Rive Animator

We’re looking for a talented Rive Animator to create high-quality, expressive 2D animations for a game project with a cute, friendly, cartoon / painterly visual style, inspired by Sea of Thieves.

This role focuses on bringing game units to life through smooth, readable, and polished Rive animations that feel great in motion and clearly communicate gameplay state.

🎨 Art Style

• Cute / friendly / readable silhouettes
• Cartoon / painterly look
• Inspired by Sea of Thieves (not realistic, not flat)

• High-quality motion with personality and charm

   

🧩 Game Context

• Grid-based board: 7 × 6 tiles
• Unit system based on Rock / Paper / Scissors mechanics:
  • 🪨 Rock Unit
  • 📄 Paper Unit
  • ✂️ Scissors Unit
• One “King” unit
  • Must be visually recognizable using an overlay (crown, glow, badge, FX)
  • No separate King character — same base unit + visual modifier

🛠 Responsibilities

• Create Rive animations for game units (idle, attack, hit, death, win/lose states, etc.)
• Design and animate overlay elements (crown, glow, badge, effects) for the King unit
• Ensure animations are clear, readable, and performant on mobile
• Set up state machines and animation logic inside Rive where needed
• Work closely with game designers and developers to align animation with gameplay logic
• Iterate quickly based on feedback

✅ Requirements

• Strong experience with Rive (animation, state machines, exports)
• Solid understanding of game animation principles (timing, anticipation, clarity)
• Ability to animate in a stylized / cartoon / painterly aesthetic
• Experience creating animations for games or interactive products
• Good communication and reliability

⭐ Nice to Have

• Experience with mobile games
• Familiarity with Rock–Paper–Scissors mechanics or board games
• Experience creating VFX-style overlays (glows, highlights, UI FX) in Rive
• Understanding of performance constraints for real-time animations

📦 Deliverables

• Rive files with:
  • Unit animations (organized & labeled)
  • King overlay animations (crown/glow/badge)
  • Clean state machines ready for integration
• Short preview videos or GIFs demonstrating animations in action

🕒 Engagement

• Project-based or long-term collaboration (open to both)
• Flexible schedule with clear milestones
• Remote collaboration