A Story of Young Creators Behind a Legendary IP – FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS – Creator Roundtable
FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS—planned, produced, and operated by Square Enix and developed by Applibot—just hit its one-year anniversary in September 2024. To mark the occasion, we sat down with three of our creators, all in their second year with the company, who have been involved in this massive title. They look back on their past year.
Contents
The Dedicated Efforts of Young Creators
Making Great Games Has Nothing to Do with Seniority: The Fun of Working at CyberAgent
Profile
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Yasutaka Kiyota UI Designer
He graduated from the Graduate School of System Design, Industrial Art Area at Tokyo Metropolitan University and joined Applibot in 2023. He was involved in spatial design and interactive art during his student years. Aspiring to work in the entertainment industry. -
Yuya Sugimoto Lead Environment Artist
He graduated from Nippon Institute of Technology and joined Applibot in 2023. His study covers a wide range of subjects, including programming and video editing. He began creating CG as a hobby during the pandemic and won an award at "CG Grand Prix '3D Cross' powered by CyberAgent." -
Minako Yamaguchi Illustrator
She graduated from the Department of Design at Tokyo University of the Arts and joined Applibot in 2023. She studied a wide range of design fields, including product design, video production, and UX design.
The Dedicated Efforts of Young Creators
─ Please tell us about your roles and job responsibilities.
Kiyota: I'm a UI Designer, so I mainly handle the design and direction for new features, as well as creating graphics. I worked on the information design for major updates like the "Highwind" and "Guild" features.
Yamaguchi: I'm an Illustrator, so I design costumes and weapons and handle the layout for character poses and expressions. More recently, I've also been taking on art director responsibilities, giving feedback and direction.
Sugimoto: I'm a Lead Environment Artist, which means I'm in charge of things like battle backgrounds, dungeon and story environments, and event backdrops. I've also recently become a team lead, so I direct team members and coordinate with our partner companies.
─ Looking back, how would you describe the past year?
Sugimoto: It was a year of continuous challenges. From the moment I was assigned, I was given many opportunities to take on tasks that stretched my abilities. I am now in a position where I am entrusted with all aspects of background-related work, and frankly, I'm still trying to process it all (laughs).
Yamaguchi: I feel the same way. The costume and weapon designs our illustration team works on are a huge point of interest for players, so the pressure was always on. Through that experience, I feel I have gradually become able to create work that resonates with and is recognized by our users.
Kiyota: It was a year of struggle for me, too. I really felt my lack of experience as a UI designer, and because I hadn't played a lot of games, I had a hard time figuring out how to create designs that felt good to use. But being able to release a major update was an incredibly valuable experience.
─ You have been involved in a major project from your first year. What is the support system like?
Kiyota: We have an environment where supervisors and team members provide thorough support. My supervisor often encourages me to "try things freely," which allows me to take on challenges without feeling too much pressure.
Yamaguchi: Definitely. There’s a real "let's make something great as a team" mentality. Everyone treats the problems like they’re their own and thinks through them with you. The feedback is always specific, so I'm constantly learning.
─ How did you feel when you were assigned to FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS?
Yamaguchi: I was thrilled. A mobile game for a title with a huge global fanbase, and with such high-quality three-dimensional models? It was inspiring.
Sugimoto: I felt a lot of pressure, but also a sense of resolve. I had been blown away by the quality of the graphics in FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE, and I knew we had to match that level. But at the same time, the joy of being able to work on such a legendary IP was immense.
─ Is there any work from this past year that has been particularly memorable?
Sugimoto: For me, it was being involved in background creation from the upstream layout stage. Typically, for backgrounds where users navigate, a planner creates the layout, and the background modeler builds upon that. By participating from the initial stage, I was able to propose path structures and height variations that better matched the world, thereby enhancing the game experience.
It was the job that taught me not only to focus on my specific task, but also to commit to the entire game-making process as a creator. It was my turning point.
Yamaguchi: I was responsible for the two-dimensional illustration for social media commemorating the first anniversary. It was a first for the project, but I conceived everything from scratch—the composition, the art style—and proceeded by creating and proposing rough sketches.
I struggled with how to express the unique appeal of two-dimensional art and the novelty of this work as the latest entry in the FINAL FANTASY VII series. The pressure of handling it alone was significant, but I persevered through trial and error, with advice from team members and the partners.
After we released it, the reaction on social media was fantastic. The fact that I was entrusted with such a key promotional piece, even as a junior creator, really stuck with me and felt incredibly rewarding.
Kiyota: My most memorable experience was being the main designer for the development of the Guild feature (*). This was the largest update since the game's release, and to provide new value to our users, we needed to demonstrate that it was a completely different type of content, both visually and functionally. *Guild: Content where multiple users team up to defeat enemies.
I particularly struggled with designing the world and concept for the Guilds. Being in my first year, I didn't even know the dependencies of decision-making, which caused delays and anxiety. But I remember my supervisor told me, "It's your first time on a task like this, it's okay not knowing," and I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.
After the release, the feature was well-received, but what pleased me most was that we were able to create a new form of user-to-user communication that didn't exist in FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS before. Being involved in the design of such a large-scale update was an invaluable experience for me.
─ What do you focus on during the creation process?
Yamaguchi: I focus on deeply understanding the world of FINAL FANTASY VII and then translating that into the design. I consult with the partners, and I think it's crucial to find the right balance—reflecting the rugged coolness of the original in the costumes and weapons while also incorporating modern trends.
Kiyota: My goal is obviously to create a comfortable UI, but it’s also to find the best solution by discussing it with all the different teams. It's almost impossible to make a UI that's a perfect 100 for everyone, so I make decisions by weighing the pros and cons. I also strive to manage the project smoothly while ensuring that responsibilities are clearly defined for everyone.
Sugimoto: Backgrounds take up most of the screen and are key to immersing the player in the world, so I'm always thinking of ways to use them to help players enjoy the game more. My approach is to create a color palette and atmosphere that conveys the world at first glance, but also to build in details that tell the background's story when you look more closely.
Making Great Games Has Nothing to Do with Seniority: The Fun of Working at CyberAgent
─ What do you find appealing about working at CyberAgent?
Kiyota: I find our culture of supporting junior members to be very distinctive. It's an environment where if you raise your hand and express a desire to do something, you are entrusted with important work regardless of your seniority.
Sugimoto: Yes, there's an atmosphere where good ideas are accepted regardless of one's years of experience. It's an environment where team members support each other, and the company is also heavily invested in the development of new graduates, providing extensive support.
Yamaguchi: There are many self-motivated people here. Being surrounded by their hard work inspires me to maintain a high level of motivation. It is also a great advantage to be in an environment that supports you, as long as you have a clear intention.
─ What are your ambitions for the future?
Sugimoto: While fulfilling my responsibilities as the background team leader, I will continue to improve my own skills to provide more precise and prompt direction. I want to leverage the experience I gained in my first year to contribute to the improvement of the entire team's productivity and quality.
Kiyota: Although my role in direction has increased, I still feel I have room to grow. I will continue my self-improvement efforts to expand the game's appeal and quality. I particularly want to broaden my perspective to make proposals that enhance the overall game experience from a UI/UX standpoint. As a junior member, I aim to proactively incorporate new viewpoints and ideas.
Yamaguchi: I aim to continue growing by maintaining a quality and quantity of daily input, to be confident for my judgment and sense of responsibility. My goal is to create artwork that can truly move our players by deeply understanding the world of FINAL FANTASY VII while also challenging myself to try new forms of expression.
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