Radical Entertainment, an operation of Activision Blizzard, Inc. is a leading developer of interactive entertainment. We are proud to have released hit titles such as Scarface: The World is Yours, Hulk Ultimate Destruction and Crash of the Titans. We are continuing to work on licensed properties and are set to deliver an original title, Prototype, in 2009. Our 50,000+ square foot studio situated on the cusp of downtown Vancouver, overlooks the coastal mountains and offers a fully stocked kitchen, in-house gym, log cabin, ski lift tickets, art gallery passes and a wide variety of training, mentorship and career development initiatives. At Radical we’re here to create great games and learn and have fun doing it. Our motto is simple: Play Work Live Breathe Games!
Job Title: Shader Artist (Senior) Reports To: Art Director
Division/Department: Production
Basic Function:
Develop shaders and ensure support of the art direction.
Duties and Responsibilities: - Create initial concept inline with art direction and work with texture artists to adjust as necessary; assist less experienced artists as necessary - Work with programmers to understand technical requirements - Maintain quality and continuity while developing shaders that support art direction - Address new feature requests & adapt to changing priorities - Understand interdependencies and adjust as necessary - Use knowledge of modeling, programming and the pipeline to troubleshoot work - Tuning and polish of shaders; responsible for assisting less experienced artists - Optimize work - Receives feedback and modifies work based on direction - Helps establish art style and quality levels - Ensures consistency and quality of own work and assists less experienced artists as needed - Understands memory and frame-rate budgets and works within those constraints - Uses in-house tools as appropriate; provides feedback to improve the tools - Pushes for the development of processes and technology; focuses on best practices - Follow schedules and meets deadlines - Proactively recognizes potential problems and works to limit risk - Understands how the game engine interacts with the different consoles and makes decisions based on that understanding - Troubleshoots and seeks solutions; assists less experienced artists with troubleshooting - Participates in scrum meetings and presents own work
Principal Working Relationships:
Works with concept artists, programmers and texture artists to create shaders that satisfy requirements and support game goals.
Position Qualifications:
Educational Requirements: - Formal art education such as BFA from accredited art or design school or equivalent level of experience required
Special Knowledge, Skills: - Capable of developing shader dependent technical art assets required - Good understanding of modeling, rigging, animation, UV mapping, texturing, shading and rendering required - Ability to work with a variety of disciplines - Photoshop and Maya software required - 2D Illustration, set design, 2D compositing, or film/tv background a plus - Knowledge of computational geometry a plus - Renderman software skills a plus - C/C++ skills a plus - Matrix algebra and trigonometry skills required
Prior Experience/Previous Positions related to current position: - Greater than five years of professional experience preferred - Has shipped more than one AAA title or possesses equivalent experience from a related industry
Other Qualifications and/or Requirements: - Ability to build collaborative relationships and resolve conflicts in a constructive manner - Provides others the information that they require to make decisions - Communicates in a clear and succinct manner, considering the audience - Ability to plan own work - Properly estimates time to complete work, manages competing priorities and builds in buffers - Takes risks, makes mistakes and takes steps to prevent repeat mistakes - Understands the impact of decisions on other disciplines
