Principal 3D Environment Artist

Who We Are:

Founded by an MMO legend who has led AAA teams for over 20 years, our new studio Fantastic Pixel Castle (FPC) is building an original fantasy IP from scratch. Players will be regularly engaged in our development process from early stages as part of our open and transparent studio culture, and we aim to craft an IP that will be worthy of their passion and dedication for decades to come. 

We are committed to being a fully remote and global studio, so that we can hire world-class people and have them live their best lives. We think top-heavy bureaucracy stifles creativity, so we aim to stay small as we focus on delivering a game and a world that players will love. We are fully-funded, and the team will share in all of our studio's successes. We're seeking talented teammates to join us in our journey so we encourage you to apply if you're interested, even if you're not sure you check all the boxes.

Position Overview:

As the first 3D Environment Artist on the team, you will be tasked with bringing our worlds and environments to life in our brand new IP. You will play a crucial role shaping our game’s aesthetic for the worlds in Ghost, as well as creating immersive and captivating 3d environment content that leverages the latest and greatest in technology within Unreal Engine. We are not just looking for an artist; we need a collaborative game developer who can contribute innovative ideas, engage in prototyping, have technical understanding to help drive our project from the conceptual stage through implementation, and bring our unique and compelling world to life.

Responsibilities:

• You are an extraordinary Environment Artist with a portfolio which reflects proven game development experience, and your portfolio reflects your experience and love for creating new worlds.
• Create appealing hand-crafted environment art which is beautiful, practical, and performant.
• Utilize modern tools and techniques such as procedural modeling for creating modular, optimized, and game-ready content.
• Work alongside Art, Engineering, and Design to evolve areas of development and create prototype assets to help facilitate cross department work as needed.
• Help create, and evolve, the look of our in-game worlds through Prototype and the live version of the game.
• Build final assets ranging from foliage, tiling materials, and terrain geometry to architecture and hero props.
• Implement game-ready assets in UE5 while being mindful of performance.
• Create vignettes to demonstrate proper asset use cases for internal and external developers.
• Provide feedback to External Development as needed. This role will provide feedback to External Development, but External Development is not the focus of the job.

Requirements:

• A bachelor's degree (or equivalent certificate) in Art, Graphic Design, Game Design, or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years experience in a 3d Environment Artist role within a game studio
• Experience that includes, but is not limited to, workflows for high and low poly modeling, texture painting, PBR material setup, mapping techniques, UV layout,  tools, lighting, and optimizations.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional skills in environment and level creation and a deep understanding of composition, shape & form, architecture, lighting, exterior environment design in a AAA game 
• Proficiency in using Unreal Engine 4+ for rapid prototyping.
• Proficiency in using Substance Tools (Designer & Painter) and PBR workflows.
• Proficiency with industry-standard 3D software, Zbrush and Maya (or other 3D modeling tools).
• Basic level lighting skills.
• An understanding of the impact of Environment Art on Level Design.
• Excellent communication skills, with a proven ability to articulate design concepts and rationales to other team members and stakeholders.
• Capability for self-directed work and taking a brief prompt and/or idea and pushing the visual boundaries to create something inspiring.
• Work well on a highly collaborative team, providing constructive feedback to help steer the efforts of developers in and outside the Art department.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working on and shipping AAA titles (Previous work on an MMO is a big plus).
• Strong understanding and practical experience with next-generation asset creation workflows.
• Proficiency with industry-standard software, including Photoshop, Houdini and/or other procedural tooling skills.
• Proficiency with advanced in-game lighting skills.
• Ability to create environment VFX
• Passion for gaming (especially MMOs), with an awareness of current industry trends and an understanding of player expectations.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills, able to adapt quickly to new technologies, workflows, and ideas.

We are an equal opportunity employer that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other protected status as required by law.

US Salary Band: $124,000 - 180,000 USD

Canada Salary Band: $110,000  – 170,000 CAD

The expected annual base pay ranges reflected in this job description are applicable to individuals residing in or working within a designated location. Any final compensation offer will depend on various factors. As part of an overall package, NetEase employees can take advantage of NetEase's comprehensive benefits and discretionary incentive plans, provided that they comply with the policies and guidelines governing those programs.