Senior Enemy Combat Animator (Unity)

Senior Enemy Combat Animator (Unity) at Roboto Games

Contract, Remote (within 4 hours of Pacific Time)

Stormforge is an open-world, stylized survival crafting game developed in Unity for PC (Steam). Roboto Games is a venture-backed studio with experienced leaders who previously shipped titles at PopCap and EA, driven to create games that are good alone and great together.

Overview

We are seeking a Senior Enemy Combat Animator to own the feel, responsiveness, and in-engine implementation of third-person enemy combat animations and locomotion in Stormforge. You will craft high-quality animations and ensure they feel incredible in-engine, collaborating with engineering, design, audio, and VFX to deliver movement and combat that is understandable, responsive, and satisfying. You will own the final in-game quality of enemy animations and work with a combat gameplay engineer to achieve standout animation quality while remaining a strong individual contributor who integrates and refines all animations.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality keyframe animations for enemies, with a focus on combat, locomotion, and traversal
• Make final calls on animation implementation tradeoffs to achieve the best in-game feel
• Define required animation coverage to support responsive gameplay
• Implement and test animations in Unity using Animator Controllers, Blend Trees, Animation Events, and State Machines
• Take ownership of existing Maya animations and iterate or polish as needed
• Work closely with design and engineering to ensure animations feel responsive and satisfying in gameplay
• Collaborate with the broader 3D team to support modeling, texturing, or lighting as needed
• Assist in producing marketing assets (short clips, trailers, etc.) using in-game animation footage
• Own the balance between animation fidelity and gameplay responsiveness, including decisions around root motion, blending, and interruptibility
• Ensure collaboration between animation, design, engineering, audio, and VFX results in a smooth, understandable final character and enemy behavior

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional experience creating gameplay-focused keyframe animations, with at least one shipped 3rd-person melee combat game for PC or console in a senior or lead role

• Experience with Souls-like or similar 3rd-person combat systems is highly valued

• Strong demo reel showing deep understanding of 3rd-person real-time combat animation (attacks with combos, blocks, dodges, locomotion)

• Portfolio and reels must include enemy locomotion and melee combat from a 3rd-person camera perspective; in-context gameplay footage preferred

• Solid understanding of animation fundamentals (weight, timing, posing, anticipation) and how they relate to gameplay control and responsiveness

• Experience animating bipedal characters and fantasy/multi-limbed creatures with wings or tails

• Proficiency with Unity animation systems (Animator Controllers, Blend Trees, Animation Events, State Machines)

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills (fluent in written and spoken English)

• Located within 4 hours of Pacific Time for effective remote coordination

• Self-directed and proactive, with the ability to ask for help when needed

• Nice to have

• Experience with VFX or modeling, or other areas of game development

• Comfort reading simple scripting logic or C# to understand Unity Animator interactions

• Familiarity with survival/crafting games as a player or developer

• Experience creating and editing animation content for marketing (GIFs, trailers, gameplay clips)

• Contract details

• Start: June 2026; End: December 2026 (potential extension)

• 30–40 hours per week

• Independent contractor; monthly invoicing; standard work-for-hire/IP assignment

• Remote location anywhere within 4 hours of Pacific Time

• The game

• Stormforge is a premium open-world survival crafting game where players craft, build, fight, and harness epic storms to survive in a magical fantasy world. It is a 3rd-person action/adventure game built in Unity with real-time multiplayer co-op for 1 to 8 players on PC Steam.

• Why Roboto Games

• Play a core role on a bold, cross-platform survival game

• Have real ownership and impact on the player experience

• Work with a friendly, talented, diverse team of industry veterans

• Flexible remote work with a Pacific Time-aligned team

• Culture and values

• Have fun, test early and often, and pursue high performance

• Speak up and collaborate; everyone has a voice

• Treat others with respect; diversity is integral

• Take on big challenges and strive for transparent communication with the community