Bringing captivating experiences to the world
I worked as the project leader on the real-time cutscenes featured in "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name" and "Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth". To achieve the realism of the "Like a Dragon" series, motion capture is an indispensable part of production. Actors are brought in, and then we digitalize their performance to create natural movements for our characters. My duties include serving as the motion capture director at the recording site, directing real-time cutscenes as a lighting artist, and performing quality checks and fixes to our data.
The motion capture set is mostly a wide, empty space, so we imagine the environments, lighting, and character's outfits as we film. As an assistant director, it's my job to ensure that the data we record portrays the character's emotions accurately. As a lighting artist, I give careful thought to the scene composition in order to bring out the best of our characters.
Putting our creative minds together to make impactful scenes
It's interesting to see how actors and directors interpret some scenes differently. Our production staff share their opinions and perspectives to create astonishing scenes that allow players to immerse themselves in the game's world. Real-time cutscenes are often the first way that people are exposed to a game after launch, so seeing the many likes and positive comments they get on social media is what motivates me.
I can't even begin to count the number of times that a game has had an emotional impact on me. That's why I'd like to polish my skills in video production, so that I can deliver similar experiences to as many people as possible through the games I make.
SEGA's progressive company culture is a fertile ground for innovation
I've always loved gaming, and when I first started in the industry, I gained experience making 3D animation at a film company. Eventually, I wanted to push my skills to the limit within the industry and applied to SEGA. Working as an animator helped me pick up a knack for lighting, and I joined SEGA because I wanted to grow more.
SEGA isn't afraid of taking risks, and you're surrounded by talented employees to take inspiration from. In fact, there is an unspoken expectation that we shouldn't become stagnant in our work. At times, this can weigh heavily on us, but it also compels us to create new things. The process of developing and releasing a game can take a few years. If we just keep working the same way, we can only build games that use dated technology. That's why our job demands for us to always think about the next step forward. Anyone looking to take on new challenges would find themselves at home at SEGA, and I'd love to see them working here.
10:30 AM Work day starts by checking my daily schedule.
11:00 AM Prepare the materials needed for our trailers and delegate tasks to my team.
12:30 PM Lunch break. I hit up the cafeteria or food truck, then check out the game while I eat.
1:30 PM Prepare materials for a meeting.
2:00 PM Meeting regarding our cutscenes. I take minutes on each subject.
4:00 PM Give instructions to my team, clarifying the details about the scene discussed in the meeting.
5:00 PM Continue design work. I check the mocap data and make adjustments as necessary.
7:30 PM Work ends.
STAFF INTERVIEWS
