Lead Animator

Description

Deck Nine Games is looking for a creative and talented lead animator for an unannounced AAA adventure game. You will focus on adding nuance, intent, and emotion with facial motion capture data. Your goal is to deliver meaningful performances in our narrative adventure games that makes fans fall in love with the characters. The perfect candidate will have demonstrable skills with FACS-based facial performances and has the ability to effectively lead a team of animators by mentorship and coaching. You will be integral to setting the high-quality bar for the game.

Responsibilities:

Lead a talented and diverse animation team
Assign shots and schedule deliverables within budget constraints
Provide notes for assigned shots and mentor junior artists on FACS-based animation
Work with the Faceware and Vicon motion capture team and actors to deliver the highest quality captures
Enhance keyframes to bring to life the actor’s performance using Maya software – enhancing it and making it as appealing as possible
Work with body motion capture data to craft the best performances possible

Top Reasons to Work with Us

You want to create believable, emotional performances in a game that focuses on story
You want to join a veteran company as it flourishes in the storytelling genres
You want a great working environment with everyone focused on success
You want a fabulous office location at the base of the Rocky Mountains with an amazing mix of outdoor and urban excitement
You might actually want a family-friendly place to buy a house and raise a family, gasp!

Requirements:

Fluency in Maya
A demo reel that demonstrates character, emotion, and performance; FACS-based facial animation in addition to working with performance capture is particularly important.
Passion for acting storytelling and games
Experience in leading animation teams to deliver top-flight cinematic performances
Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university; or three to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

What’s In It for You?

Competitive starting salary
Generous PTO and holiday plan
Great working environment with a dynamic team
Growth opportunities for your career
A chance to stop animating game loops and start animating performances!

So, if you’re a talented animator, looking to work on a game that focuses on characters, please apply today! Position is full-time on-site or remote and applicants must already be authorized to work in the U.S.

Top applicants may be required to take an animation test

About Deck Nine

Deck Nine Games is an independent game developer dedicated to crafting interactive story games that inspire, transform, and entertain players. Our passion is storytelling games.

Our first narrative game, Life is Strange: Before the Storm is loved by fans and has won multiple awards, including Game of Year and was nominated for both a VGA and a BAFTA. Recently we just announced our next game, Life is Strange: True Colors, due to be released in September 2021.

The studio is 100+ people and is in sunny Westminster, Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We hope to share more information about our next title with Square Enix as soon as we can.

We’re looking for talented and self-motivated people to join us as we aim to rise to the top of the storytelling game studios. We are part of the thriving Colorado game dev scene and our location offers a lower cost of living and a proximity to countless family-friendly activities and amazing outdoor opportunities. If this sounds appealing to you, please apply!

As the crafters of stories that encompass the full breadth of life’s experiences, Deck Nine is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and multicultural team in which people from all walks of life feel inspired to do their best work. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and believe deeply in the creativity and strength built from diversity of race, religion, disability, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, nationality, and the many other qualities that make us different.

This Job is no longer active!