Chase Shields
I’m a Lead Technical Artist focused on Unity tools, modeling/content pipelines, tech anim, shaders/FX, lighting and performance in VR — the systems that help art and design ship cleanly and stay maintainable.
At Mighty Coconut I lead tech art on Walkabout Mini Golf (Unity), working across departments to ship content for live services on most all VR platforms. Using my leadership skills: I helped improve our production pipeline in a way that cut recurring crunch and made the team’s content cadence more sustainable.
A big part of that was Unity AI pipelines: using AI inside the production flow so artists could move faster without the pipeline becoming the bottleneck.
Before tech art I spent years as a character animator at studios including IllFonic, Rooster Teeth Games, Retro Studios, Twisted Pixel, Reel FX, and Blur. That animation background still shapes how I think about tooling: clarity for artists, performance on device, and fewer broken handoffs.
Open to Lead/Senior Tech Artist or Senior Unity Developer roles — Austin TX or remote.
Feel free to contact me!
Email: chaseshields@me.com
Resume
Experience
Mighty Coconut - Lead Technical Artist - Shipped Walkabout Mini Golf (VR): Unity editor tools, content pipeline, shaders, and art/engineering support for a live product. - Jul 2022 to Present
SUPERWISE (Formerly BOSS AI)- Senior Unity Developer - C#, JS, React, WebGL, UWP; lighting/rendering/perf; automated build pipeline with CI/CD. - Feb 2021 to Jul 2022
IllFonic - Senior Animator - Predator Hunting Grounds (PS4/PC) & Arcadegeddon (PS4/PC) - Nov 2019 to Feb 2021
Rooster Teeth Games - Senior Animator - Vicious Circle (PC) - June 2018 to Oct 2019
Retro Studios - Animator - Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze (Switch) & Game Development for Nintendo - April 2017 to June 2018
Twisted Pixel - Animator - Wilson's Heart VR for Oculus Rift - Jan 2017 to April 2017
Mighty Coconut - Senior Animator - "Kings of Atlantis" Youtube Red Series - July 2016 to Jan 2017
Psyop - Animator - Various Commercial Projects - June 2016
Reel FX - Animator - Rock Dog, Untitled App, Ice Age 5 Commercials, TMNT2 Marketing, WISH Police, S.C.O.O.B. - Dec 2014 to May 2016
Mega5 Studios - Animator - Lindsey Stirling "We Are Giants" music video - Aug 2015
House of Moves - Animator - Mortal Kombat X - Sept 2014 to Nov 2014
Blur Studio - Animator - Halo 2 Cinematics & Assassin's Creed Unity TV Spot - May 2014 to Aug 2014
Binary Digital - Animator - Online Games for Disney's Frozen Marketing - Aug 2013 to Nov 2013
Freelance - Graphic & Web Designer - Jan 2011 to Aug 2013
Education
AnimSquad - Mentors: Nathan Engelhardt (Disney) & Malcon Pierce (Disney) - May 2013 to Apr 2014
iAnimate - Mentor: Mike Safianoff (Dreamworks) - Jan 2013 to Apr 2013
Animation Collaborative - Mentor: Michael Makarewicz (Pixar) - Aug 2012
Animation Mentor - Jan 2011 to May 2012
Mentors: Jon Collins (Pixar), Kevin O'Hara (Pixar), Pete Paquette (Blue Sky), Ray Chase (Reel FX), Brent Homman (Disney), Greg Whitaker (Dreamworks)
Honors
Eagle Scout Award - 2007
Douglas Trumbull Scholarship - 2011
49 Hour Film Competition 2nd Place
Software
Featured
Unity · C# · Shader Graph / HLSL · Editor tooling · Content pipeline · Blender · Maya · Git / Plastic SCM
Also used
JS / React / WebGL · UWP · CI/CD · 3ds Max · Motion Builder