AI Artist - Empire

Remote | Permanent, full-time position | Goodgame Studios

About the Role
We're looking for an AI Artist (Generative AI Game Artist) to join our art team behind Empire and Empire: Four Kingdoms at Goodgame Studios - part of the Stillfront Group. We've built AI into our production pipeline from the ground up - it's not a bolt-on here; it's how we make things.

The role is hands-on and production-focused. You'll use AI tools daily to create, refine, and deliver assets that match our recognisable medieval strategy art style - from in-game visuals to marketing content - always combining AI generation with strong artistic judgement and traditional tools to reach the quality bar our players expect.

This is a fully remote, permanent position for candidates based in Germany, Sweden, Bulgaria, or Malta (valid visa required). Alternatively, we welcome applications from Freelancers working within the German time zone.

What You'll Do

• Produce in-game and marketing assets end-to-end, from concept through final delivery, using AI-assisted workflows

• Build and maintain image and video generation pipelines in ComfyUI and other tools

• Combine AI outputs with Illustrator, Photoshop, and After Effects to reach production quality

• Create and animate assets using After Effects, drawing on a solid understanding of animation principles, cinematography, and visual composition

• Maintain visual consistency with the established Empire art style across asset types (characters, buildings, environments, props)

• Support marketing and communication visuals alongside in-game content

• Test, evaluate, and integrate new AI tools and models as they emerge (we expect this to be a meaningful part of the job)

• Collaborate closely with the rest of the art team, as well as Product, CRM, Game Design, and Developers

What We're Looking For

Game Art Background

• Professional experience in game development (mobile games / F2P / live service titles a plus)

• Portfolio that includes real shipped in-game assets - characters, buildings, environments, props, animations - from actual projects

AI & Pipeline Skills

• Solid hands-on experience with AI-driven visual production as part of a real production workflow

• Advanced ComfyUI skills: building, debugging, and optimising complex workflows; custom node setup; dependency management and troubleshooting

• Strong working knowledge of Midjourney, ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini for image direction and iteration

• LoRA training and workflow automation

Image & Video Generation

• Character consistency workflows (LoRA, reference-based / ControlNet-style setups)

• Image-to-image and image-to-video pipelines

• Upscaling and post-production workflows

Production Tools

• Production-level Illustrator and Photoshop skills - these are at the core of our workflow

• Solid After Effects skills, including animation - backgrounds and in-game animations

• Strong sense of cinematography and visual composition — understanding of how animation and film work, timing, camera, and storytelling through motion

Technical Mindset

• Comfortable running AI workloads on cloud GPUs (e.g. RunPod or similar)

• Pragmatic problem-solver - you iterate quickly and don't wait for perfect conditions

Mindset

• Hands-on, adaptable, and genuinely curious about where AI is going

• Strong visual judgement - you know when something looks right for the style and when it doesn't

• Clear communicator across creative and technical topics

• Organised and team-oriented - we don't work in silos. Everyone on the team maintains a global overview of what's in progress, takes ownership of features end-to-end, and helps coordinate the team's work. We expect each person to grow not just as an artist but as someone who can lead and organise a feature from start to finish.

Nice-to-Have

• Experience with ElevenLabs or other AI audio/voice tools

• Familiarity with 3D or multi-view → 3D pipelines (e.g. Blender, Maya)

• Experience producing social media or performance marketing content

What You Can Expect

• An art team that has been AI-native for years - you won't be explaining why AI belongs here

• Real creative ownership over workflows and tooling, not just executing tickets

• A distinctive art style with a strong visual identity to work within and push forward

• Fully remote setup with a collaborative, international team at one of Europe's leading mobile and live-service game studios

WHAT WE OFFER

• remote work within Germany

• 30 days of vacation

• Flat hierarchies and direct access to senior leadership from day one

• A stable, profitable product with real scope for long-term impact

About Goodgame Studios

Goodgame Studios is known for data-driven game development and successful live service strategy titles. We self-publish our games in-house with all relevant disciplines under one roof. Our studio is based in Hamburg, Germany. We welcome applications from international candidates - English is our working language. As part of Stillfront Group, we combine long-term IP growth with a sharp focus on execution excellence.

HOW TO APPLY

Please include a portfolio or work samples that show AI-assisted production work alongside any traditional game art.