Lead Environment Artist

Job Description

At AREA 35, you will collaborate with some of the industry's most talented professionals, including Kenichi Iwao (Resident Evil [Biohazard], FINAL FANTASY XI/XIV), Yusuke Kozaki (Pokemon GO, Fire Emblem), Takuya Suzuki (Diablo III, StarCraft II, FINAL FANTASY XV), and Michael Chu (Overwatch, Diablo III, World of Warcraft).

Base Salary

• Salary is based on qualifications and experience.

Responsibilities

Working in a small, tight-knit team, you'll play a pivotal role in crafting visually stunning and thematically coherent environments that push the boundaries of design and technology. Your responsibilities will include:

• Conceptualize, create, and refine game environments that support gameplay and storytelling.
• Populate and decorate game levels with props, foliage, lighting, and other assets to enhance immersion and visual appeal.
• Design and implement modular assets for scalability and reuse while maintaining visual cohesion.
• Craft mood-enhancing lighting setups and atmospheric effects to elevate the overall scene.
• Use Unreal Engine tools to design levels, integrate assets, and profile performance.
• Develop complex materials and shaders to achieve desired surface details and effects.
• Collaborate with designers, programmers, and producers to align environments with gameplay needs.
• Mentor and guide junior artists, setting quality benchmarks and fostering a collaborative environment.
• Address technical challenges and adapt to gameplay constraints during asset creation and implementation.

Qualifications

Application Requirements

• Proven experience in creating visually stunning environments with a strong understanding of composition, perspective, and spatial awareness.
• Extensive experience with Unreal Engine, including level design, asset integration, and performance optimization.
• Expertise in industry-standard asset creation tools (e.g., Maya, Blender, Substance Suite, ZBrush).
• Strong portfolio showcasing a range of environments, gameplay spaces, optimized levels, and high-quality props.
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent, or 10 years working in the games industry in any capacity (required for Japanese VISA).
• An interest in working on a Japanese game with top developers.

Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with modular design and optimization techniques such as LOD creation and texture atlasing.
• Experience with modern game development pipelines and version control systems.
• Knowledge of current trends in real-time rendering and environment art.
• Pre-existing Japanese language skills or a willingness to learn.

About the Company

AREA 35 is an indie studio with big dreams. From our headquarters in Tokyo our small team spends day and night collaborating on new ways to expose players to novel experiences that put a smile on their face or a tear in their eye. We are focused on creating games that draw from the illustrious history of Japanese game development while also incorporating more global methods and perspectives.

Employment Status

• Full-time employee, contract Worker (both have a 6-month probationary period)
• 10:00-19:00 (8 hours per day, 1 hour lunch break)
• Core hours: 11:00-16:00
• This role is primarily on-site at our Tokyo office
  • Office location:
    7F NTF Takebashi Building, 3-15 Kanda Nishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
    From the nearest stations:
    Subway Takebashi station 7 min. walk
    Subway Jimbocho station 5 min. walk
    Subway Ogawamachi station 10 min. walk
    Subway Shin-ochanomizu station 10 min. walk
    Subway Otemachi station 10 min. walk
    JR Kanda station approx. 13 min. walk
• Visa sponsorship available
  

Vacation and Holidays

• Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays
• Year-end and New Year holidays
• Summer holidays
• Paid vacation
• Marriage, bereavement
• Maternity leave before and after childbirth
• Childcare leave
• Nursing care leave
  

Benefits

• Reimbursement for transportation expenses
• Medical checkups
• Congratulatory and condolence payments
• Retirement allowance
• Employee discount for products on our e-commerce site
• Beer Day (In-house lecture from prominent industry figures)
• Movie viewing allowance
• Company support for visiting museums
• Company support for attending lectures and seminars
• Company support for certification acquisition and examination fees
• Japanese lessons for non-Japanese employees (in-house / occasional)
  

Other

• Bonuses available, paid twice a year based on performance (full-time employees only)
• Wage revision once a year, based on evaluation and performance
• Retirement plans/severance packages available
• Health insurance, employee pension, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation insurance
• No dress code. There are no restrictions on hairstyle or hair color. Aside from Japanese many of our team members speak English.