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[exoduster]

OK, it's a biased opinion, because I conducted it, but I really like how this interview turned out. It's some of the most candid stuff I've ever heard about the japanese game industry, pretty interesting.

link

excerpt:

TS: At first, the work they gave me was much more basic, like making letters for subtitles, or UI for presentations, and scheduling, and sorting files. That sort of job. It was hard. And there were artists that were older than me, but didn't have any knowledge of 3D. But in Japanese society, older people get more respect within the company. So I had to teach them, while doing this work. So basically, I was doing demos and presentations in 3D, and not getting credit. I thought that was unfair, but I was paying my dues.

So I decided to compose my own four-second piece of a movie, and then presented it. I kind of stepped over my boss, and showed the higher-ups, saying “This is what I can do. Let me do some real 3D work, otherwise I won’t teach anyone else.” So that’s how I started gradually getting 3D work, like rigging, lighting and atmosphere, character design, and other things on the visual pipeline. More than 8 months later, we had a chance to show our movies, and in-game stuff at E3. And at that point, I got applause.

People liked the content and visuals. But I still wasn’t in charge of cinematics, or characters or anything. Well – even though I was actually “in charge” of it, my title still didn’t reflect that. And my boss wanted to find somebody above me to give me direction, because in Japanese companies, they don’t want to credit someone like me, who’s the youngest in the team. He wanted to give me a CGI and visual supervisor. But that was kind of strange because I had all of the pipeline, and 30 or 40 percent of all movie sequences done. Why should I have a supervisor for that? So I said “I don’t need anybody above me,” and a fight started, during which my boss said “Fine then – can you finish everything on your own?” And I had to say “Ok I will!” That’s why I had to do everything.

GS: So you didn’t have any assistance at all?

TS: No. Not many people believe that I did it myself – and it wasn’t like I wanted to make it all from scratch! I just had to do it in order to get credit. Plus, you don’t want to be credited in your game as assistant artist if you did everything. So it wasn’t easy. I didn’t go home for three years, almost. I lived there. I slept under the desk, and that midnight time I talked about, after everyone went home, was a real chance for me to work, because I had access to all of the computers in the office. We had over 150 computers or something like that, and at the time we were using the Unix operating system. So after everyone’s gone home, I can operate all of these computers to render my stuff. Yeah…I couldn’t go home.

 

[Andvary]

Great interview thanks exoduster.

It's a shame he isn't working on a Silent Hill game anymore.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

what impressed me about Sato was that he did the character CG for SH1 and 2 simply from observing American's movements (which he said in an old interview). I know in-game SH2 stuff was done with mo-cap, but the CG (from what I remember) was all by hand and without mo-cap.

I miss Sato, but the character designs/modeling for SH3 and 4 were excellent without him, to be honest.
I'd love to see him come back for a future SH, though.

 

[jett]

This guy is insane...a true role model for people that like to make it on their own.

 

[Bebpo]

Wow, great interview. Really interesting info on the inner workings of the industry.

 

[Operations]

Great interview. Thanks.

 

[jett]

Oh yeah, awesome interview. One of the best I've read recently.

 

[blindrocket]

That was an excellent interview, thanks a lot.

 

[Shompola]

Sounds awfully a lot like that japanese programmer/designer who got into a fight with his boss for the same reasons as the ones in this interview thing. He had exactly the same problems there.. even though he created a game for them they ignored him.. think it was a shmup in the 80s.

 

[Ironclad]

Brilliant interview. It's really interesting to see how the Japanese business system works. Especially the lifetime employee ideals. Definitely sounds like it's really hard to move on if something happens with the company, but the Western business system is diffiuclt in the sense that you need to stay on top of your game or the company will move on without you. I agree with what he says about next-gen as well.

 

[genjiZERO]

wow freaking great interview, very thoughtful and interesting. I have to make one comment though; I don't like the way Japanese developers are continually gearing their games for the Western audience. The thing that drew me most to videogames when I was younger was that they were a little piece of Japanese culture. This has been largely lost, especially in this generation, and is one of the reasons I haven't really enjoyed the generation.

 

[exoduster]

I don't like the way Japanese developers are continually gearing their games for the Western audience. The thing that drew me most to videogames when I was younger was that they were a little piece of Japanese culture.

I think this is still happening - the difference is they're just not getting brought to the US. And it's natural for Japan to start gearing towards the west...the market is not expanding there the way it is here, for better or for worse.

I do feel like Sato would do well to have his own studio, because Silent Hill 2 really was quite good, for what it was trying to do. But I think it'd take a lot for that to happen.

[edit]
oh, and check out his website.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

his stuff for Goldeneye:Rouge Agent is really good.

Looks like he based this guy off Gary Oldman:
http://www.satoworks.com/GEImage/pictures/Environment/page_thumb67.html

 

[Andrew2]

I haven't played Rouge Agent, but this some of the best CG modelling I've seen..

 

[Sagitario]

Good interview.

GS: As an artist, are high-level 3D graphics really important to a game in your opinion? Will the next generation have a big advantage over the current generation, because of graphics?

TS: This is something I don’t agree with. Having a greater spec is nice, and it looks good, but I don’t want to say that “oh, we finally got the tools to do what we want.” I want to make a game that’s fun, like a Miyamoto type game. A game is a game, it’s about balance, and mood…that kind of thing is important. But high-res, or PS3 – that doesn’t appeal to me much. Sure we can get super-real or high-res visuals, but at the same time it costs a lot. That means you need a lot of people. That means it’s really hard to have integrated and polished mood for a game.

It’s really hard. It also requires a lot of people, and a lot of technology, and it’s going to be hard to keep control of that. We need to consider that it’s a game. Of course it’s a type of an art form, but we have to find a balance. Of course some people are enthusiastic about high-res and really detailed graphics, but that’s not the core of what we should be doing.

Wow! Nintendo should hire this guy, that's the Nintendo philosophy for next-gen... maybe he could work on a new horror franchise for Revolution now that RE5 wont hit the system (as of now, I'm not saying it never will)... because well.. no Resident Evil, no Sillent Hill, no Fatal Frame, no Clock Tower (or even Dino Crisis)...

 

[ourumov]

Pretty cool stuff. I always loved SH CGs and thought they were awesome. Not only from a technical point but from an artistical point too.

 

[exoduster]

yeah, I always thought they had a very cinematic quality, so it surprises me that he has neither a background nor particular interest in film!