Technical Artist / Effects Artist - Giant Sparrow - Santa Monica

Technical Artist / Effects Artist - Giant Sparrow - Santa Monica

Giant Sparrowis a small indie developer working with a major publisher on our first game, The Unfinished Swan.

We’re looking for a technical artist/animator who can help us bring life to our game. We’re hoping to find someone who can do production quality particle effects and is also technical enough to serve as a bridge between art and code. We understand that’s a pretty rare combination so if you’re stronger on one side than the other that’s fine, as long as you’d be comfortable developing some new skills along the way.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is a strong particle/effects animator. Someone who can start with a system for paint splat particles, then move on to things that are a bit stranger and more surreal.

• Can do as many of the following as possible:
• Python (or MEL) scripting in Maya
• Lighting and baking in Maya
• Optimize in-house and outsourced assets
• Help manage memory and performance budgets

• Can coordinate with the programmers to get content into game as efficiently as possible

• Has shipped at least 1 game

• Has 4+ years of experience in games:
• Current generation console experience a must
• Previous generation console experience a strong plus

• Strong Maya background

• Gamebryo experience a plus

About the gig:

This position is open now.

This is a full time, on-site, contract position with a duration of 4-6 months. We’re a small team (currently 10 people, plus the occasional contractor), so everyone wears a few hats. Our offices are located in Santa Monica, CA. We prefer local candidates although if you’re open to relocating, let’s talk.

About us:

We’re tiny, so finding the right person for the team (not just the job) is critically important to us. We’re focused on creating surreal games that evoke a sense of awe and wonder. Hopefully you’re into that too. We really like self starters—if you’ve got a bunch of weird side-projects and are always brimming over with suggestions and ideas about what you want to do, you may be our kind of person.

Please send resumes/inquiries to jobs@giantsparrow.com along with links to your portfolio. Please do not attach your portfolio or reel to your initial e-mail.