and interpersonal skills
• Proficient writing skills and the ability to document procedures and pipelines
• Experience in using code-based shader graphs is a bonus!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE WORKING HERE:

• Competitive benefits and annual leave, including discretionary performance bonus program and health coverage
• Support for mental health, financial well-being, legal assistance and more through our Employee Assistance Program
• Access to our in-studio gym, and an extensive media library filled with games and books
• Join a committee – board games, sports, or something else – it’s all here!
• Discounted shopping for Nintendo products and merchandise at the online employee store
• A workplace that values inclusivity and encourages continuous growth
• A chance to be part of Nintendo, creating award winning games that make an impact

Please note this is a hybrid position, requiring at least three days per week at our Vancouver studio.

The hiring range for this position is $ 67,000 - $92,000 CAD annually and is subject to change. The final base salary compensation will be based on factors such as skills, education, and experience.

We wish to thank all applicants in advance; however, only those under consideration will be contacted.

We are currently only considering applicants who already have work eligibility and are residing in or willing to relocate to Metro Vancouver.