Animator – Gameplay, Motion Matching
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Job Description
Animator building realistic player and zombie animation for Techtive Games’ UE5 survival game Ardem. Integrating motion-matched store assets into a grounded open-world experience.
Responsibilities:
- Build and expand player locomotion and traversal on top of GASP using motion matching, Pose Search databases, Choosers and the Mover-based character setup
- Rework, clean up and adapt store animation packs from Fab and other sources
- Fix foot sliding, pops and contact issues; adjust timing and weight
- Retarget and prepare animation data for skeletons and characters, including curves, root motion and motion-matching metadata
- Create and polish realistic gameplay animations for interactions, gathering, crafting, melee and ranged combat, hit reactions, injuries and deaths
- Build realistic zombie animation sets covering locomotion, attacks, hit reactions, staggers, falls and get-ups
- Work with physics-based animation, including ragdolls, physical hit reactions and motion-matched get-ups
- Use Control Rig and in-engine tools for fixes, layering and procedural adjustments
- Keep animation performant in a large open world using LODs, animation budgeting and sensible database sizes
- Collaborate with Tech Animation, Gameplay Programming and Tech Art
- Troubleshoot and fix visual, technical and production problems
Requirements:
- Previous experience on professional game projects
- Hands-on experience with motion matching in Unreal Engine, ideally with GASP, including building and debugging Pose Search databases
- Proven track record of reworking and integrating third-party animation to a consistent quality bar
- Strong eye for realistic human motion: weight, balance, momentum and timing
- Solid experience with motion capture cleanup and editing
- Strong skills in Maya, MotionBuilder or Blender
- Reel and/or portfolio showing in-game results
- Solid understanding of retargeting, root motion and the Unreal animation pipeline, including Animation Blueprints, Choosers, Blend Spaces and Montages
- Ability to resolve issues from a visual, technical, and production perspective
- Strong communication skills
- Fluent spoken and written English
- Link to Steam profile appreciated
- Experience with Control Rig and in-engine animation authoring is a bonus
- Experience with physics-based animation is a bonus
- Creature or zombie animation experience is a bonus
- Experience with multiplayer animation is a bonus
- Experience setting up animation for many AI characters at once is a bonus
- Experience working on open world games is a bonus
- Experience working in an indie or small team environment is a bonus
Benefits:
- Permanent employment
- 40 hours/week
- 25 days of annual leave
- Fully remote work
- Freelance, with a full time option for candidates based in Germany
- Flexible working hours
- High ownership and creative freedom
- Work with the latest UE5 animation tech (motion matching, Choosers, physics-based animation)
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