Artist for Like a Dragon Employee Interview | SEGA Careers Site

EMPLOYEE INTERVIEWS

Artist

Designing cutscenes one movement and facial expression at a time

Joined in 2023

Artist K.O.

＼ Career Path ／

Graduated from vocational school and joined a game company.
Gained experience with motion production at 2 different companies over 7 years.

After joining SEGA, first took on cutscene production for Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

Promoted to section leader for Like A Dragon series battle cutscenes.

01STEP 1

02STEP 2

03STEP 3

Q1
Before Joining SEGA

I've been a gamer since I was a kid, and cutscenes were the best part. I loved them so much, I'd reload past saves just to rewatch them. While I was in college, I made up my mind that game development was my calling in life, so I transferred to vocational school. After graduating, I joined a game company where I worked on cutscenes and motion production. I moved to Tokyo in the midst of the COVID pandemic, so we were pretty much fully remote. In the two years I worked there, I went to the office maybe a dozen times. If I was to improve as a creator, I needed feedback rather than working quietly on my own. That meant it was time to change jobs.

Q2
Why I Joined SEGA

I was a huge Like a Dragon fan. I still remember the impact it had on me the first time I played it at a friend's house. I just had to play a part in making those games, and the thought of working in an environment full of industry veterans who had already achieved what I was aiming for excited me like nothing else.

Q3
My First Assignments at SEGA

I was assigned to RGG Studios and immediately tasked with creating battle cutscenes for Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Since making cutscenes had been my dream, I was stoked to get my wish right after joining. My creation process had a lot of trial-and-error, so I was definitely nervous when my boss checked them for me, but they said I'd done a good job, and that gave me a confident boost.

Q4
Biggest Surprise After Joining SEGA

Based on my impressions from the Like a Dragon games, I was sure a whole bunch of scary people worked here, haha. I was bracing myself for a macho place with a top-down structure, but it was actually nothing like that at all. Everyone has a real love for the games we make, and they're constantly thinking about how to make them as fun as possible for the players. People here can be stoic, but they're friendly, not scary. It's a strong group where everyone is self-driven, always thinking about what they need to do next.

Using the Dragon of Dojima style, Like a Dragon protagonist Kiryu executes a powerful Dragon Finisher

Q5
Current Duties

Right now, I spend most of my time making battle cutscenes for the Like a Dragon series, and also work on progress management and motion capture direction. I know most players aren't like me—they'll watch a cutscene once, not a hundred times. So it's important to make it easy to understand what happened in that first viewing. And to make battles more fun for the player, I do my best to include some nifty camerawork so my scenes look cool.

Q6
Motivation and Successes

The key thing when creating movements is to make sure characters' expressions change as well, not just their bodies. I realized how difficult character expressions are when I first joined RGG Studio. Expressions are key if you want to create drama. Plus, some characters have been in the series for a long time and have distinctive facial expressions, so the challenge is how to preserve those traits while simultaneously surpassing what we've done before. I get to challenge myself as a motion designer in areas I haven't really touched before—facial expressions when angry or getting punched, muscle movements, things like that.

Q7
Future Goals

I want RGG Studios to become the studio that creates the most entertaining games in the world. You know how sometimes, when they play trailers at game shows overseas, the crowd goes wild when they see the logo at the start? I want the RGG Studio logo to get that reaction. On a personal level, I'd like to start creating cinematic scenes as well as battle scenes, and increase the range of my capabilities. I'm currently a section leader, and over time I'd like to learn how to coordinate an entire team.

Q8
SEGA's Appeal

There's just so much accumulated expertise here, including Like a Dragon veterans who have been with the series since it launched. Even so, they're always open to new opinions and requests, trying to make the games better. What I find appealing about SEGA is how game designers, artists, and programmers aren't siloed—everyone is in close communication, working together to make our games even more fun.

Q9
Message to Applicants

When you're a college student, that's your chance to create whatever you want. When you have a job, you create what you're asked to, and you can test out your capabilities as a professional. Developing a game isn't easy, and if you don't enjoy it, you'll get stuck on the tough parts. I hope to work with people who are doing what they love, whatever that may be.

Q10
A Recent Highlight

I love movies, everything from the latest titles to old films. I like to visit out-of-the-way retro cinemas and just watch whatever they happen to be showing. Recently I went to one in Odate, in Akita prefecture. I also enjoy watching the same movie over and over. There are movies that I've seen more than a hundred times.