About us We are a small, founder-led indie studio building a story-driven, choice-based adult (18+) 3D visual novel with branching paths, meaningful player decisions, and a strong focus on character-driven narrative. The project blends mystery with sci-fi and fantasy elements, delivered with a cinematic visual style. We operate as a fully remote team with flexible working hours and a short daily sync to coordinate and discuss plans. We provide access to a central render server for final output, while you work on your own workstation for scene setup, lookdev, and iteration. About the role You will be our first 3D artist and will own the visual quality bar for a realistic 3D pipeline: lookdev, lighting, environments, scene setup, and render consistency. You will collaborate closely with a second 3D generalist (focused on production and asset work). This is a hands-on role where your work will directly shape the game’s visual identity. We will be producing both high-resolution stills and short pre-rendered animations, so you will help set the quality bar for both image and animation output (lighting, materials, motion readability, and render consistency). Start date: April 2026. We are interviewing from the end of January to February. We're looking for consistent, long term contributors to the project. In addition to earned pay, we're planning to offer conditional equity bonuses after 12 months of high quality contributions to the project. Creative ownership and influence Unlike large studios with rigid pipelines, you will have plenty of creative space: Optional participation in all creative meetings and reviews (not mandatory) Strong influence on: visual style, lighting language, environments, shot composition, asset direction, and quality standards We want your ideas, not just execution What you will do Lookdev and visual consistency Define and maintain the project’s look standards (materials, skin/hair approach, exposure, lens language) Build reusable presets and template scenes for consistent output across episodes Lighting and cinematography Create lighting rigs per location and mood (day, night, interiors, dramatic beats) Establish shot coverage patterns suitable for VN production (wides, two-shots, close-ups, continuity) Environments and scene building Build modular environment kits and dressing packs (campus, interiors, props) Assemble sets quickly and keep them production-friendly Production and QC Prepare scenes for high-volume output and troubleshoot shading, lighting, and render artifacts Tools and workflow We provide access to a central render server for final output. You must have your own home workstation capable of running 3D software smoothly for scene setup, lookdev, previews, and iteration (final frames can render on the server). Blender-centric pipeline. Familiarity with DAZ assets is a plus (not required). Requirements Portfolio demonstrating strong lighting, lookdev, and final-frame polish Ability to work fast without sacrificing consistency (templates, presets, reusable rigs) Solid eye for composition and cinematic framing Reliable English communication and self-management in a remote setting Comfort working on explicit 18+ content (sexual scenes included) Animation experience: comfortable with producing short character and camera animations for pre-rendered sequences (timing, posing, basic keyframing, and polishing). Motion-capture is not required. Nice to have Render server or headless/batch rendering workflow experience. Compositing familiarity. Prior experience with 3DCG visual novels, episodic 3D content, or other high-volume shot pipelines. Experience with facial animation, lip-sync, or animation polishing for dialogue scenes. Contract terms Freelance contract (remote contractor) Fully remote Flexible hours (deliverables-focused), daily stand-up attendance required