Character Artist - Contract

Playground Games Limited; Royal Leamington Spa; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a premier Xbox Game Studio as a Character Artist and contribute to the BAFTA award-winning Forza Horizon franchise. This is a fantastic opportunity to work with a talented team, creating high-quality game characters while collaborating closely with various departments. With a hybrid work model and state-of-the-art facilities in Royal Leamington Spa, you'll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity and creativity. If you're passionate about video games and skilled in character creation, this role offers a chance to make a significant impact in the gaming industry.

Benefits

Relocation assistance

Inclusive work environment

Career progression support

Self-development opportunities

Qualifications

• Proficient in sculpting human anatomies and realistic clothing.
• Good understanding of technical considerations for character creation.

Responsibilities

• Create realistic sculpting, retopology, and texturing for game characters.
• Collaborate with various teams to define pipelines and workflows.

Skills

Sculpting human anatomies

Realistic clothing creation

3DSMax

Maya

Marvelous Designer

ZBrush

Wrap3D

Substance Painter

Technical considerations for character creation

Good communication skills

Tools

3DSMax

Maya

ZBrush

Substance Painter

Marvelous Designer

Wrap3D

Job description

Playground Games is looking for a Character Artist to join our talented Forza Horizon team here in Leamington Spa on a contract basis.

About us

As a premier first-party Xbox Game Studio, we are passionate about making genre-defining games that are accessible, beautiful, and most of all, fun. We are looking to expand our diverse team as we continue driving forward our BAFTA award-winning Forza Horizon franchise.

About the role

As a Character Artist you will work closely with the Character teams to deliver high quality game characters, as well as providing feedback and documentation to outsource partners. Our ideal candidate is a highly skilled artist who is passionate about their craft, proficient in sculpting human anatomies and realistic clothing, and can communicate efficiently with others.

This is a contract role based at our state-of-the-art facilities in Royal Leamington Spa. We have a hybrid work model in place with a minimum of 3 days a week in studio. Relocation assistance is available if required.

What you’ll do:

• Creation of realistic sculpting, retopology and texturing, as well as assets briefs for body, face, hair and garments
• Integration of character assets in engine, troubleshoot rendering and shader issues and balance textures
• Collaborate closely with the Character, Tech Art, Tech Animation and Animation Teams to define pipelines and workflows whilst maintaining their documentation
• Provide feedback to our outsource partners

What you'll bring:

• An interest in modern fashion
• A self-motivated team player attitude with good communication skills
• A passion for video games
• Proficiency in 3DSMax, Maya, Marvelous Designer, ZBrush, Wrap3D and Substance Painter
• Understanding and demonstration of human anatomy and proportions
• A good understanding of technical considerations for character creation, with the ability to communicate with technical team members

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a world-class game with an established, talented, and collaborative team at one of the industry’s most exciting first-party game studios.

Playground Games is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity and inclusion fuels creativity. We are dedicated to creating a safe, comfortable and welcoming working environment.

We strive to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our team members. It drives our innovation and connects us closer to our players. We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion across age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

At Playground Games we recognise the importance of self-development, career progression, well-being and retention of our colleagues. We celebrate difference and welcome everyone to join us and to be themselves at work.

If you require any reasonable accommodation to apply for this position, please contact us on [e-mail]