Senior Level Artist

Ghost Story Games is a self-publishing game development studio founded by Ken Levine and former Irrational Games developers, focused on narrative-driven experiences rooted in immersive world building and gameplay. The studio is seeking a Senior Level Artist to join the team on Judas, a game led by Ken Levine built upon novel technology in which the visual world, gameplay, and story unfold in meaningful, dynamic ways. The role focuses on passionate, compelling environmental storytelling, thoughtful space and visual design with gameplay in mind, and senior-level mentoring and cross-functional collaboration. The pay range for this position in Massachusetts at the start of employment is expected to be between $90,200 and $133,520 per year, subject to individualized factors. The position is an at-will position.

Responsibilities

Prototype and execute on visually stunning environmental spaces that are well attuned to the gameplay experience and tell bold, cohesive visual stories in support of the script and overall vision of the world; Collaborate with level design to support gameplay, considering navigation, pacing, compositional sight lines, cover, verticality, and AI; Serve as the key driver of all visual assets supporting spaces under your responsibility, including engagement with Art Leadership, Level and Narrative Design, Concept Art, and External Art Vendors to plan, prototype, and implement supporting assets within an established pipeline and technical specifications; Keep active tabs on the performance profile of all levels under your responsibility, ensuring visual content is authored efficiently and fits within established memory and performance budgets; Work cross-functionally with other content disciplines to analyze the overall performance profile of spaces and strategize on balanced plans for optimization; Contribute creative and technical suggestions to elevate the game, and work closely with Narrative, Design, and other Art counterparts

Requirements

Established experience in the game industry as a mid-level to senior Level Artist, preferably with experience working with larger, complex productions; Proficient art and technical experience within a real-time Game Engine (Unreal 4 is a plus); Experienced eye for form, line, value, rhythm, composition, and crafting deliberate visual hierarchy reads (focus direction, small-medium-large shape balance, '80/20 rule'); Familiarity with performance evaluation and optimization, working mindfully within metrics to maintain a smooth player experience; Experience with effective team-based iteration techniques, including consideration of the bigger picture of the overall game experience and creative vision and an 'order of operation' and 'ROI' approach to iterative development; Ability to learn and understand technical tools and systems so they can be pushed to the limit to create the most visually interesting spaces; Proactive problem solver that enjoys cross-department collaboration, asks engaging questions, and can thoughtfully pitch creative, visual, technical, and process ideas; Experience and mindfulness towards individual and team efficiency, with proven ability to work on challenging cross-functional tasks of a higher degree of ambiguity with a great degree of autonomy; Enjoys supporting and mentoring junior artists and is willing to learn and master new technical processes and pipelines for level art creation

Nice to have

Passion for deeply narrative driven games, particularly First Person Shooters; Additional traditional art or architecture background; Experience working effectively and collaboratively with a diverse mix of internal and distributed teams

Benefits

Total compensation package may include a bonus and/or equity awards; Full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (details provided upon receiving an offer)