The Particle Effects Artist will create and optimize real-time particle effects in Unity for a web-based game, collaborating with artists and engineers to enhance visual storytelling and gameplay impact.
Job Title: Particle Effect Artist (Unity)
Reporting To: Art Director
Location: Remote
Salary: $60,000-$100,000 annuallyOverviewWe’re a small team with big ideas. Sky Castle Studios (creator of Hero Forge) is a fully remote company. We’re a group of talented artists, developers, character riggers, 3D modelers, in-house customer service agents, and gamers and nerds of all stripes. When we’re not brainstorming and creating new platforms, we’re a bunch of friends who enjoy sharing the latest developments in geek culture, exploring new technologies, and sharing our creative endeavors.
You should be a self-starter with initiative. We won’t be looking over your shoulder, unless you’re showing us the cool new thing you just designed.
Who You Are:
Responsibilities:
At Sky Castle Studios, diversity is not just a core value, but a foundation of what we do. We strive to embrace our differences in the workplace, and to promote respectful representation of all people through the content we create. Diversity brings fresh perspectives that help us to better serve our community. Wherever you come from, and whatever background you bring, we’re excited to hear from you!
Sky Castle Studios is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religious creed, observance, or practice, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Reporting To: Art Director
Location: Remote
Salary: $60,000-$100,000 annuallyOverviewWe’re a small team with big ideas. Sky Castle Studios (creator of Hero Forge) is a fully remote company. We’re a group of talented artists, developers, character riggers, 3D modelers, in-house customer service agents, and gamers and nerds of all stripes. When we’re not brainstorming and creating new platforms, we’re a bunch of friends who enjoy sharing the latest developments in geek culture, exploring new technologies, and sharing our creative endeavors.
You should be a self-starter with initiative. We won’t be looking over your shoulder, unless you’re showing us the cool new thing you just designed.
Who You Are:
- A technical artist with a strong sense of style and storytelling through visual effects.
- Passionate about using VFX to enhance clarity, impact, and emotion in gameplay.
- You thrive in a small, collaborative team where your work helps define the game’s look and feel.
Responsibilities:
- Design, author, and optimize real-time particle effects in Unity’s VFX Graph or Shuriken.
- Create stylized effects for abilities, attacks, environments, and interface.
- Implement effects directly in Unity, then exporting them and collaborating with engineers for integration into our web engine.
- Work with 3D, design, and concept artists to ensure effects match tone, color, and readability goals.
- Prototype and tune timing and behavior of effects to match gameplay feel and player feedback.
- Optimize effects for browser-based performance while maintaining visual quality.
- Help define the visual language of energy, impact, and motion across the project.
- 4+ years experience creating real-time visual effects for games.
- Expert knowledge of Unity’s particle systems (Shuriken, VFX Graph, Shader Graph).
- Strong grasp of timing, anticipation, and motion for gameplay feedback.
- Comfortable using Autodesk Maya for mesh prep, simple animation, or effect geometry.
- Skilled in texture authoring, sprite sheet creation, and material setup for VFX.
- Experience profiling and optimizing particle systems for performance.
- Strong eye for color, shape, and composition in motion.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate cross-discipline.
- Familiarity with stylized effects pipelines (hand-painted textures, mesh-driven FX, etc.).
- Basic javascript for triggers or procedural behavior.
At Sky Castle Studios, diversity is not just a core value, but a foundation of what we do. We strive to embrace our differences in the workplace, and to promote respectful representation of all people through the content we create. Diversity brings fresh perspectives that help us to better serve our community. Wherever you come from, and whatever background you bring, we’re excited to hear from you!
Sky Castle Studios is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religious creed, observance, or practice, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Top Skills
Autodesk Maya
JavaScript
Shuriken
Unity
Vfx Graph
Sky Castle Studios Santa Monica, California, USA Office
2701 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405, US, Santa Monica, CA, United States, 90405
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What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
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