The Role
Gamma Interactive is a U.S.-based interactive entertainment and XR technology studio with more than a decade of experience building premium games, immersive experiences, and nascent development tools.
We are one of the few independent studios whose expertise spans multiplayer game co-development, XR, virtual production technologies, and original IP — the convergence driving the next decade of entertainment.
We're building an avatar system: players customize how they look, and unlock new accessories through purchases and achieving goals in-game. You'd own the layer between art and engine — rigging, skinning, and the modular system that lets a hat, a jacket, and a pair of goggles made by different people at different times all fit on the same character without clipping through each other.
You'd be the first technical artist on characters here. The rig, the socket conventions, the material parameter scheme, the LOD strategy, the budgets — all of it utilizes the default UE rig currently.
What You'd Do
- Build and maintain the avatar rig: skeleton, skinning, corrective shapes, and the retargeting setup that keeps everything consistent as the roster grows
- Own the modular character pipeline in Unreal — attachment sockets, mesh merging or leader-pose setups, and the rules that make arbitrary accessory combinations work
- Drive XR body IK from three-point tracking: head and two controllers into a believable upper body, with height calibration across a wide range of real players
- Build the material and shader side of customization — parameter-driven color, pattern, and material variation that doesn't multiply draw calls
- Set and defend performance budgets on standalone hardware: skinned mesh cost, draw calls, texture memory, overdraw. Profile with Unreal Insights and RenderDoc, then fix what you find
- Partner with the Character Artist on what's buildable and with our engineers on what the runtime needs
- Perform other duties or special projects as assigned
What We're Looking For
- Solid rigging and skinning fundamentals — you can build a production character rig and explain every choice in it
- Real Unreal Engine experience with skeletal meshes: Control Rig, IK Rig / IK Retargeter, morph targets, material instances, LODs
- Comfort with modular character systems and the combinatorial problems they create
- Performance profiling on mobile-class or standalone hardware, and the judgment to know which fix is worth the fidelity cost
- Scripting for tooling — Python for Maya/Blender, Unreal's Python or Blueprint utilities
- Reel or documented work showing rigs in motion and systems you built, not just static renders
Nice to Have
- Shipped avatars or character customization on standalone XR
- Full-body or upper-body IK work for XR specifically
- Some C++ in Unreal, or comfort reading it to know where the art side ends
- Cloth, hair, or secondary motion solved cheaply enough for standalone
- Experience mentoring artists into a pipeline you designed
To Apply
Send a reel or portfolio (ArtStation preferred) plus a short note on a character system you built and what broke first. We want to see rigs deforming and systems working — video or breakdowns beat stills for this role.
Salary range: $30-50/hr based on experience.
Gamma Interactive is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.