VFX Artist

Visual effects in a game are a design problem before they are an art problem. An effect has to tell the player what just happened — a hit landed, a spell is charging, a surface is about to break — and it has to do so in a few frames and within a strict performance budget.

The work combines particle systems, shaders, simulation and hand-authored textures. Niagara or Cascade in Unreal, the Unity VFX graph, Houdini for simulation and Maya or Blender for meshes are the usual tools, and shader authoring is part of the craft rather than a bonus.

VFX artists work closely with combat and gameplay designers on timing and feedback, and with technical artists on cost. The distinction from a motion or marketing artist matters: effects here run in real time inside the game, not in a rendered video.