Unity 3D Technical Animator – Custom Character Animation Time-Stretching & Tweaking (Retro ARPG)

​We are looking for a skilled Unity 3D Technical Animator to tweak a set of stylized character animations and prepare them for a highly specific, code-driven mechanical movement loop. We are developing a fast-paced, grid-locked, retro-inspired MMORPG using uMMORPG and Unity 2022/2023, and we need our animation playback to seamlessly align with our custom mechanics. ​Your primary task will not be creating animations from scratch; instead, you will be taking our existing stylized character animation assets (idle, run, combat slashes, jumps) and modifying their keyframes, poses, and clip settings to behave perfectly with our programming constraints. ​🛠️ Key Technical Requirement: The Jump Code Integration ​Our game features an old-school, high-mobility jumping mechanic (similar to classic Conquer Online). Players can execute jumps ranging anywhere from a 1-tile hop to a massive 18-tile leap. ​Because the distance changes dynamically, the physical duration of the flight changes with every single jump. You must be comfortable structuring animations that will be entirely driven by a Time-Stretching script in Unity. ​How your work integrates with the code: ​The Dynamic Playback Speed: Our programmer is bypassing standard Mecanim transitions for the jump cycle. The script calculates the exact duration of the jump vector in real-time and dynamically overrides the Animator playback speed via code: animator.speed = jumpAnimationClip.length / calculatedJumpDuration; ​The Keyframe Constraints: Because of this, your jump animation clip must be structurally clean and perfectly segmented. The animation cannot rely on a fixed timeline. It must be authored so that it stretches fluidly: ​Frame 0.0: Instant, punchy liftoff/brace phase. ​Frame 0.5 (The Core Tuck): The character must reach their peak "airborne tuck" pose exactly at the halfway mark of the clip. ​Frame 1.0: The legs must extend fluidly to brace for impact at the exact millisecond of touchdown, transitioning instantly back into a combat-ready idle or run state without visual blending lag. ​🎯 What You Will Be Doing: ​Animation Tweaking: Modifying existing human/humanoid FBX character animations to make them feel punchy, fast, and responsive rather than slow and floaty. ​Pose Structuring: Ensuring the jump loop possesses distinct, hard-coded structural milestones (tuck, peak altitude, leg extension) that scale cleanly when time-stretched between a 0.2-second hop and a 0.8-second launch. ​Rig Alignment: Ensuring weapons remain cleanly attached to designated hand transforms (Main Hand / Off-Hand) during aggressive combat adjustments (including preparation for dual-wield animation loops down the line). ​Unity Setup: Configuring the clips inside Unity's Animation import settings (Loop Time settings, Root Motion disabling, Bake into Pose settings for Rotation and Position). ​🧰 Skills Required: - ​Strong proficiency in Blender, Maya, or 3ds Max for keyframe adjustment and FBX export. ​- Deep understanding of Unity’s Mecanim Animation System, Animator Controllers, and Override Controllers. - ​Experience working on Top-Down ARPGs, Hack 'n' Slash, or Fighting games where input responsiveness takes priority over realistic, slow weight blending. ​- Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate directly with our gameplay programmer (Kyle) to test animation playback clips in active test builds. - ​If you have experience tweaking existing asset packs to match snappy, code-driven gameplay metrics, please apply with a link to your portfolio/reel