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Art for Indie Studios

Look into the support and services we offer for indie studios including publisher network, pitch deck support and of course, damn good art services.

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GGA is a curated resource hub created by MLC Studio with over $10,000 of deals and discounts. Access resources, tools, guides and more curated content.

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Explore the art scope and rough budget ranges behind your game using real-world estimates from experience with over 500 games.

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Building games is hard; don’t build alone. Closely partner with MLC to build, fund and release your game.

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3D Gameplay Animation

Expressive animation that strengthens gameplay and keeps players playing

Unity/Unreal

Characterful animations that players love

Great game animations do more than just move – they radiate personality and create an effortless game feel for players through flawless timing. Game feel is the difference, and we help you nail it.

Realism and stylised animation styles

We create realistic and stylised character animation that serves your gameplay – responsive player control, readable enemy actions, and high-impact moments that keep players immersed.

Talk, test, tune, ship - together

Unlike asset packs, we collaborate. You lead – we bring clear, practical guidance so animations read fast, hit hard and feel smooth, built for your mechanics and ready for a cleaner release.

We’ve shipped projects to all platforms

Animations that players love

3D Gameplay Animation Projects

Here’s what our animation looks like in the wild, expressive and built for gameplay. We’ve helped hundreds of studios land publishers, chart on Steam and grow their player base.

Play Video

1000+ animation assets delivered

300k Wishlists

Ongoing partnership

Under A Rock

Nordic Trolls came to MLC Studio needing expressive, creative creature animation. We created full animation sets for each creature, with supporting player animations to enhance gameplay feel and delight both new and existing players – contributing to nearly 300k Steam wishlists and counting.

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Highly Expressive characters

Shared Character Rig

Fast Turnaround

Subway Surfers Blast

Outplay required expressive, stylised animations bursting with character for Subway Surfers Blast, part of the globally loved Subway Surfers franchise. Using a shared character rig, we delivered fast-turnaround animations full of energy, personality and charm, perfectly tuned to the franchise’s iconic tone.

3D Gameplay Animation Process

We keep things clear and collaborative. Here’s how we break down the animation workflow – so you know exactly what’s happening and when.

Blocking

Experiment and collaborate on the vibe.

Inbetweens

Smooth it out and explore the flow.

Spline

Add character movements and personality.

Polish

Bring everything together with overlap, secondary action, facial animation, final polish.

Get more done for less

Did you know we also create the art and polish that turn animations into immersive gameplay?

Our 3D art and VFX give your animations the polish players love and the performance publishers expect - keeping your game visually cohesive and commercially compelling.

Explosion of a helicopter crashing onto a green field with debris flying through the air.

Technical Art & VFX

Gamer character dressed in a fantasy battle outfit including a wolf mask, camouflage clothing, and armor, set against a dark background.

3D Game Art

We’ve helped to build and ship 30+ successful games

Now it’s your chance to get on those game charts.

It's more than game art. It's art that sells games.

If you need to win over publishers or players, the approach is the same. MLC Studio has the expertise, industry connections and team to help your game become a commercial success.

Right the first time

Industry Contacts

Games players love

More of what your game needs

3D Game Environment Art

Games Concept Art and Art Direction

Worldbuilding

Character Design

Environment Concepts

Building and Prop Design

FAQs

Primarily we are a hand-key animation studio. If you need motion captured animations we work with partners to capture the content and we clean it in house ourselves.

Absolutely. Whether you want grounded, momentum-based movement or bold squash-and-stretch, we’ll reference-hunt, run style tests and iterate with you to match timing, silhouettes and impact. If you’re undecided, we’ll guide you through options and craft a style that reads clearly and fits your world.

Animation is collaborative by nature, and our pipeline reflects that. You’ll get visibility from the blocking stage through to spline and final polish. You can even test early versions in-game to make sure the feel is right. Once we hit the spline stage, we expect feedback to be locked, but if something’s not sitting right, just talk to us. We’re flexible and will find a way to make it work.

We animate in both Maya and Blender, with Maya as our main tool. Our animators are fluent in both, so whichever your pipeline uses, we can slot in seamlessly. We can also animate directly in-engine, making integration faster and keeping your workflow friction-free.

Game ready animation refers to individually delivered assets which are tested, polished and ready to integrate into your game! While “Game ready” refers the assets this should not be the FINAL stage of these assets. Begin utilizing additive animation, physics, procedural animations to really push the assets to the next level. We can help with that.

Yes – whether you need frame-perfect combos for a fighting game or cinematic takedowns with custom cameras, we’ve got you covered. We can work within tight gameplay constraints or go full flair for scripted moments.

Our rigging artists are ready to create any rig you could possibly need in your software of choice. AAA quality humanoid characters, a 4 legged mech, a strange body horror creature. Nothing is too complex. Thinking about keeping everything in Unreal Engine? Let us also make your control rigs ready to animate direct in engine.

While gameplay is our core focus, we’ve got cinematic animators who can jump in to help you land big emotional moments or dramatic reveals. Just let us know what you’re planning, and we’ll shape the support to fit.

Back view of a cartoon-style yellow cat character with a backpack walking through a vibrant green forest with purple trees.

Gameplay Animation Tips: How to Make Actions Feel Responsive

September 26, 2025

Mocap-studio-premium-character-creation.

The Importance of Good 3D Character Rigging in Games

January 19, 2024

Victory game character holding smartphone with match-three puzzle display in a colourful outdoor park scene.

The Character Animation Process Behind Subway Surfers Blast

May 10, 2023

Glowing cats dancing on stage with spotlights and purple background, animated style, playful and whimsical, digital illustration.

Benefits of using Motion Capture in game development

February 3, 2022

Trusted by 300+ games and studios

100+ 5-Star Reviews

Our methodology works

because we care

100+ reviews

Extremely pleased with the result

MLC helped up the quality of animations for our upcoming game. I was extremely pleased with the results and have already added budget to work with them on our next project.

Cory Heald

Studio Director @ Underbite Games

Animation Excels in the Industry

MLC’s competence in all areas of animation excels in the industry. We’ve had an amazing experience working with the team – their creative ideas shone through in our project, while communication was always clear, fun, and concise. We would highly recommend MLC to any professionals seeking high-quality results for their game or animation needs – it has been a pleasure, and we will continue to work with them in the future!