Melee / Gameplay Animator
Naughty Dog
Santa Monica, CA, USA
Job type: Permanent
Job Description
DEMO REEL SUBMISSIONS FOR THIS POSITION MUST INCLUDE GAME FOOTAGE
Summary:
Naughty Dog has spent the last decade+ carefully curating some of the top gameplay animators and technical minds in the world. This group of individuals is what allows us to create characters with the fidelity and believability that we put into games like The Last of Us and Uncharted series. We are looking for talented gameplay animators to help us create compelling systems for our future project(s). Work may include helping shape the hand-to-hand combat system and/or bringing the various enemy archetypes and supporting cast to life.
Responsibilities:
- Create character motions through a blend of key-frame animation and motion capture with our proprietary animation tools
- Work with designers and programmers to implement and iterate on these motions to create compelling, entertaining, and visually appealing gameplay and/or cinematic events
- Learn and utilize custom tools and basic scripting
- Additional responsibilities may be assigned as needed
Skills & Requirements
- Have experience animating with motion capture
- Have experience working on gameplay and/or interactive animation
- Have extensive experience animating realistic humans
- Have a good sense of weight and timing in your animation performances
- Have a good understanding of acting principles and basic camera staging.
- Be comfortable working with minimal direction
- Be a creative, innovative problem solver
- Be organized, productive, and a good communicator
- Be flexible with making edits and revisions based on gameplay requirements
- Have the ability to grasp new technology quickly and get the most out of it
- Must be able to provide a demo reel or examples of professional work (online preferred), a breakdown of your contributions to the shot, and an accompanying resume
Additional Information
- Relocation assistance is offered
How to Apply
To apply, please visit our website: Melee / Gameplay Animator
The Recruiting Process
We feel it is important to let you know how the recruiting process works here at Naughty Dog. Here is what you can expect from us:
- Upon submission, you will receive an automated message stating your resume has been received and will be reviewed thoroughly by our recruiting team
- Due to the high volume of applications received, it is not possible to respond directly to each candidate
- If you are selected, you will be contacted for an initial phone screen or test
- The next step is a second phone or Skype interview, or an invite to come out and meet us at the studio
- In the event that we choose not to move forward at any point in the recruiting process, we will let you know
- If your qualifications do not match the criteria of a current position, your resume will be kept on file for future consideration
Thank you for your interest in Naughty Dog.
About the Company
Naughty Dog is the developer of some of the most critically acclaimed and top-selling video games on PlayStation platforms, having created the classic Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series, as well as modern franchises Uncharted and The Last of Us. We have become recognized as industry leaders for our storytelling, graphics and cinematic quality in our games.
Naughty Dog is also home to Sony World Wide Studios’ ICE Team, a central technology group that focuses on creating core graphics technologies for Sony’s worldwide first-party published titles, including low-level game engine components, graphics processing pipelines, supporting tools, and graphics profiling and debugging tools.
Since Naughty Dog is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, we also have many perks that comes from being in the Sony family – movie screenings on the Sony Pictures lots and discounts on electronics, music, movies and PlayStation hardware and software. Of course, you just can’t beat our location. Naughty Dog is based near the ocean – and beaches – in Santa Monica, California, where beautiful weather and fair temperatures grace us year-round.