WHO WORKS HERE

People Staff Interview

• Creating drawings inspired by piano motifs as a child

  My earliest memory of drawing is when I was in nursery school. I used to fill pages with drawings of people's faces, but I would often get frustrated when I couldn't get the eyes to line up evenly. I was also surprised that the other kids would draw faces with just simple strips of hair or struggled to get the shapes of heads right. Looking back, I probably was a bit of a handful during that time.
  From elementary school to junior high school, I was busy with daily piano lessons and didn't have much time to draw, but I started illustrating the songs I was working on, which brought a nice change to my piano practice. I was especially fond of the piano piece The Midnight Fire Festival, which I combined with a drawing of the Tomisaki Fire Festival, a song from my hometown.

• Discovering 3D graphics through Monster Hunter 3rd and learning how to draw

  The first time I was properly exposed to video games was when I was in junior high school. I owned several consoles, including the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, but the one I fell in love with was Monster Hunter Portable 3rd. The game was, of course, fun, but what I remember most was a glitch that let players walk behind polygons and enter areas not meant to be accessible, which people called 'The Underworld.' Exploring this hidden space gave me a glimpse into how the world was constructed in 3D graphics.
  I wanted to join an art club ever since junior high, but neither my junior high nor my first high school had one. Eventually, I transferred to a new high school that did have an art program, which was really robust. It was there that I was finally able to study drawing seriously for the first time.

  

• Joining Polyphony Digital through an internship

  I enjoyed physics and mathematics at school, and I wanted to learn 3D computer graphics, so I searched for a technical university where I could study programming and 3D graphics, and I ended up enrolling at Fukuoka Institute of Technology Junior College. I remember feeling excited to receive a laptop and access to MAYA almost simultaneously when I started, and it gave me everything I needed to fully dive into learning 3D computer graphics.
  During my first summer there, I came across an opening for an internship and discovered that Polyphony Digital had an atelier in Fukuoka. At that time, I didn't have any 3D CG artwork that I could include in my portfolio, and the only works I could show were drawings and oil paintings from high school, but I had been drawing realistic pictures since high school and had a desire to create photorealistic 3DCG worlds someday, so I took the plunge and applied, and I was successful and took part in a three-week internship. In the winter after my internship ended, I started working part-time while continuing my studies at junior college. After graduating, I joined PDI full-time and have been working here ever since.

• Working on the Course Team

  Whether it's a real course or a fictional one, I'm often responsible for creating the objects and vegetation that appear around a course. Although the structure of regular objects and vegetation differs, I've always been interested in representing natural elements using 3D computer graphics, so I enjoy working on both.
  The thing I remember working on the most so far was the fan shop by the side of the Nürburgring Nordschleife course I created when I first joined the company part-time. Now, it would be an object I could complete in just a few weeks, but back then, I spent about three months on it with guidance from my senior colleagues, and so I still vividly remember a lot of what I was taught, like how to cut detailed edges. I am also aiming to become a TA (technical artist) in the future, so I am also studying programming in my spare time.

  

• Characteristics of Polyphony Digital

  I started through an internship and worked part-time before becoming full-time, but when I looked at my friends and seniors in the years above me at college, it seemed that not many companies hired people like I was hired by Polyphony Digital. I remember them being surprised when I was offered a full-time position after working part-time.
  I still occasionally get together with my friends and seniors from my school days, some of whom work for game companies like me, and when we chat about work, I can see that Polyphony Digital's way of performing detailed capture work is somewhat unique. Here, we don't just create 3D graphics by using materials stuck in front of our screen that somebody else has captured for us. Instead, we can express entirely new aspects by going to the locations ourselves, immersing in the atmosphere, observing the true colours and engaging with the local people. I think this is a unique characteristic of Polyphony Digital.

• People who should consider Polyphony Digital

  I think PDI is perfect for those who have a constant curiosity and desire to learn. Whenever I come across unfamiliar terms in game development or CG production, I feel comfortable asking my colleagues without hesitation. With new technologies evolving constantly, it's natural to be curious and ask questions like "What is this?" or "How does that work?" and I think the environment here is one where people with a strong desire for knowledge can learn and demonstrate their skills.

• CG Artist Job Description