Positions
Hiring Philosophy
We're constantly looking to expand our team or help our development
partners fill their needs with exceptional individuals who have the drive to help us develop great video games. We are on the lookout for senior level candidates with a proven industry track record who don't shy away from challenges and confidently feel they are among the best in their field. All of our positions require a love of games, strong work ethic and excellent communication skills. Due to our relatively small development staff, firm deadlines and informal structure, each potential team member should be a capable self-starter and able to manage their time and tasks independently.
Why Midnight? We're a relatively small team with a highly collaborative work environment - we value feedback about any aspect of our game development from any of our team members. Maintaining our work environment as a supportive, enthusiastic, and safe place to express opinions is an important goal for us and a responsibility for everyone who works here.
If you think you have what it takes to join our talented team, please review our current openings below. If you don't see your desired position listed, just send us your cover letter and resume - along with a demo reel, sample code or portfolio - to jobs@midnight-studios.net or mail to our Austin office.
The following list of position descriptions may or may not be open at this time,
but are listed here because of our anticipation that such a position will be needed
soon.
ART
Technical Art Director
- Summary
- The Technical Art Director / Lead Tech Artist defines the production techniques used by artists,
and ensures that the art team has all of the relevant tools and workflows they need to operate at
peak efficiency. They also develop the Art Direction into an optimal CG look, and ensure that all
art content in the game is being built to withstand performance and memory requirements.
- Requirements and Skills:
- Designs and supervises the creation of game
pipelines and workflows, working in conjunction with engineers and art director.
- Works with the Game Director and Art
Director to ensure that visual quality is not being compromised by technical
constraints.
- Regularly audits and streamlines all art
production methods (Including Level Art, Modeling, Character Animation, Visual
Effects and Lighting)
- Acts as a bridge between art and engineering disciplines
- Solves technical production issues as needed
- Provides mentorship, coaching and
management of other technical artists and is a resource for the team.
- Resume and portfolio must demonstrate proficiencies in the following areas:
- Character rigging
- Procedural animation
- In-game particle effects
- NextGen shader creation
- Preferred Requirements:
- Bachelors/Masters/PhD in Computer Science, Digital Media Design, Fine Arts, Graphic Arts, Entertainment Technology or related experience.
- 8 years experience in Computer Graphics
- 2 years experience on AAA console game development
- Computer Programming/Scripting experience (e.g. C++, MEL, Python, Etc…)
- A strong knowledge of game development software and techniques (e.g. Maya, Max, Softimage, Zbrush, Houdini, Photoshop, Etc…)
- An appreciation and balance of both art and engineering concepts.
- Excellent orExcellent organizational, leadership, verbal and written communication skills.
Please submit cover letter, resume and reels (online preferred) with samples of your professional work along with a breakdown of your specific contributions to jobs@midnight-studios.net -- please list "TEXTURE ARTIST" in the subject line -- or to the mailing address above.
DESIGN
Game Designer
- Responsibilities:
- Responsible for the planning, layout, setup, and tuning of game levels
- Responsible for designing and producing engaging and fun third-person action game-play and levels/battlegrounds.
- Act as producer for levels you design, as well as other parts of the game, collaborating across disciplines to get work done and clear dependencies, ensuring deadlines are met, and championing aspects of the game-play.
- Work directly with artists, programmers, animators and other game designers to contribute to the vision of the game.
- Responsible for level layout by creating simplified level geometry and performing extensive play-testing and iteration.
- Work with programmers to develop tools on an ongoing basis.
- Requirements:
- Experience designing levels for console games
- Minimum 3 to 5 years of games industry experience
- Strong methodology and problem solving ability and with a focus on creative, fun and innovative solutions
- Strong and effective communication skills
- Exceptional team player with the ability to collaborate without losing sight of the game-play vision
- Willingness to take design direction when offered
- Very good working knowledge of Maya, 3DS Max or similar 3D package
- Pluses:
- Experience of developing third-person action games a bonus
- Experience of scripting set-up for action games a bonus
Please submit cover letter, resume and reels (online preferred) with samples of your professional work along with a breakdown of your specific contributions to jobs@midnight-studios.net -- please list "GAME DESIGNER" in the subject line -- or send to the mailing address above.
PROGRAMMING
Shader Programmer
- Responsibilities:
- Ability to develop specialized shaders for wide ranging and ever changing needs
cross platform.
- Ability to communicate clearly with artists, technical artists, and engineers to
acquire requirements and produce a working solution.
- Requirements:
- Excellent Math Skills
- 3+ years of professional games experience a plus
- Working knowledge of all shader languages (shader work for Unity3D a bonus)
- C++ and/or C# experience assumed
Please submit cover letter, resume and reels (online preferred) with samples of your professional work along with a breakdown of your specific contributions to jobs@midnight-studios.net -- please list "SHADER PROGRAMMER" in the subject line -- or to the mailing address above.
Sr. Graphics Programmer
- Responsibilities:
-
- Excellent Math Skills
- 5+ years of professional games experience
- DirectX 9/10/11 and/or OpenGL expertise using modern rendering techniques and a familiarity with
Play Station 3, Xbox360 and other graphics hardware
- Ability to design, author, and maintain complex tools used in different parts of
the production pipeline
- Ability to implement and optimise advanced rendering systems on a variety of gaming
hardware including but not limited too PC, Xbox360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, iPhone/iPad,
Droid, etc.
- Requirements:
- Experience using DCC applications (3DStudio/Maya/Photoshop/XSI/...)
- Knowledge of scripting languages a plus
- GUI art/design skills
Please submit cover letter, resume (online preferred) with samples of
your professional work along with a breakdown of your specific contributions to
jobs@midnight-studios.net -- please list "GRAPHICS PROGRAMMER" in the subject line
-- or to the mailing address above.
