Spine 2D Tech Animator for Avatar System

# Spine 2D Technical Animator / Rigger – Modular 8-Direction Avatar System I’m looking for an experienced **Spine 2D technical animator/rigger** to build the foundation for a modular avatar system for a browser-based multiplayer game. This is NOT primarily an illustration or simple animation job. The main challenge is creating a **scalable reusable character rig** that can eventually support 150+ interchangeable customization items while reusing the same animations. ## Core Goal Players must freely combine individual parts: * Hair * Face details * T-shirts * Shirts * Sweaters * Hoodies * Jackets * Pants * Shorts * Shoes * Hats * Glasses * Accessories * Handheld items Example: Hair A + Hoodie C + Pants F + Shoes B + Glasses D must work on the same character and animation system as: Hair F + T-shirt A + Pants B + Shoes H + Hat C. I cannot create a separate complete spritesheet for every possible outfit combination. ## Directions The character visually supports **8 directions**: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW. I understand one rig/drawing may not cover every direction. I am open to the technically correct solution, such as: * 5 source directions + 3 mirrored directions * separate directional rigs * separate directional artwork/meshes * another scalable Spine architecture Mirroring should be used where possible, but the system must account for asymmetric hair, logos, accessories, watches, handheld objects, etc. ## Animations Animations are intentionally SIMPLE. Required production animations: * Idle * Walk * Sit * Wave * Talk * Hold/use item **Talk** does not require realistic lip-sync. A subtle looping mouth/head/body movement while the player is chatting is enough. **Hold/use** should be a reusable pose where the character can hold something such as a phone, cup or package. Ideally the object is a swappable attachment. There is NO combat, jumping, running, complex physics or highly dynamic movement. I am willing to keep animations simple if this makes the wardrobe significantly more scalable. ## Critical Clothing Requirement I understand that every clothing item will probably need artwork for each required direction. That is acceptable. For example, a hoodie may need: Hoodie_N Hoodie_NE Hoodie_E Hoodie_SE Hoodie_S with other directions mirrored where appropriate. What I need to avoid is manually drawing: Hoodie_walk_frame_01 Hoodie_walk_frame_02 Hoodie_walk_frame_03 Hoodie_wave_frame_01 Hoodie_wave_frame_02 etc. for every clothing item. The ideal workflow is: **Create clothing for each required direction → rig/deform it in Spine → reuse existing idle/walk/sit/wave/talk/hold animations → manually correct only problematic poses if necessary.** This is the most important technical question in the project. ## Different Clothing Shapes The wardrobe will NOT only contain identical shirts with different textures. It should support different silhouettes such as: * fitted T-shirt * oversized T-shirt * sweater * oversized hoodie * jacket * potentially longer coat * fitted pants * straight/wide pants * shorts * sneakers * boots I understand extreme silhouettes may require additional manual work. The goal is to minimize it. ## Layering Correct direction-dependent Z-order is important. The system needs to handle things such as: * hair behind/in front of head * arms behind/in front of torso * jacket over shirt * shirt/jacket overlapping pants * shoes and legs * hats/glasses * handheld items * accessories ## Runtime Customization This is a **browser game**. At runtime the game should dynamically construct an avatar from selected components: Base Body * Face * Hair * Top * Jacket if applicable * Pants * Shoes * Head accessory * Other accessories * Handheld item Changing one component should not require rebuilding the others. Multiple customized characters may be visible simultaneously, so the architecture should also be reasonable for real-time web rendering. Experience with **spine-ts, WebGL, Canvas, PixiJS, Phaser or similar web runtimes** is valuable. ## Initial Paid Prototype I do NOT need the entire wardrobe initially. The first milestone should prove that the architecture works. Prototype: **1 base character system** Enough directional rigs/views to demonstrate the 8-direction approach. Interchangeable assets: * 2 hairstyles * 2 tops, preferably a T-shirt + hoodie/sweater with different silhouettes * 2 pants * 2 pairs of shoes These must be independently swappable. For example: Hair A + Hoodie + Pants B + Shoes A and Hair B + T-shirt + Pants A + Shoes B must work without separate complete animation sets. Prototype animations should at minimum demonstrate: * Idle * Walk If useful for proving the system, Wave/Hold can also be included. If the prototype succeeds, the production system will expand to Sit, Wave, Talk and Hold/use. ## Deliverables I need the **editable production system**, not just GIFs or flattened spritesheets. Please provide: * Spine project file(s) * Skeleton/bone structure * Slots * Skins * Attachments * Meshes/weights where applicable * Source artwork/layers * Example modular clothing * Animations * Runtime exports / atlas setup where applicable I also need a short explanation of the workflow for adding future assets. Most importantly, after delivery I should know: **“I designed a new hoodie. What exactly do I need to create and do to make it work with this existing character?”** The same should be understandable for hair, pants, shoes and accessories. ## Please Answer These Questions Please answer these directly in your proposal: 1. Have you built modular Spine characters with runtime-swappable clothing/skins before? 2. Have you worked with isometric or multi-directional characters? 3. How would you structure the 8 directions? 4. If clothing artwork exists for each required direction, can a good Spine rig reuse it across simple idle/walk/sit/wave/talk/hold animations, or will significant frame-by-frame redrawing still be required? 5. How would you structure hair, tops, jackets, pants,