How to find VFX work for indie games
If you make real-time effects for games, in Unity's VFX Graph or Shuriken, Unreal's Niagara, Godot's particles or hand-drawn sprite sheets, indie VFX work gets posted in a few places: IndieGuild, the Jobs category on RealtimeVFX.com, ArtStation Jobs, Work With Indies, r/gameDevClassifieds and itch.io game jams, with #VFXFriday as the weekly place to show your work. Which one fits depends on your engine and whether you want gigs or a studio job.
I founded IndieGuild, so keep that in mind when I talk about it. I've tried to be fair to everyone here, because each of these is the right pick for somebody.
- Want devs to find you, with matching roles in your inbox? Make a free profile on IndieGuild.
- Want a forum that's all real-time VFX? RealtimeVFX.com has a Jobs category, feedback threads and community challenges.
- Want a studio job or a bigger contract? Check ArtStation Jobs and Work With Indies.
- Want paid indie gigs? r/gameDevClassifieds has its own VFX flairs.
- Building your reel? Do jams to get effects into real games, and post each new effect on #VFXFriday.
| Where | Better pick when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| IndieGuild | You want indie devs to find you by craft and genre, and roles that fit you sent to your inbox, for free. | It's new, so there are fewer roles than on the big boards. |
| RealtimeVFX.com | You want job posts, feedback and challenges from people who focus on real-time effects. | It's a forum, so job posts come in slowly, and many are studio roles. |
| ArtStation Jobs | You want studio VFX roles and freelance contracts, right next to your portfolio. | Freelance listings come down after 15 days, and big-studio roles are mixed in with the indie ones. |
| Work With Indies | You want a contract or staff role at an indie studio. | There's no separate VFX section, so you'll find VFX roles inside Art and Animation. |
| r/gameDevClassifieds | You want paid indie gigs and a free place to post your own [FOR HIRE] thread. | Most VFX posts there are artists offering work, and you need to watch for scams. |
| #VFXFriday | You want other VFX artists and devs to see your newest effect every week. | It's a showcase, not a job board, so it pays off slowly. |
| itch.io jams | You want your effects in a finished game, fast, and to meet devs by working together. | Jam teams are short-term and usually unpaid. |
First, know which VFX work you're after
"VFX" means different things to different devs, and most posts name an engine. Put yours everywhere: your profile, your reel and every reply.
- Unity. VFX Graph for GPU effects in URP and HDRP, the Shuriken particle system, and Shader Graph for custom materials.
- Unreal. Niagara for particles, plus the material editor for shaders.
- Godot. GPUParticles and CPUParticles nodes, plus Godot's shader language or visual shaders.
- 2D sprite-sheet effects. Hand-drawn frames in a tool like Aseprite or Photoshop, exported as sprite sheets that work in any engine. Pixel art games usually want these instead of smooth particles.
- Shaders and tech art. Dissolves, outlines, water, glows and screen effects. Some VFX artists write these and some don't, so say which you are.
Film VFX is a different job. If your background is compositing or offline sims, your eye for timing and motion carries over, but game devs need effects that run in real time inside their engine. Add a few in-engine pieces before you start applying.
What a VFX reel needs
A VFX reel gets judged in motion, and fast. Here's what I'd make sure is in yours:
- Looping clips. Let each effect play a few times in a clean loop, so a dev can watch the wind-up, the hit and the fade without scrubbing back.
- In-engine captures. Record in Unity, Unreal or Godot at game speed, from a game camera. Offline renders can look great, but they don't show it runs in a game.
- Context. Show effects on a character, on an enemy or over a game scene, not only on a black background. Readability matters as much as looks: can you still see the gameplay through the effect?
- Your best effect first. Lead with the piece closest to the work you want more of.
- Labels. Under each clip, name the engine and tools, like "Unity URP, VFX Graph, Shader Graph" or "Aseprite sprite sheet."
- A breakdown or two. Show the textures, flipbooks and shader graph behind an effect, so a dev can see you built it from scratch.
- Performance notes. Mention particle counts, overdraw, texture atlases, or that an effect was made for mobile.
- Range in your lane. If you want stylized work, show stylized work. If you want pixel games, show pixel effects, not only realistic fire.
Keep the reel short, and post each effect as its own clip too, so you can send just the one that fits a dev's game. On IndieGuild, your VFX pieces sit right on your profile, and devs can put a piece next to a screenshot of their game in the Gameplay studio.
My guide for devs on how to find a VFX artist tells them to ask which engine versions you've shipped effects in and how you keep effects light. Have short answers to both ready before you reply to a post.
Where VFX gigs actually get posted
IndieGuild
This one's mine. You make a free profile with your VFX pieces right on the page, your rates up front, and tags like "Rev share OK", "Hobby projects OK" and "Human-made". Devs browse creators by craft and genre on Discover or use Find my match, and when a dev posts a role that fits you, it lands in your inbox. Every role on the Job board shows the pay type up front, and some show a budget. It's free, I don't take a cut, there are no ads, and nobody can pay to be seen first.
Better pick when you want devs to come to you. Not the best pick if you want the biggest pool of jobs today, since it's newer than the big boards.
RealtimeVFX.com
RealtimeVFX.com calls itself "a community for real-time visual effects artists," and the forum is built around effects for games and other real-time work. Its Jobs category has [PAID] freelance posts from indie teams and [HIRING] posts from studios like Riot Games and Unknown Worlds, and artists post their own "looking for work" threads there too. Share progress in Personal Work for feedback, and join the community VFX Sketch challenges in Events, where everyone makes an effect on one theme. A finished sketch is a new reel piece. If you're brand new, start with their getting started thread.
ArtStation Jobs
ArtStation Jobs has VFX roles from big studios, like a VFX artist role on Apex Legends at Respawn, alongside freelance VFX contracts. Companies pay to post there (a subscription or job credits, per ArtStation's help page), and the same page says freelance listings stay up for 15 days, so check back often.
Work With Indies
Work With Indies is a job board just for indie games. VFX roles show up in its Art and Animation section, next to pixel art, 3D and animation roles. They also run a Discord with resume and portfolio reviews, which is a good place to get eyes on your reel.
r/gameDevClassifieds and r/INAT
r/gameDevClassifieds has flairs just for VFX: devs tag paid roles "PAID - VFX Artist," and you can post your own thread as "FOR HIRE - VFX Artist" with your reel. Most of the VFX posts there are artists offering work, so when a paid post shows up, reply quickly with the one clip that fits their game. For rev share and hobby teams, r/INAT is where teams form. Read each sub's rules first, because they remove posts that break them.
#VFXFriday
As VFX Apprentice puts it, "Every Friday, VFX artists share their work online with the tag #VFXFriday." It's active on Bluesky, with VFX schools and solo artists posting. Post your newest effect each Friday and your feed slowly turns into a second reel that people can find.
itch.io jams
A jam is a quick way to get your effects into a real game. Most jams on itch.io have a community tab where teams look for people, so offer to handle the effects: hit sparks, pickups, explosions, the little bursts that make a game feel good. On IndieGuild, tap "I'm in" on a jam in Jam Crew so teams can find you too.
From small gigs to studio VFX
- Jams and sketches. Every jam game and VFX Sketch gives you a new clip, in context.
- Small paid sets. Take small batches, like a few hits, a pickup, a level-up and a death effect. Deliver on time, in their engine version, with clean names and folders.
- Repeat indie clients. A dev who liked your first set may come back for the next update or the next game, so be easy to work with.
- Studio roles. Studio VFX posts on RealtimeVFX.com and ArtStation are where to aim next. Shipped games help a lot there, so every finished indie game counts.
One more thing that helps: team up with a sound designer. Effects and sound sell a hit together, and a jam game with both done well makes both of your reels better. Here's how sound designers find game work, if you want to know where to meet them.
Rates
I don't have a sourced price list for game VFX yet, so I won't make one up. VFX artists usually price per effect, per sprite-sheet animation, per hour or per project. The price moves with how many effects there are, how complex they are, whether they need custom shaders and textures, and how tight the performance budget is. Before you quote, ask for the engine version, render pipeline and target platforms. Put a starting rate on your profile so devs know roughly where you sit.
Red flags
- Anyone who asks you to pay to apply or to "unlock" a job.
- A free "test" that's really the effect they need for their trailer or launch.
- No engine version or target platform, even after you ask.
- Asking for all your project files before any payment.
- No written agreement on price, revisions, who owns the effects and textures, and when you can show them in your reel.
- Pay in tokens or NFTs instead of money. IndieGuild doesn't allow NFT, blockchain or crypto-token roles at all.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find VFX work for indie games?
The main places are IndieGuild, the Jobs category on RealtimeVFX.com, ArtStation Jobs, Work With Indies, r/gameDevClassifieds (which has VFX flairs for paid posts and for-hire threads), and itch.io game jams. Posting a new effect every week with #VFXFriday helps devs and other VFX artists find you too.
How do I get VFX work with no experience?
Join a few game jams and handle all the effects, enter the VFX Sketch challenges on RealtimeVFX.com, and turn the results into a short reel of looping, in-engine clips. Then make a free IndieGuild profile, post a [FOR HIRE] thread on r/gameDevClassifieds, and take small paid effect sets to build from there.
What should a game VFX reel include?
Short looping clips of each effect, captured in the engine at game speed and shown in a game-like scene, not only on a black background. Lead with your best piece, label each clip with the engine and tools, add a breakdown or two showing textures and shaders, and note what you did to keep effects light.
Do I need to know Unity, Unreal or Godot to get VFX work?
For most game VFX work, yes, because effects are built with the engine's own tools: VFX Graph or the Shuriken particle system in Unity, Niagara in Unreal, and GPU or CPU particles in Godot. 2D sprite-sheet effects are the exception, since they're drawn frame by frame and exported as images that work in any engine.
Does film VFX experience count for game VFX work?
It helps with timing, motion and simulation skills, but game effects have to run in real time inside an engine, on the player's hardware. Add a few in-engine effects to your reel, with notes on how you kept them light, before you apply for game work.
Is IndieGuild free for VFX artists?
Yes. Making a profile is free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs. You and the dev agree on pay and rights directly.
Let devs find you
Make a free VFX profile with your effects on the page, your engines, your rates and what you're open to (paid, rev share or hobby). When a dev posts a role that fits you, it lands in your inbox. It's free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs.
Make my profileMore guides
- How to find work as an indie game developer
- How to pitch a game dev (for creators)
- How to find game art work as an indie artist
- How to find sound design work for games
- How to find a VFX artist for your indie game
- How much does art cost for an indie game?