Low-Poly Game Models & Animation

We are developing MARAOTH: Age of Kharos, an indie dark-fantasy turn-based tactical RPG with a stylized low-poly 3D art direction.
We are looking for a freelance 3D Character Animator / Rigger experienced with Blender, game-ready skeletal animation, reusable rigs, and Godot 4-compatible GLB/glTF export.
The goal is not cinematic animation. We need clean, readable, efficient animations designed for tactical gameplay and reusable across multiple characters.
Game Overview
Combat takes place on a 5x5 tactical grid with a party of 4 characters.
The combat camera is fixed or nearly fixed, using a 3/4 top-down / isometric-style view, so animation readability and strong silhouettes are more important than subtle facial or finger animation.
The game includes:
- 6 playable races
- 8 masterclasses
- 16 subclasses
- modular armor
- multiple weapon types
- summons, companions and transformed creatures
Playable classes include tanks, melee fighters, ranged characters, spellcasters, healers, summoners and support characters.
Main Technical Goal
We want to establish a shared humanoid animation pipeline.
Whenever technically possible, playable humanoid races should use the same base humanoid skeleton or be compatible through retargeting.
We want to avoid creating separate animation libraries for every race or subclass.
The first major task will likely be creating or validating a:
MARAOTH Master Humanoid Rig
Once approved, this skeleton should remain consistent throughout production.
Important requirements:
- consistent bone naming
- consistent hierarchy
- consistent rest/bind pose
- reusable animations
- clean skinning
- predictable root bone
- efficient bone count
- no unnecessary deformation bones
- no skeleton modifications without prior approval
Character Customization
Characters will use modular equipment.
Armor is divided into:
- Helm
- Chest
- Gloves
- Legs
- Boots
Each subclass has its own visual identity and color palette.
The only class using true heavy armor is the Guardian. Other classes use medium armor, light armor or cloth depending on their role.
Characters may also use:
- different head presets
- hairstyles
- facial hair
- hair colors
- skin tones
- racial features
Animations must therefore work correctly with modular character parts.
Weapons / Combat Examples
Some important class-specific equipment:
Protector
- giant shield
- no weapon
- heavy armor
- defensive and interception-based animations
Juggernaut
- two smaller shields
- heavy armor
- aggressive tank / crowd control
Disciple Paladin
- one-handed hammer
- tome/focus in off-hand
Oathbreaker
- darker necrotic Paladin theme
Werebear / Weretiger
- humanoid form plus dedicated transformed creature model
- transformed forms use fixed models
Battlemage
- sword
- blood-magic focus
- melee / close-range combat
Bloodmage
- ranged blood magic
- magical focus
Turret Master
- giant crossbow
- three deployable turrets
Puppet Master
- same giant crossbow weapon family
- autonomous golem companion
Warlock
- spellcaster
- two small ranged demon companions
Demon Hunter
- bow
- autonomous melee demonic companion
Holy Seer
- cloth/light armor
- healing/support magic
Demonic Seer
- cloth/light armor
- curse / poison / damage-over-time magic
Chronomancer
- hooded cloth/light outfit
- time manipulation
Lawbringer
- hooded cloth/light outfit
- magical law / authority theme
Non-Humanoid Characters
Some units will need their own dedicated rigs and animation sets:
- Werebear
- Weretiger
- Puppet Master Golem
- Warlock demons
- Demon Hunter companion
These do not need to share the humanoid skeleton.
Engineer Turrets
The Turret Master uses three static deployables:
- Ballista — single-target offense
- Tesla Turret — electrical / Tesla damage
- Repair Turret — healing/support
These may use simple mechanical rigs.
Possible animations:
- deploy
- idle
- aim
- fire
- recoil
- damaged
- destroyed
Animation Style
Animations should be:
- stylized
- readable
- slightly exaggerated where useful
- efficient
- game-ready
- suitable for a tactical camera
The game is turn-based, so we prefer clear poses and fast readable actions rather than highly realistic motion capture.
Shared Humanoid Animation Set
The initial reusable library may include:
- Idle
- Combat Idle
- Walk
- Run if needed
- Hit Reaction
- Heavy Hit Reaction
- Stun
- Death
- Victory
- Generic Melee Attack
- Generic Ranged Attack
- Generic Spell Cast
- Generic Buff Cast
- Generic Defensive Action
Movement is grid-based, so most animations should preferably be in-place.
Character movement and displacement can be handled by Godot game logic.
Root motion should only be used where specifically required.
Subclass-Specific Animations
Some classes will require custom animations for signature abilities and ultimates.
Examples:
- shield bash
- push / pull attacks
- bow attacks
- giant crossbow attacks
- blood magic
- healing
- curse casting
- time manipulation
- law-based magic
- transformations
- companion commands
- ultimate abilities
Ultimate animations should feel important but remain reasonably short to preserve combat pacing.
Technical Requirements
Engine:
Godot 4
Preferred final format:
GLB / glTF 2.0
Source format:
Blender .blend
All animations must be:
- baked before export
- correctly named
- separated into clean clips
- trimmed correctly
- looped correctly where needed
- compatible with Godot 4
- free from unsupported Blender-only constraints
- exported with correct transforms
Example animation naming:
Idle
Combat_Idle
Walk
Hit
Stun
Death
Victory
Attack_Melee_01
Attack_Ranged_01
Cast_Generic

Subclass-specific examples:
Protector_Shield_Bash
Juggernaut_Push
Battlemage_Attack_01
Bloodmage_Cast_01
DemonHunter_Bow_Attack
Chronomancer_Cast_Time

Deliverables
Typical deliverables:
SOURCE/
Character_or_Animations.blend

EXPORT/
Character_or_Animations.glb

PREVIEW/
AnimationPreview.mp4

If working directly on character rigs:
Character.blend
Character.glb

Textures, if required:
BaseColor.png
Normal.png
Roughness.png
Emission.png

Initial Milestone
The first milestone would preferably be:
1. Master humanoid skeleton
2. Idle
3. Walk
4. Hit Reaction
5. Death
6. Generic Melee Attack
7. Generic Spell Cast
We will test these directly inside Godot 4 before moving to the full production pipeline.
This first milestone is very important because all future humanoid characters, modular armor and animations will depend on it.
Ideal Freelancer
We are looking for someone experienced with:
- Blender
- 3D character rigging
- skeletal animation
- stylized / low-poly characters
- game-ready animation
- GLB / glTF 2.0 export
- Godot 4 or similar game engines
- reusable humanoid rigs
- retargeting
- modular character systems
Experience with tactical RPGs, turn-based RPGs or stylized indie games is a strong advantage.
Project Priorities
Our priorities are:
1. Godot compatibility
2. reusable skeleton and animations
3. clean technical pipeline
4. gameplay readability
5. strong class identity
6. low-poly visual consistency
7. reasonable production cost
8. animation polish
We prefer smart reusable systems over large quantities of one-off animations.
Please include in your application:
- portfolio
- examples of rigging work
- examples of game-ready animations
- experience with Blender
- experience with GLB/glTF export
- any Godot experience
- your estimated cost for the initial rig + animation test milestone