Technical 3D Artist — shaders, characters, rigging
Own the part of the art pipeline that touches code: stylised shaders, modular characters, rigs that survive a wardrobe system, and a clean path from Blender into Godot 4.7.
Contract · remote · async. Part-time to start, scoped per milestone, rate agreed in writing. Paid trial before any longer engagement.
Arventus is a 3D open-world RPG in Godot 4.7 with a cozy art direction. This role owns the parts of the art pipeline that touch code: shaders, characters, rigging, and getting assets into the engine looking the way they looked in Blender.
It is one of two art roles. This one is the technical half; the other is environment art and art design. They work against a shared style guide and can be held by the same person only if you are genuinely strong at both.
What you would own
- Shaders. The cozy look is a shading problem before it is a modelling problem. Stylised toon and painted surface shaders, foliage and wind, water, and the terrain material set that the world generator drives.
- Characters. Stylised 3D characters built for a modular wardrobe — shared base meshes, swappable hair, clothing and equipment that fit without reauthoring.
- Rigging and skinning. Rigs that survive a modular wardrobe, clean weights, equipment sockets, and animation setup in Godot including blend trees and retargeting.
- Pipeline. Export settings, material conventions, LODs and import rules, so the studio can add assets without rediscovering the same problems.
What we are looking for
- Shipped stylised 3D work where you wrote the shaders, not just used them.
- Blender to a real engine, end to end. Godot 4 preferred; Unity or Unreal experience transfers if you are willing to learn Godot.
- Comfortable reading and writing shader code — Godot shading language, GLSL or HLSL.
- Rigging that holds up under animation, including modular equipment.
- Able to work from a written style guide and push back on it when it is wrong.
Nice to have
- GPU instancing, MultiMesh, or other large-scale vegetation and crowd rendering.
- Procedural or generated-content pipelines.
- Technical animation: IK, procedural motion, or footstep and terrain adaptation.
What you would not own
Concept painting, environment layout, building kits and the overall art direction sit with the environment and art design role. Gameplay code sits with engineering. This role is deep rather than wide.
About the work
Remote, async by default, no required timezone. Scope, outcome, rate and duration agreed in writing before work starts, invoiced on delivery. The studio is small and pre-revenue — this is a contract with the possibility of a longer engagement as the project funds, not a salaried position today.
How to apply
One email to [email protected] with a portfolio, a CV or equivalent, and a short note on which part of this role you are strongest at. No forms, no portal. Reply within five business days.
Process: one email, a 30-minute call, then a small paid trial scoped to real work on the project. The trial is invoiced, not free.