Technical Art Director – Unity

Introduction

Play Games24x7 Pvt. Ltd. is the first online company to bring games of skill with cash prizes to the large, yet under-served Indian market in a fun, light-hearted and friendly setting. India’s rich history and culture of games and the rapid growth of the Internet has presented us with a unique opportunity – the opportunity to bring to people across India games they have always loved and enjoyed, but don’t necessarily find the time or the friends to play with anymore. Competition, the joy of success and social connectivity form the backbone of our product. We kicked off this ambitious journey in 2009 with India’s most popular card game – Rummy. Today, we are India’s largest online rummy site (www.rummycircle.com) and millions of players visit us every month to play for free and for cash prizes. We are funded jointly by international venture capitalists and a hedge fund that has made significant investments in the past in some of the most successful Internet companies in India.

Summary of Role

At Games24x7, we believe that great games are made by people who are passionate about actually making them!

The Technical art Director will implement the graphic tools and methods to carry out the artistic vision of the game within the defined technical constraints. He will spearhead R&D efforts for tools, content and new technologies in relation to art. You should have a proven track record of resolving the most complex and broad reaching challenges in content creation, pipeline management, and leading-edge visuals. This individual will lead a small and effective tech art team, working closely with art, design, and engineering to elevate our games to the highest level of visual fidelity and quality. Be prepared to drive graphics performance on both iOS and Android devices, as well as work extensively in Unity3D.

Responsibilities include:

Manage and help build a team that works together smoothly and collaborates well with external partners

• Guide, provide constant support, and mentor technical artists. Play a key role in their career development.
• Ensure team productivity: assign, organize, and prioritize the work within his team
• Help construct a credible road map to reach target dates
• Work closely with HR recruitment and producers to identify, hire, and grow promising candidates in your area of expertise

Gatekeeper of a solid bridge between art and tech teams

• Understand art direction requirements and convert them to new features and improvements
• Have regular sync-ups with the tech direction and art direction to align on options, choices and priorities
• Be proactive by foreseeing problems and technical needs
• Work closely with Rendering, Engine, Tools, and Art teams to ensure requirements are properly prioritized
• Foster inter-team coordination. Help coordinate communication between groups and achieve consensus for the requirements necessary to ship a high quality title.
• Establish an open communication with your peers on the project

Owner of the art technologies, tools, pipelines and budgets

• Test and confirm that the intended techniques are possible with the tools chosen. Validate the quality of the product with the Art Director and Lead Programmer.
• Produce a technical reference and/ or technical constraints document, keep it current, and communicate it for the team’s guidance
• Assure the homogeneity of the technical quality throughout the game
• Propose and create the right tools to accelerate certain procedural tasks
• Be the gatekeeper of the budget, stability and performance of the art

 Look out for innovation

• Network with other experts to benchmark solutions used on the project
• Provide insights and value add to the project and group

Minimum Job Qualifications:

• Successful work experience as an Unity Technical Art Director at least for 2 – 3 years.
• Experience on a full game lifecycle, from early concept through launch as a technical art director.
• Experience on a popular mobile mid-core genre game is a big plus
• Excellent English communication skills, both verbal and written
• Good knowledge of programming languages such as C++, C#.
• Strong knowledge in popular DCC scripting languages like Python, MEL and MAXscript.
• Knowledge in computer architecture.
• Strong understanding of 2D and 3D math concepts.
• Experience in writing shaders languages such as HSHL, CGFX and other shading languages.
• Strong knowledge in game engine rendering pipelines.
• Performance profiling and optimization across various hardware platforms
• Collaborate with engineers in driving visual rendering advancement feature rule-set, standards and implementation using proprietary in-house engines.
• Detailed knowledge of the technical constraints of engines and the different game platforms
• A portfolio demonstrating above mentioned skills, preferably on mobile platforms
• Knowledge of 2D and 3D DCC tools
• Knowledge of asset management and version control systems
• In-depth knowledge of the jobs required to produce a AAA Games & Top grossing / Top rated mobile Casual Games
• Willingness to take responsibility in making decisions, the ability to voice constructive criticism
• Experience in managing a team of artists is a plus
• Experience in developing mini-game concepts is a plus