Environment Art Review Artist [Contract] (Retro Studios)

Nintendo•Austin, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Founded in 1998, Retro Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd., and a powerhouse in game development. Working hand-in-hand with Nintendo, we craft award-winning titles for the company's cutting-edge platforms, blending innovation, artistry, and gameplay excellence. Our home base is Austin, Texas, a vibrant city known for its creative energy, live music, stunning natural scenery, and forward-thinking culture. With year-round sunshine and endless options for outdoor adventures, Austin offers the perfect backdrop for world-class developers to stay inspired, balanced, and at the top of their game.

Requirements

4+ years of experience in video game production as an Environment Artist with a shipped game (or equivalent experience).
Strong working knowledge of Maya, Substance Painter, and other industry-standard tools.
Deep understanding of modern game‑production pipelines, including both artistic and technical requirements.
Strong grasp of fundamental art principles, including color, composition, value, structure, perspective, and basic lighting concepts.
Solid understanding of world-building fundamentals for games, such as player pathing, focal points/POIs, detail distribution, composition, and set dressing.
Strong knowledge of asset optimization techniques and the ability to maintain high‑quality visuals within technical constraints.
Exceptional verbal, written, and visual communication skills.
Excellent organizational abilities and strong problem‑solving skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience creating lighting for environments, doing lighting reviews, and the ability to provide constructive and actionable lighting feedback is a plus.
Experience working on an outsourcing team or closely collaborating with external vendors/artists a plus.
Experience leading and/or mentoring a small art team is a plus.

Responsibilities

Review outsourced environments and assets to ensure all deliverables align with the artistic vision, quality bar, and technical specifications of the project.
Deliver clear, timely, and actionable feedback to external artists producing high-volume environmental art content.
Provide accurate time estimates for the creation of individual art assets, as well as full environments.
Create art assets and/or refine existing ones when needed while maintaining visual and technical consistency with the project.
Test environments and art assets in-engine to assess visual quality, technical standards, and performance requirements.
Use debugging tools to analyze performance metrics and propose effective optimization strategies.
Mentor and guide external artists to strengthen their artistic output, efficiency, and alignment with established best practices.
Assess external teams’ capabilities to ensure alignment with production, optimization standards, and performance requirements.
Help produce comprehensive documentation, visual examples, and guidelines covering art asset creation workflows, optimization techniques, and performance requirements.
Collaborate with external partners and internal departments - including environment, design, lighting, and tech art - to refine and evolve pipelines for the seamless integration of outsourced environment assets.