Roles in 3D game production

Building a 3D game world is shared work. Some people design the space, some make the objects in it, some make it look and run well, and some keep the whole thing coherent. Job titles for these roles differ between studios, so read this page as a map of responsibilities, not a fixed list of jobs.

A summary of The Level Design Book's introduction notes that the exact division of roles varies by studio (GIGAZINE: What is 'level design' in games?).

#Variation in job titles

The same work can sit under different titles, and the same title can mean different work.

Team size changes the split. Tracy Fullerton's Game Design Workshop gives team structures a whole chapter (chapter 12 of the 5th edition) (Fullerton 2024). Small teams merge roles; large teams split the same work across specialists and add roles, such as technical art and outsourcing management, that only make sense at scale.

#Design roles

#Level designer

A level designer shapes what the player does in a space. The Level Design Book, as summarised by GIGAZINE, describes level designers as "primarily responsible for shaping player behavior", and lists typical work in larger studios: documentation, layout drafts, blockouts, observing playtests, and balancing maps and encounters (GIGAZINE: What is 'level design' in games?).

Studios test this skill directly. 80 Level describes the "whiteboard test" as "a test game companies send to level designers", in which candidates draft the structure of a level on paper (80 Level: The Whiteboard Test in Level Design).

Read next: level design and environment art, layout and flow, wayfinding.

#Art roles

#Environment artist

An environment artist is "primarily responsible for focusing on graphics and polishing the visuals of a level", and good environment art "supports the design goals of the game experience" (GIGAZINE: What is 'level design' in games?). In practice that covers building modular kits, tileable materials, set dressing and art passes, decals, terrain and foliage, and often lighting. Many environment artists also make props.

An Insomniac Games listing for a junior environment artist is typical. It asks the artist to create "organic and hard-surface assets from a style guide with or without concept art", to create "modular kits", to handle "Material assignment and texture creation", to set dress "within scope of the project's metrics and rules", and to maintain "performance requirements for levels (memory, framerate, draw calls, instances)" (Hitmarker: Environment Artist). It also asks that the artist "understands the goals of level design" (Hitmarker: Environment Artist).

#Prop artist

A prop artist makes individual objects: furniture, crates, machines, weapons on racks. On teams that separate the two roles, the environment artist owns the space and the prop artist supplies the objects that fill it. Prop work is the clearest case of the full the game asset pipeline, from high poly to bake to engine. Studio Wildcard's junior prop artist listing asks for "models and textures for both hard surface and soft surface/organic game assets", iteration "through prototyping and critiques", and "a balance between visual quality and performance requirements", with Blender, ZBrush and Substance Painter named (Jobgether: Jr Prop Artist). Read next: hero assets, props and filler, hard-surface modeling.

#Level artist

"Level artist" is one of the least consistent titles. On some teams it means an artist who takes a designer's blockout and turns it into finished art using an existing kit, with a focus on set dressing, composition and lighting. On others it is simply another name for environment artist. Ubisoft's listing for a level artist on a game set in the world of Avatar shows the first kind: "Asset briefing, prototyping and final propping of in-game scenes with a focus on mood and environmental storytelling", "Close collaboration with the Art team and the Level Design team", and "Scene management, asset integration and performance optimization" (Hitmarker: Level Artist (f/m/d), Ubisoft Blue Byte). Read the job description, not the title.

#Material artist

A material or texture artist specialises in surfaces: tileable materials, procedural materials made in node-based tools, photo-sourced and scanned materials and trim sheets. On large projects they build the shared material library that environment artists draw from.

#Lighting artist

A lighting artist sets the mood, readability and performance of lighting in each level. A Keywords Studios listing describes the work as building, iterating and optimising "lighting setups that support gameplay, narrative, and artistic direction", in collaboration with "art direction, level design, and tech art" (Hitmarker: Environment Artist - Lighting). Naughty Dog's job board lists the role as "Senior Environment Lighting Artist" (Greenhouse: Naughty Dog job board), so lighting jobs can hide under environment titles too. The job is also shaped by the engine's technology. With baked lighting, every significant change meant waiting for a rebuild; Epic's engineers wrote that Lumen means game developers "can say goodbye to seeing the 'LIGHTING NEEDS TO BE REBUILT' message" (Unreal Engine tech blog: Unreal Engine 5 goes all-in on dynamic global…). Read next: real-time lighting, baked vs. dynamic lighting, exposure and post-processing.

#Technical artist

A technical artist sits between art and engineering; Larian Studios' listing puts it as "Act as interlocutor between the art and the programming team" (Hitmarker job listing: Technical Artist). See the technical artist. Typical work includes shaders and master materials and instances, tools and scripts that speed up artists, import and export pipelines, and performance budgets. If a pipeline problem involves both "how it looks" and "how it runs", a technical artist usually owns it.

#Leadership and production roles

#Art director

An art director owns the visual vision of the game: style, colour, shape and consistency across every level and asset. On large projects, leads for environment, props, lighting and technical art sit between the art director and the individual artists.

#Outsourcing

Studios can commission assets from external studios or freelancers, who build props, kits or whole areas to the studio's specifications while an art lead or outsourcing manager reviews the work. Outsourcing depends on clear specifications: metrics, texel density, naming conventions and budgets have to be written down. The Polycount discussion of planning project metrics shows that grid sizes and pixel densities agreed at the start decide whether pieces fit together later (Polycount: Way early stages of a project, planning out…).

Outsourcing shows up on both sides of the deal:

• At the studio. Naughty Dog's job board lists an "Outsourcing Production Artist" role (Greenhouse: Naughty Dog job board).
• At service companies. Keywords Studios describes itself as "a global leader providing art services to AAA Publishers" (Hitmarker: Environment Artist - Lighting). Weapon artist Ohle Mathiebe, whose credits include Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, describes working at elite3d, a company producing AAA assets for popular franchises (80 Level: Weapon Art Tips: High Poly, UVs, Texturing).
• Between studios. On Hogwarts Legacy, Molly Warner, working at Certain Affinity, did world building for Lower Hogsfield (set dressing, kitbashing castle pieces, terrain, foliage) and credits the Avalanche environment art team for the assets she used (ArtStation: Hogwarts Legacy - Castle Ruins).

Asset marketplaces sit next to outsourcing. Epic's Fab, launched in 2024, is the successor to the Unreal Engine Marketplace, Sketchfab, ArtStation Marketplace and Quixel.com (Unreal Engine blog: "Fab" content marketplace launches in…).

#Common mistakes

• Assuming one studio's split is universal. Role boundaries vary by studio (GIGAZINE: What is 'level design' in games?).
• Ignoring the neighbouring role. Environment artists who understand layout, and level designers who understand art, are easier to work with.
• Filtering job searches by one title. Search by responsibilities, such as "blockout", "modular" or "set dressing", as well as by title.

#Further reading and watching

• portfolios — how to present your work for the role you want. All levels. Free.