Dodge Roll is a small indie studio under the Devolver Digital umbrella. We made Enter the Gungeon and we’re building our next stylized, top-down action game. We care a lot about feel: readable motion, snappy timing, and that polished “this is ridiculous but it’s also extremely intentional” vibe.

The Role

We’re looking for a gameplay animator who can also wear a 3D artist hat when needed. The main pillar is animation (in Blender ->Unreal). The second pillar is practical 3D asset work: making and adjusting models when animation work needs it, building simple props/weapons/items, filling in where needs arise and helping get things cleanly into the game.

You’ll be animating characters, enemies, bosses, NPCs, guns, items, and interactive environment objects. You’ll work closely with art, design, and tech to make animations that communicate gameplay clearly from a top-down camera and feel great in motion.

Our Pipeline (So You Know What You’re Walking Into)

You need to be comfortable stepping into a custom pipeline that is extremely Blender focused.

We model, skin, rig and animate in Blender and integrate in Unreal Engine. We also have our own rigging/skinning system that’s fast, modular, and built to be largely non-destructive. Most things can share the same skeleton in Unreal, which lets us easily reuse animations where appropriate, iterate quickly and keep production sane. The system supports custom rigging layered on top, should the need arise.

Texturing and UVs are largely handled by our custom toolchain (again, in Blender).

Asset Packaging and Exporting are also handled by our custom tools.

What You’ll Do (Animation First, On Purpose)

• Create high-quality gameplay animations for a wide range of content:
  • player characters + NPCs (idles, locomotion, interactions, etc.)
  • enemies + bosses (telegraphs, attacks, reactions, deaths, special moves)
  • guns + items + props (reloads, transforms, deploys, pickups, world interactions)
• Work closely with the art and design leads to concept, model, and build out game objects—from rough mock-ups to fully decorated, usable items, characters, and of course, guns.
• Work with design to nail timing, readability, and “feel”:
  • crisp telegraphs, clear silhouettes, satisfying hits and recoil, strong anticipation/recovery
• Implement and iterate in Unreal:
  • animation assets, montages, state machines, blend spaces, notifies, basic debugging, iteration loops
• Use (and help improve) our Blender→Unreal workflow:
  • keep animation exports clean, consistent, and game-ready
• Wear the 3D hat when it genuinely helps:
  • light modeling/cleanup, simple prop creation, prep/UVs as needed, quick adjustments to support animation
• Collaborate constantly:
  • communicate clearly, take feedback well, and push the work forward without needing a 12-step committee meeting for every change

What We’re Looking For (Must-Haves)

• Strong gameplay animation fundamentals (timing, posing, weight, arcs, readability)
• Comfortable in Blender
• Comfortable integrating and iterating in Unreal Engine (especially the animation side)
• Experience shipping at least one game (or equivalent professional production experience)
• Ability to work in a stylized 3D space and keep motion readable from a top-down(ish) camera
• A portfolio/reel that clearly shows:
  • combat or action-focused animation work
  • range (not just one nice idle loop)
  • polish and intentionality
  • A portfolio that shows off high-quality, stylized 3D art and an eye for color, shape, and composition.

Bonus Points

• Rigging/skin weighting experience (especially in Blender), we use a custom workflow that we think makes things easier, (and is non-destructive), but it is built on concepts and blender workflows.
• Tech-leaning animation chops:
  • clean data habits, naming consistency, export discipline, basic optimization awareness
• Comfort doing more 3D work when needed:
  • weapons/props, simple characters, cleanup, UV/layout, etc.
• Tooling mindset:
• Blender Python, Geometry Nodes, pipeline improvement instincts
• You’re good at creating stylized textures and materials.
• You’ve worked on top-down or isometric action games before.
• Unreal tech-art adjacent skills:
  • material basics, vertex colors / UV sets usage, vertex animation
• North America time zone overlap (helpful, not mandatory)
• You’ve killed a few pasts in Enter the Gungeon (emotionally or literally)

How We Work

We’re a small team. That means:

• You will have real ownership.
• You’ll get feedback quickly.
• You’ll see your work in-game fast.
• You’ll be trusted to make smart calls and communicate when something’s blocked.