Principal VFX Artist

People Can Fly is one of the leading independent AAA games development studios with an international team of hundreds of talented individuals working from offices located in Poland, UK, US, and Canada, and from all over the world thanks to our remote work programs.

Founded in 2002, we made our mark on the shooter genre with titles such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders. We are one of the most experienced Unreal Engine studios in the industry and we are expanding it with in-house solutions called PCF Framework.

Our creative teams are currently working on several exciting titles: Gemini is our new project being developed with Square Enix; Maverick is a Triple-A game developed in collaboration with Microsoft Corporation; Bifrost, Victoria and Dagger are projects we're growing in the self-publishing model. We also have one project in the concept phase – Red; as well as two projects in VR technology – Green Hell VR and Bulletstorm VR - an exciting VR version of our cult-classic shooter.

With over 20 years of experience, PCF sets out to explore new horizons. We aim to combine our expertise with creativity of the best and most forward-thinking talents in the industry to work together on the new generation of action games for the global gaming community.

If you decide to accompany us on this journey, you’ll have a chance to perfect your craft and expand your knowledge, working alongside leaders in the industry on bringing a brand-new unique experience to the players worldwide.

Project Red is a yet unannounced game. The game development involves primarily our Europe based teams

Maintain artistic direction and quality

• Produce high quality VFX creation suitable technically and artistically with the project's universe and visual direction.
• Cooperation on defining artistic vision and style under Art Director/Lead supervision, as well as maintaining the quality standards across the entire development pipeline.
• Translate concept art and any other available game design documents into prototype and implement it as real-time VFX in game under lead’s supervision.
• Create ambient environment effects that enhance mood, tell a story, and make the world feel alive.

Production/Deadline

• Produce work within specifications and maintain workflow pipelines within given deadlines.
• Bug Fixing and describing R&D case studies in the knowledge base.
• Understand and employ established asset organizational structures and naming conventions to ensure cohesion within the VFX pipeline.

Feedback

• Participate in reviews, adapt to, and implement feedback from leads and peers in a professional manner.
• Provide feedback and improvement to visual quality.
• Create gameplay effects that make the world feel exciting, and that give the player necessary gameplay feedback.

Collaboration/Communication 

• Knowledge sharing.
• Collaborate with Tech Art and lead on R&D initiatives, to explore new techniques and implement improvements to pipelines and workflows.
• Work with developers in multiple disciplines and ensure that work gets integrated into the build.
• Work with designers to create effects for scripted events and story moments.
• Work with the lighting department to create atmosphere, a sense of depth in the scene, and to reinforce the color palette.
• Occasionally support leads and HR collaboration in recruitment efforts.
• Occasionally support new hires during the onboarding process.

Other artistic specificity

• Create high-fidelity effects for cinematics and marketing material.
• Innovate new techniques for next-gen hardware, and work with engineers and tech art to expand the VFX toolset.
• Analyze scenes for performance issues, and ensure all effects are built in the most efficient way possible.
• Use every tool at your disposal to create effects for the game (traditional particles, pixel shaders and vertex shaders for animated materials, baked physics simulations, stock animation, etc.).
• Track and seek awareness of state-of-the-art industry practices in order to influence the VFX pipeline direction.

• 7+ years in AAA console/PC game development including 5+ years in Unreal Engine
• A strong portfolio showcasing examples of real-time VFX work at a AAA quality.
• Excellent knowledge of industry-standard software packages for modeling, high-poly sculpting (Maya, Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, or their equivalents).
• Excellent understanding of the principles of animation.
• A critical eye and great feeling for the motion of real world objects and VFX.
• Solid understanding of the constraints of real-time VFX.
• Artistically interpret concepts or creatively push beyond an initial ideation.
• Excellent understanding of art fundamentals (shape, form, texture, value and color) and anatomical knowledge of both bipedal and quadrupedal forms.
• Solid understanding of the constraints of real-time VFX.
• Solid experience with a variety of techniques and tools for creating VFX animation (standard particle systems, fluid sims, physics sims, etc.).
• Solid skills in creation of all source art needed for VFX (textures, geometry, flipbooks, normal maps, vector field textures, etc.).
• Strong experience with UE4 tools for VFX creation (of any other similar engine tools).
• Solid experience in creating complex pixel and vertex shaders.
• Strong experience with scripting (visual or otherwise) and mathematics within the context of VFX.
• Adaptive. 
• Ability to adapt, and develop specific art style, techniques and workflows with minimum guidance.
• Strong mentoring skills.
• Ability to collaborate with department leads, and different departments to solve artistic and technical challenges.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Self-motivation.

Nice to have qualifications:

• HLSL shader creation experience.
• Houdini.

• Private medical healthcare including dental treatment for PCF members and their families (Signal Iduna).
• MultiSport card for you and your family members or friends.
• Free library with a wide range of games and books you have unlimited access to.
• In-company Polish and English language classes.
• Fresh fruit, snacks, and beverages for everyone in the office.
• Flexible working hours.
• Free virtual health and mental wellbeing sessions are included in the plan for members and their dependents.
• Personal development opportunities and ability to work in a global environment.
• Work in a creative team with people full of passion for what they do.