Art Director (Dying Light Universe)

Company Description

Techland is one of the biggest video game companies in Poland, with over 30 years of experience in the gaming industry. From our studios in Wroclaw and Warsaw, we’ve built an international team of more than 500 talented professionals, all dedicated to pushing the boundaries of game development.

We’re known for creating iconic franchises like Call of Juarez and the zombie genre-defining Dying Light, which has been played by over 45 million players worldwide. With a focus on open-world action, storytelling, and community engagement, we’re committed to delivering unforgettable experiences to our players.

We’re constantly striving to improve, innovate, and take on new challenges. With ambitious plans for the future, we’re looking for passionate people to be part of this exciting journey.

Job Description

As an Art Director at Techland, you will define and execute the overall artistic vision for a new game project within the Dying Light Universe. You will ensure excellence in all in-game visual assets, playing a pivotal role in both creative and technical processes. This role involves designing and creating visual assets, applying your technical expertise to translate the artistic vision into functional, optimized elements. You will collaborate closely with the team to ensure that assets are both visually stunning and meet the performance requirements of the game world, effectively balancing creativity with technical constraints.

Your daily tasks:

• Create and define the artistic vision for the game based on the Creative Director’s direction, ensuring it aligns with gameplay, narrative, and technical constraints.
• Design and develop visual and stylistic direction for all game content, including environments, characters, and assets.
• Communicate and maintain the artistic vision throughout the development process, ensuring alignment and consistency across all teams involved.
• Apply technical expertise to optimize assets for performance, ensuring they meet artistic and gameplay needs.
• Collaborate closely with the Technical Art Director to refine game-oriented asset creation pipelines and implement efficient workflows.
• Direct and contribute to the creation of high-quality visual assets, ensuring they enhance immersion and support game mechanics.
• Oversee and refine the production process, balancing artistic excellence with technical feasibility.
• Provide hands-on guidance to artists and team leads, fostering innovation and problem-solving in visual development.
• Support team growth, actively participating in recruiting, mentoring, and developing artistic talent.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of experience in video game art, with a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role such as Lead Artist or Art Director.
• Proven track record with at least 2 shipped AAA titles (experience in post-apocalyptic genres is a plus).
• A strong passion for video games, particularly open-world design and the ability to create immersive game worlds.
• Experience in leading and managing art teams, including building new teams from the ground up, overseeing candidate selection, and managing the recruitment process.
• Deep understanding of artistic principles such as composition, lighting, color theory, and visual storytelling.
• Extensive knowledge of character, object, world, and animation asset creation, with the ability to direct asset development to optimize visuals for gameplay, artistic style, and narrative cohesion.
• Extensive knowledge of the latest art creation tools (e.g., ZBrush, Substance Painter, Photoshop) and technical aspects of asset creation, including material effects, resolution selection, texture unification, and shader creation.
• Strong understanding of technical constraints and opportunities in game development, with the ability to optimize visual assets for performance while enhancing artistic quality through technical improvements when necessary.
• Experience working closely with design, programming, and technical art teams to integrate art into the gameplay experience.
• Strong communication skills, able to give clear, constructive feedback and foster a collaborative and positive working environment.
• Professional proficiency in English, both written and spoken.

Additional Information

What we can offer:

• A wide array of benefits: private medical care, life insurance, pro-health campaigns, gifts for different occasions.
• An outstanding work atmosphere in a highly-skilled team of professionals, with flexible working hours, no dress code, and full support of the dedicated HR Business Partner.
• A constant stream of company newsletters, PR & project updates so you will always be in the know.
• Many opportunities for personal development: a dedicated development budget for each employee, extra two paid days for training and CSR, stable career paths, extensive internal and external training, and financing of English and Polish language classes.
• State-of-the-art offices filled with chillout zones, a fully equipped kitchen, a gym (Wrocław office), and a free car park (Warsaw limited amount of space).

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