TopHat Game Studios, Ltd - Recruiting Developers!
TopHat Game Studios was founded in early 2011 and officially incorporated as a limited company in 2012. The developers at TopHat are from a range of backgrounds in the game(s) industry as well as freelance artists.
We at TopHat Game Studios believe that the current gaming market is stale and needs fresh water. We aim to produce games that will challenge the current genres associated within the industry; games need fulfilment that can only be inspired by gamers themselves, the goal we want to achieve is to have the TopHat community tell us what they want, speak out and express ideas strongly and be extremely critical towards our game(s); we want the 'end users' to have a large amount of influence on the games we make: E.g.TopHat's beta team consists of people who are not professional game testers (for whatever that is), but rather the 'gamers' themselves, we believe that a true gamer will find more problems for us to fix or will have a strong influential opinion on what should be done in certain aspects of our games.
We at TopHat Game Studios believe that the current gaming market is stale and needs fresh water. We aim to produce games that will challenge the current genres associated within the industry; games need fulfilment that can only be inspired by gamers themselves, the goal we want to achieve is to have the TopHat community tell us what they want, speak out and express ideas strongly and be extremely critical towards our game(s); we want the 'end users' to have a large amount of influence on the games we make: E.g.TopHat's beta team consists of people who are not professional game testers (for whatever that is), but rather the 'gamers' themselves, we believe that a true gamer will find more problems for us to fix or will have a strong influential opinion on what should be done in certain aspects of our games.
TopHat's open roles, join the family!
Hey! TopHat Game Studios, Ltd are currently developing an ambitious WWI first-person shooter on the Unreal Engine 3 (obviously!). Payment for this position is royalty based, we can gladly send our royalty agreement form to any applicant before the process of role application starts. The available roles are stated below with information on what is required.
Environment Artist
- A very strong and exceptional portfolio, that can give represent your best art talents.
- Has vast knowledge of the Unreal Engine's UI ( Importing, Material Editor etc )
- Talented individual who is extremely comfortable with the UDK's pipeline
- You will be assigned to develop props and trench scenery.
- Expert knowledge of game environment, this includes sculpting retopo, baking, uvs, texturing, etc.
- Developing optimised models and can take criticism from lead artist to reflect performance.
- Able to coordinate openly with a team
- Must frequently use the PC gaming platform Steam and/or Google+ Hangout*
Level Designer
- Can give strong examples of level design through a portfolio
- Talented individual who is extremely comfortable with the UDK's landscape tool.
- Expert skills in structuring level design with in depth documentation to all points in the level.
- You don't necessarily need to be talented with making level textures, but it's always a bonus!
- Able to coordinate openly with a team
- Always looking for ways to improve their skills
- Must frequently use the PC gaming platform Steam, and/or Skype.
Concept Artist
- Has/had hands experience working with Game art
- Talented individual who can express their love for concept art through a strong portfolio of multitude sources.
- Very comfortable and experienced with Adobe Photoshop ( Illustrator is a bonus ).
- Able to coordinate with team members and take strong critique to get the best possible output
- Must frequently use the PC gaming platform Steam and/or Skype.
UDK/Unreal Technical Artist
- Has vast knowledge of the Unreal Engine's material editor
- Talented individual who is extremely comfortable with the UDK's pipeline
- You will be assigned to touching up materials, assuring optimisation and approving polish
- Developing advanced Material(s) that have deep underlaying.
- Experienced with HLSL.
- Able to coordinate openly with a team
- Must frequently use the PC gaming platform Steam and/or Google+ Hangout
What's TopHat Game Studio's developing?
The Battle of the Somme symbolized the horrors of warfare in world war one. Follow orders, fight for your country, wait for the call and survive in rain soaked trenches; the call to charge over no mans land to fight for freedom and liberation is awaiting you! Equipped with your arsenal of weaponry, make haste and overtake your enemies; watch over your brothers and god speed. This ambitious WWI FPS is being built using the Unreal Development Kit. For more information on the game visit http://www.tophat-studios.co.uk
Short Features List:
- Drivable vehicles which includes Tanks, Planes and even ridable Horses!
- Rescue downed allies and patch them up
- 1914 - 1918 inspired capture the 'point/trench' based combat
- Naval battling game-modes
- Call in Artillery barrages on enemy territories*
.. and much more!
So how does communication and development work?
We use a variety of voice communication software through-out the weekly development of the game; Google+ with it's migrated hangout feature allows developers to show work being dynamically created in real-time so we can spot issues or suggest ideas to progressively make the content better. We also have a Ventrilo server for developers to jump into on a regular basis to chat with everybody which is great synergy. The development team has multiple meetings arranged through-out the week where we talk about weekly/monthly goals and deadlines and evaluate our progress on what has been achieved, we strongly welcome open thinking and strong criticism to work that has been produced in that week/monthly assignment schedules.
The family and it's goals
- UI Designer(1) - Full
- Concept Artist(1) - Open
- UnrealScripter(1) - Full
- Environmental Artist(1) - Open
- Character Animator (1) - Full
- Organics and Character Artist(1) - Full
- Sound Effects Artist(1) - Full
- Composer(1) - Full
- Particle/Effects Artist(1) - Full
- Voice Actors - Out-sourced
Because we're a start-up indie games development studio, we're aiming to have a total of ten members in it's development cycle; we believe that with our industry experience and freelance artistic natures, we can produce enjoyable and action packed games for the gaming community by listening to that community. There are a lot of games today being produced just because of their title and not remembering what the fundamental reason of gaming is, which is Fun. We at TopHat Games Studios are a very strong family of developers from the United Kingdom and believe in keeping indie strong.
Work flow
TopHat Game Studios uses a monthly subversion control system which allows for dynamic and instant updates to the game; the SVN has been setup in a structured manor so that only the nessecary development tools are sent to the developers which frees up space on the developer(s) machine.
All developers are individually assigned their monthly calender for deadlines and goals. These are handed out every month automatically. We are also experimenting with some new technology that allows for real-time goal/deadlines updating and modifying with design documentation, which is soon to be released to the public!
All developers are individually assigned their monthly calender for deadlines and goals. These are handed out every month automatically. We are also experimenting with some new technology that allows for real-time goal/deadlines updating and modifying with design documentation, which is soon to be released to the public!
If you're a budding artist looking to break into the games industry and show off his/her skills then TopHat Game Studios is the place for you. Despite the general job requirements; we don't care about qualifications or if you're a medal winner. Those who can express passion for games within their portfolio, those with work ethic to make development happen, and those who can provide a descriptive introduction about themselves will be top candidates for a position at TopHat Game Studios and it's family! We're looking forward to working with you and welcome you to our in-house family!
To Apply
Submit your application and/or questions to info@tophat-studios.co.uk
Submit your application and/or questions to info@tophat-studios.co.uk
Replies
We've updated the original post and are now recruiting a Technical Artist!
Environmental Artist
Concept Artist
Level Designer
UDK Technical Artist
Please send all applications to info@tophat-studios.co.uk