Welcome to Lightspeed LA (Irvine), the first U.S.-based, AAA game development studio for Tencent Games, where we are focused on building open-world games that emphasize an ambitious living world, sophisticated player-driven gameplay, and mature, thoughtful storytelling!

Why join Lightspeed LA (Irvine)?

Creation is the soul of our studio. For us, it’s not only about the exciting, new AAA open world game we’re developing, but also about team values and studio culture. We foster an open and transparent environment where everyone feels comfortable providing constructive feedback about all aspects of our games.

We encourage the showing of work that’s still in progress
We don’t attack or question unfinished work, we celebrate its promise
We have a No Blame Culture where we blame the problem, not the person

This is a safe place to fail, and we don’t view failure as a negative, but as the natural result of pushing boundaries and exploring new ideas.

We create together. We face challenges together. Most importantly, we succeed together.

Lightspeed LA is seeking a talented, Gameplay Animator with a passion for pushing interactive performances to the next level. In this role, you will be collaborating with industry veterans to craft the highest quality animations in our AAA storytelling medium. The ideal candidate is a skilled animator, who has the creative and technical experience to craft move-sets and interactive animations that look and feel good in-game.


Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with game designers and programmers to craft high-quality performances that both look and feel amazing in the Unreal Engine.
• Take ownership of your animations. You are responsible for previz, mocap planning, clean-up, key-framing, implementation, playtesting, and iterate until it looks & feels terrific.
• Proactively communicate with programmers, designers, artists, and writers to align your animations with mission objectives, gameplay intentions, art direction, and story.
• Willingness to explore ideas, change animations, and give/receive constructive feedback,
• Be helpful to your team and contribute to maintaining a supportive and creative work environment.
  
  
  
  
  Requirements:
  
  
  
• 3+ years of video game animation development experience.
• Have experience editing and animating with motion capture data in Maya.
• Have strong understanding of realistic body mechanics and performances.
• Have good sense for weight, timing, and style for your animations
• Good work ethic and a willingness to push the game animation quality bar.
• Excellent organizational, communication and interpersonal skills
• Can learn new tools and techniques for animation implementation.
• Self-starter and innovative problem solver
  
  
  Pluses:
  
  
  
• Shipped at least one title
• Knowledge of Unreal Engine
• Experience with building player/npc navigation sets
• Experience with building player/mpc combat sets
  
  Perks and Benefits:
  Just some of the benefits of working with us here at our newly built studio in Irvine, CA.
  
  Beverages, fresh fruit, and snacks
  401k with employer match
  Monthly Cell phone bill reimbursement
  Financial wellness sessions
  Flexible spending account
  Team building and company outings
  Parental leave for new parents
  Company paid health insurance
  Life and disability insurance
  Employee assistance program
  Wellness training
  Travel insurance
  Preventive care