Hexbit Studios is looking for a pixel art animator for a part-time, paid contract on Dungeography, a card-duel dungeon crawler for PC and Steam Deck. The first job is the hero, plus the enemies and bosses of the game's first zone. If it goes well, there is more work in every zone after it.
About the game
Deal the dungeon. Then survive it.
You play a Triple Triad style card duel against the Keeper. Every card placed becomes a room, and when the board is full, the floor plan is built from the numbers on the cards. Then you run that dungeon in real time as a top-down action game, one screen per room.
- Built in Godot 4, for PC on Steam with full Steam Deck support
- An HD-2D look: hand-made pixel art sprites in a lit 3D dungeon
- A solo project: I do design, code and the environment art. I need a partner for the characters (main character, enemies, bosses)
- A playable prototype exists, and I'm happy to share it with shortlisted artists
No AI-generated art will ship in this game. That is the reason this posting exists.
The work
The first contract covers zone 1, The Ossuary: an undead crypt. I'll send a written brief and rough sketches for every piece, and we'll agree the list before any work starts.
- Hero (the main character), 1. Idle, walk, sword swing, bomb throw, hit, death. Down, side and up views, since the player moves and attacks in every direction.
- Enemies, 3 to 4, one per behavior (for example a skeleton, a ghoul and a brute). Walk (also used as idle) and attack. Down and side views, with the side mirrored. Hit flashes and deaths are handled in-engine.
- Bosses, 1 to 2. Walk, 2 or 3 signature attacks and a phase change.
Enemies come in four behaviors: chasers, shooters, brutes and bosses. Each needs to read its intent clearly, so a player can see an attack coming. Telegraphs and readable silhouettes matter more to me than detail.
I'll handle the environment, props, tiles, UI and effects. Final counts depend on the zone's design, which is still in progress.
Style and specs
- HD-2D, in the spirit of Octopath Traveler: sprites stand as camera-facing billboards in a 3D scene with real lighting, fog and depth of field, seen from a tilted three-quarter camera
- 1 px dark outline on characters
- Sprites should hold up under dynamic lighting, so clean shapes and readable silhouettes matter more than baked-in shading
- Each enemy will be reused in recolored variants through a palette-swap shader, so please keep each sprite to a few distinct color ramps
- 32 px grid. Regular enemies fit in about 32 by 32 to 32 by 48 px; bosses are larger. Every asset shares one pixel density, so nothing looks chunkier than its neighbors
- Delivered as Aseprite files plus exported sprite sheets (PNG). Frame tags per animation are a plus
The look I'm after is dark and readable, with a bit of charm. Think the clarity of a 16-bit Zelda dungeon with a moodier crypt palette.
Who I'm looking for
- A portfolio of animated pixel art characters: walk cycles, attacks, hits and deaths, not only stills
- Experience with top-down action games, or a clear feel for how combat animation reads in play
- Comfortable turning rough sketches and written briefs into finished sprites, and suggesting better ideas
- Reliable with deadlines and updates, even at a part-time pace
- Bonus: you've shipped a game, or you love Triple Triad, Zelda or dungeon crawlers
Terms
- Part-time and remote. Work at your own pace within agreed milestones
- Paid per batch, quoted up front. Budget: $25 to $40 an hour, or the per-frame equivalent
- Paid test first. See the hiring process below
- Payment on delivery of each milestone
- Rights. Full commercial rights to the delivered art transfer to Hexbit Studios on payment. You can show the work in your portfolio
- Credit in the game and on its store page
- More work. Four more zones are planned, each with its own enemies and bosses. A good fit here is first in line for them
Hiring process
There are three steps, and I'll keep you posted at each one.
- Portfolio interview. If your application makes the shortlist, I'll invite you to a video call. You'll walk me through your portfolio and talk about your experience, how you work and the projects you're proudest of. About 45 minutes.
- Paid test. If the interview goes well, you'll make a small set of assets for one character, such as an idle, a walk and an attack. It's paid at your quoted rate. Please deliver the layered Aseprite source files and a time-lapse recording of your process. I ask everyone for the time-lapse, because no AI-generated art can ship in this game and I want that to be clear from the start.
- Offer. If the test is a fit, I'll make an offer and we'll agree the contract terms together: rate, schedule, milestones and the first batch of zone 1 assets.
How to apply
Email jack@hexbitstudios.com with the subject Dungeography animator, and include:
- A link to your portfolio, with animated character work up front
- Your rate per sprite or per animation, or an hourly rate
- How many hours a week you can give, and your time zone
- One sentence on a game whose animation you admire, and why
I read every application and reply to everyone, even if it's a no.
Thanks for your interest,
Jack Kinsey
Hexbit Studios