My name is Luke Hauer and I am a 3D character animator for games based out of San Diego.

I’m currently available for full-time freelance work.

Stylized Action

Few things make a player remember a character more than having a way of moving that’s unique to them. I’ve spent hundreds of hours working to create characters that have a stylized method of running, jumping, attacking, etc. all to enhance both character expression and player immersion.

Combat Design

Animations for fighting games play a central role in balance from establishing attack range, active frames, startup, recovery and the list goes on. I’ve spent years playing fighting games and working with top players to understand more of what makes a character’s kit balanced and how each attribute of what I animate translates to qualities as a tool in the hands of the player.

Pre-Dev/Pre-Vis

I am experienced in developing Pre Vis for ideas & concepts so that the development team can get a better idea of what a gameplay element may look & feel like before devoting further resources to it. I leverage my experience with pre vis to add rough VFX elements to my animations to provide the talented folks in VFX something of a guideline should they choose to follow my vision for it.

Animation Systems & Version Control

I’ve worked on projects with animation systems in Unity, Unreal, Godot and custom engines as well as projects without those systems. For version control I am proficient with Perforce, Plastic, Git & Diversion.

Rapid Prototyping

I operate on the principle that “gameplay is king” and we often need to develop concepts into assets that can be quickly tested & iterated on from gameplay feedback. I am well versed in identifying & developing the animation sets needed to have lean, testable versions of gameplay loops in the shortest time possible.

After graduating Cal Poly SLO with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, I took some of the animations I had made while serving as the lead animator on Project+ and applied to work at Vortex Games. There I started as a gameplay animator until I eventually became the lead animator on Rushdown Revolt and co-head of the Art Department.

Today, I do freelancing for a variety of clients and am looking to make the move to a more permanent full-time position so I can learn and grow as an animator.