Founded in 1998, Retro Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Company, Ltd. Retro is a state-of-the-art game development studio, working in conjunction with Nintendo to bring award-winning games to Nintendo’s cutting-edge next-generation platforms. Retro Studios is located in beautiful Austin, Texas. With rolling hills, scenic waterways, abundant wildlife, vibrant music and film scenes, and a laid-back cosmopolitan culture, Austin is a dynamic city with an excellent quality of life. Austin’s sunny weather also supports a great range of outdoor activities, providing plenty of venues for top-notch game developers to recharge and unwind.
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
- Design, create, implement, and maintain real-time VFX assets including textures, shaders, models, and particle systems
- Take ownership of visual effects work for various environments, game mechanics and sequences while enjoying collaboration with other disciplines such as design, art, engineering, animation, and audio to achieve innovative and high-quality gameplay and cinematic experiences
- Adapt a broad range of artistic styles into VFX with a strong foundation in animation principles and color theory that enhance the goals and direction for a given project
- Optimization of VFX assets so they adhere to technical requirements with respect to both memory limits and performance constraints of console game development
- Utilize technical insight in anticipating and identifying VFX needs and propose solutions for both current project(s) and future pipeline improvements
- Contribute to larger, project wide aesthetic & style decisions Cultivate a work environment in which VFX artists provide feedback and critique for one another
- Maintain familiarity with our project(s) to understand the gameplay and narrative contexts
- Offer training and mentoring to teammates one-on-one and in groups Maintain a clean and organized file structure for all VFX assets
*This job description outlines primary duties and requirements and is not intended to identify all tasks that may be performed; individuals occupying the position may be required to perform other duties. The company may modify job duties from time to time, either in practice or in writing.
SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS
- Must have a well-rounded portfolio of high quality real-time VFX work demonstrating a range between realistic and stylized effects
- Demonstrate ability to use independent judgment and creativity in developing effects to support art direction and theme as defined by Art Director and Lead VFX artist
- Leadership Skills:
- Self-starter with proactive attitude to improve own qualifications
- Eager to share insights and techniques with other team members
- Strong collaboration and communication skills
- Driven to create top quality visuals for games
- Knowledge:
- Deep knowledge of the visual effects production-pipeline
- Strong understanding of effects performance and memory optimization
- Fundamental understanding of pixel and vertex shaders for VFX
- Intermediate math skills
- Foundational understanding of animation principles applied in VFX
- Working knowledge of physically based rendering concepts o Familiarity with basic scripting of particle systems o Enthusiastic, creative, and technical problem solver
- Technical Experience with VFX for video game software:
- Experience with real-time FX editor such as Unity, Unreal Engine, FluidNinja, etc.
- Experience with authoring materials/shaders in a GUI (Substance Designer, Unreal Material Editor, Unity Shader Graph)
- Experience with simulation software such as Houdini, EmberGen, BiFrost, etc.
- Experience with Adobe Photoshop or Substance 3D for texture authoring
- Experience with Maya for modeling and UV unwrapping
- Familiarity with 2D VFX tools such as After Effects, Toon Boom, etc.
- Experience in real-time VFX artist production role for interactive entertainment, including minimum of one full product cycle as a VFX artist in the industry
- Undergraduate degree in Video Game or Traditional Art or a form of technical training/certification preferred.