3D Animator / Rigger (Middle+)

Project One Way Home, Unreal Engine 5. Seeking 3D Animator/Rigger (Middle+) for cinematic puzzle-platformer. Remote worldwide. Rigging, skinning, hand-keyed animation for humanoids and surreal monsters. Salary based on interview/experience.

One Way Home is a dark cinematic puzzle-platformer about a 12-year-old boy navigating a surreal, distorted world. Visual target: deep, atmospheric semi-realism. We are looking for a strong 3D Animator/Rigger (Middle+) to bring to life both ordinary humanoids and nightmarish non-humanoid monsters: four-legged creatures, multi-legged spawns, and deformed giants. Responsibilities: - Rigging and skinning: Create reliable, integration-ready animation rigs for a variety of characters — from the main hero (a boy) to complex monsters, quadruped creatures, and cinematic props. - Character animation: Create high-quality hand-keyed animation (idle, locomotion, stealth, interaction with heavy objects, combat states) that clearly conveys weight, tension, and fear. - Creature animation: Develop unique movement styles and patterns for surreal monsters and quadruped creatures, balancing real anatomy and frightening, supernatural behavior. - Preparation for import: Export and transfer animations to Unreal Engine 5 in strict accordance with the project's technical requirements, ensuring clean data for further work. - Collaboration: Work closely with a technical animator, promptly fixing technical nuances of the rig or animation during integration into the game.

What we expect from the candidate: - Experience: 3+ years of professional experience as an animator/rigger in game dev (at least one released or actively in-development 3D project). - Software: Professional proficiency in Autodesk Maya or Blender for rigging and animation. - Understanding of UE5 pipeline: Clear knowledge of how the Unreal Engine 5 animation pipeline works (requirements for skeletons, bone hierarchies, IK systems, retargeting). You don't need to manually check everything in blend spaces — the project has a technical animator for that, but you must speak the same language. - Anatomy and biomechanics: Deep understanding of weight, balance, and anatomy of both humans and quadruped creatures/monsters. You must understand how to make a creature look terrifying just by how it carries its body weight. - Versatility: Ability to switch between realistic human physics and unnatural, eerie monster movement. - Portfolio: An up-to-date showreel demonstrating high-quality hand-keyed animation, creature locomotion, and examples of complex character rigs. Nice to have: - Experience working on side-scrollers, platformers, or third-person horror games.

What we offer: - Full remote work with a flexible schedule from anywhere in the world. - Opportunity to have a direct impact on the final look and atmosphere of a high-quality, original indie horror with an already established community. - A cool, passionate team without suffocating corporate bureaucracy. - Market salary.