🎮 Madruga Works is Hiring – Blender Animator (Freelance, Remote)

Madruga Works, the award-winning independent studio behind successful titles like Planetbase and Dawn of Man, is looking for an exceptionally talented Animator to join our team on a freelance basis. We are currently in full production for our upcoming title, Planetbase 2, and we need a skilled professional to help us bring our world to life.

In this role, you will be responsible for creating high-quality, performant animations for a diverse range of subjects, including humans, complex vehicles, and robotic units. You will be instrumental in ensuring our characters and assets move with the polish and responsiveness our fans expect. We are looking for someone who understands the unique balance between artistic expression and technical efficiency in game development.

Job Summary Details

Key Responsibilities

• Comprehensive Rigging: Handle end-to-end rigging and skinning processes for characters (humans/robots) and technical assets (vehicles).
• Animation Production: Create professional, loopable animation cycles that hold up under close inspection while maintaining optimal performance.
• Engine Integration: Oversee the export and implementation of animations into Unity, ensuring that state machines, transitions, and triggers function seamlessly in-game.
• Quality Assurance: Test animations directly within the game engine to identify and resolve clipping, deformation, or weighting issues.

Requirements

• Game Animation Expertise: Proven experience in game animation, specifically in building efficient rigs and optimized bone setups.
• Technical Art Skills: Strong knowledge of character kinematics, surface deformation, and clean mesh topology.
• Software Proficiency: Advanced proficiency in Blender and Unity is mandatory.
• Workflow Discipline: You must have a highly organized workflow. We prioritize artists who strictly follow naming conventions, project folder structures, and professional version control practices (SVN).
• Communication: Clear, responsive communication skills, essential for a successful remote freelance partnership.

Bonus Points:

• Previous experience working on city-builders, strategy games, or simulation titles.
• Availability within the GMT ±3 hours time zone to ensure overlap with our core team.

Why Work With Madruga Works?

We are a small, focused team that takes great pride in creating deep, engaging, and highly regarded strategy games. By joining us for Planetbase 2, you will be an essential part of the core development team, with your work having a direct and lasting impact on the game’s final feel.

How to Apply

If you are passionate about strategy games and have the skills to make our characters and machines come alive, we would love to see your work.

1. Portfolio: Send us a link to your portfolio or demo reel. Please highlight specific examples of your rigging and animation cycles for characters and vehicles.
2. Submission: Email your application to jobs@madrugaworks.com.
3. Subject Line: You must use the following subject line: [Animator] Planetbase 2
4. Rates: Please include your current freelance day/hourly rates in your email.

Madruga Works is an equal opportunity employer. We value the unique perspective that every artist brings to our studio.

Are you currently available to start immediately, and do you have experience working with the specific animation constraints common in strategy games?