Art Director

About Mithrall

Mithrall: Realm of the Dwarves is a fantasy survival sandbox MMO built in Unity URP. Players are dwarves: they terraform the land, build their kingdoms, craft in the world rather than in menus, trade in a player-driven economy and fight over territory in hardcore PvP with full-loot death, across a seamless, contested open world. The game has already been through a public playtest, and you can wishlist it on Steam.

About the studio

AnkleBreaker Studio is an independent studio near Paris: ten people, all senior. At our size there is no validation layer, only people who make things. We work hard, we build in person, and we share the upside: every shipped title returns a slice to everyone who built it.

We use AI

We use AI, and we would rather say it upfront. Tools and techniques move fast, and our workflows change regularly with them.

If you join us, you need to be ready to work with the latest techniques. We will train you on them. You also need to stay at the cutting edge, technically and in performance, and to be at ease when the way we work changes.

We are looking for ambitious people who want to build the biggest games of tomorrow.

The role

We are looking for the Art Director of Mithrall. The job is versatility: you set the visual direction, you hold it in the engine from greybox to shipped build, you help recruit the artists who will build it with you, and you take part in production as a whole. It is not a seat that signs off on boards. It is a seat with its hands in the work.

What you will do

• Define Mithrall's visual identity and turn it into rules the team can apply without you in the room: style guides, references, budgets, reviews.
• Hold that intention in Unity URP: lookdev, materials, lighting, silhouettes that have to read at distance, all of it within poly and texture budgets.
• Help recruit the artists you will work with. We are opening several senior art roles alongside this one.
• Get your hands in the work: paintovers, lighting passes, key assets when production needs them.
• Work every day with design, code and production, in the same room.

What we are looking for

• At least four years as an Art Director on games. Years of directing, not years in art.
• At least one significant shipped game you art directed, one we can play or look up.
• Real in-engine 3D experience in Unity or Unreal: lookdev, materials, lighting, LODs and budgets.
• You have hired, led and grown artists.
• Drawing skills are welcome, but the work is 3D and in the engine. A portfolio of concept art alone is not enough for this role.

Nice to have

• Experience with Unity URP.
• Open-world, survival or MMO experience, where readability and performance meet every day.
• Experience building an art team or an art pipeline at an early stage.

How we work

• Full-time, permanent contract (CDI), on-site at our studio near Paris (Le Pecq / Le Vésinet, on the RER A line). This role is not open to remote.
• A small, senior team that works hard and builds together.
• We talk compensation openly on the first call.

How to apply

Use the Apply button. Show us the games you art directed first, and in-engine captures if you have them.