Environment Concept Artist

I'm looking for a Environment Concept Artist to create stylized low-to-mid poly biomes for a turn-based roguelike strategy game.

Seedbound is a turn-based roguelike strategy game, targeting a 2028 Steam release. I'm the developer running a funded, one-person studio (me!) alongside a small team of contract artists. My game has distinctly themed areas which I call "biomes". I've built two biomes with placeholder models I made myself, but I'm not a pro. I'm looking to invest in a concept artist that is excited about creating these kinds of environments! Your concepts would be handed off to a 3D modeler to build modular pieces, then I will bring those models into the game and use them to generate Seedbound's levels.

Screenshots & design reference

Seedbound's environments are stylized low-to-mid poly. They use chunky, smooth forms combined with some hard edges ( not the "every triangle visible" look). Characters and creatures are cel-shaded, and the world is softly lit from above, with hard cel-banded rings from environment lights like torches and magic.

An in-game screenshot of my placeholder dungeon. The paid pilot is a paintover of this scene.

My placeholder forest: you'd redesign it and add props.

What I'm looking for

You would design Seedbound's 8 biomes! Some example biomes are: a lush forest with rivers running through, a dark library with bookshelves lit by floating lights, or fields of wheat at golden hour. You would also design Seedbound's 2 towns, where the player can freely explore and visit residents in their homes.

This would be about 45-50 deliverables (up to a year of work), delivered biome by biome. Ideally that's about one biome's worth of work (3-5 deliverables) per month, so the 3D modeler always has designs to build from. The first town comes right after the two existing biomes, and the second, smaller town comes last. I'm happy to go faster if you have the capacity. The deliverables are:

• The two existing biomes (dungeon, forest): a paintover of an in-engine screenshot → a prop callout sheet → a decal sheet. The forest starts with a quick exploration sheet (tree thumbnails and ground swatches) before its paintover, and also gets a wall & floor sheet, since its trees are its walls.
• Six new biomes: a biome sheet (palette, signature elements, wall and floor direction, prop thumbnails, "unexplored-area" and sky treatment, a small mood thumbnail, and notes on what moves) → a wall & floor sheet and a prop callout sheet → a decal sheet.
• A fog exploration (once): a few fog treatments painted over a light and a dark screenshot. (Seedbound shows fog-of-war for areas the player can't see.)
• Two towns (the second one smaller): a key paintover of my grey-box layout from an eye-level view, a sheet per building type, town prop sheets (including furniture), a top-down dressing map the modeler will use to dress the town from, and a dressing map for each building the player can enter (each is a single room).
• Decal sheets: ~12-20 small accents (like cracks, puddles, moss, stains) on transparency that will go into the game as-is.

Technical details

Seedbound's levels are randomly generated on a 2 m tile grid. My level generator assembles them from reusable pieces (wall tiles, floor tiles, props, decals, etc), so for your biome designs, you'll be designing a collection of these reusable pieces.

So, this leads to the design constraints below. I explain this in detail in the style guide that I'll share for the pilot, so it is hopefully less scary than it sounds!

• Each biome's walls are built from a few pieces that fit together: a straight piece that repeats every 2 m, inside and outside corners, and so on. A "wall" can be anything: bricks, bookshelves, trees whose canopies connect, cliffs, etc.
• Seedbound's environments have no per-asset painted textures. Structure will be modeled, color will come from a palette you define, and small accents can be decals from your sheets. I do have some tricks that allow for simple patterns, so you can hold this lightly and paint the look you want.
• Props are the standalone objects my level generator places on the grid, like barrels, rocks, stumps, treasure chests, torches, a fallen log, and so on. Most fit on a single 2 × 2 m tile, and a few larger ones span multiple tiles. Each prop is either blocking (fills its tile and can't be walked through), walkable (like pebbles or a rug), wall-mounted (like a torch or banner), or a multi-tile prop (which blocks every tile it covers). Walls, floors, and decals aren't considered props, so they have their own sheets.

Seedbound's levels are mostly seen from a fixed high-angle camera (the "tactical camera"), with an occasional low, side-on close-up. So, for example, a tree should look good from a top-down angle and still hold up from the side. On the other hand, Seedbound's two "town" areas are seen from a more typical third-person camera and are not randomly generated, so these can be designed a bit more freely.

Style

Seedbound's overall mood is fantastical, nostalgic, wholesome, and quirky. I want people to feel good while playing it!

Style references: The games Tunic, Death's Door, and The Last Campfire have styles that I feel are good matches for the look I'm going for in this game's environments. I will send a more detailed style guide for reference with the paid pilot (see below).

What I'll provide

• In-engine screenshots from the game camera, and grey-box blockouts for anything that doesn't exist yet.
• A detailed style guide (the same one the modeler works from), plus a short brief per biome: theme, mood, and prop counts by category.
• Existing character and creature models, as references for scale and style.
• Fast feedback, usually within 24 hours on weekdays, plus regular batched reviews. We'll work mostly async over email or Discord, no regular scheduled meetings. We can have an optional kickoff call at the very start, if you'd like.

Terms

• Rates, flat per unit:

Unit	What it is	Range
Light sheet	Quick sketch work: forest exploration (4-6 tree thumbnails + ground swatches), or a fog exploration (3-4 treatments over two screenshots), or a top-down dressing map for the town or one interior	$100-175
Full sheet	A callout sheet (up to 8 props as clean flat-color sketches, with rough front/side views where needed), or a town prop sheet (the same, for town props and furniture), or a building sheet (one building's exterior, materials, and a rough interior sketch), or a biome sheet (a loose direction sheet)	$200-350
Wall & floor sheet	About 12-15 small views of a biome's wall pieces and floor (plus bridges and staircase dressing), and one small lit test-layout paintover	$250-450
Paintover	Rendered over an in-engine screenshot	$200-350
Key paintover (towns)	The same, over my grey-box town blockout from the town camera	$350-650
Decal sheet	12-20 final-art decals on transparency, at 256 px per meter (most 0.5-2 m across)	$250-450

Let me know your rates! I don't want to underpay, so if needed I can cut scope (like fewer biomes or buildings) to fit your rate and my budget. Whatever we agree on will apply flat to every unit of that type. We can confirm the full rate table after the pilot, once you've seen the complete style guide.

• Paid pilot: a paintover of the torch-lit dungeon (the first screenshot above) plus a flat-color (unlit, no lighting or shadows) mini sheet of 3 items for $650 flat (50% upfront, 50% upon completion):
  • one hedge wall for a garden-themed biome: a front view showing how it repeats every 2 m, then, from the game's tactical camera, a straight run, an inside and an outside corner, and the top of a thick hedge
  • one maple tree for the forest biome, from the tactical camera and from the side
  • one decal
• The pilot is paid at the top of the range to account for time spent onboarding, reading the style guide, and so on. If we are both happy with the pilot, we'll continue biome by biome. The paid pilot will likely start in late October.
• After the pilot, payment is per approved deliverable at our agreed rates. You can invoice me as each one is approved or batch them monthly, whichever you prefer. If for any reason you cancel partway through a biome or town, I'll pay for each completed deliverable. If I cancel partway through a biome or town, I'll pay for every completed deliverable and let you finish anything already in progress.
• Full IP assignment.
• 2 revision rounds per deliverable included. On a sheet, one round is one set of notes covering the whole sheet.
• Payment within 15 days of invoice, usually faster.
• Designs and other project details are confidential. I'll grant portfolio display rights when I publicly reveal each area or 18 months after delivery, whichever comes first. Before then, you can show the work privately to potential clients or employers, as long as it is behind a password-protected or private link.

AI policy

No AI-generated content please! This includes tracing over AI-generated images or related techniques. It is important to me to keep all art in my game 100% human-created. If you do use AI for any part of your working process, please describe how you use it in the application form.

As safeguards:

• For all final art, I will request the finished file format of your tool of choice (.psd, .procreate, or similar) in addition to the export .png.
• I might also occasionally request a work-in-progress file (both in your tool's native format and a .png export) for some pieces of art.

How to apply

Click the apply button and fill out the short form (should take about 5-10 minutes). I'll review applications as they come in, and will choose 2-3 pilot candidates by October 16th.

Note: Even if you already applied to the creature concept artist listing last month, feel free to apply to this one too if you think it's a good match!

Thanks for reading!