[Indie Gallery] Series) Collection of Game Directors from Art Backgrounds.ART

Who do you think of when you hear 'game director'...? Hideo Kojima? Todd Howard? Kim Taek-jin?

But surely they all started as lowly programmers or entry-level planners... But everyone must have wondered this at least once:

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"Wait, aren't all game directors from programming or planning backgrounds?" Planners are in the business of planning, so it makes sense they become directors after gaining rank... Even programmers become directors sometimes... But are there no cases where people from art backgrounds, like painters, modelers, or animators, become directors? Why is the 'ultimate output' for art always just 'Art Director'...? Art is all about creativity, so wouldn't it lead to better results if they directed the entire game? To give you the answer straight: there *are* directors from art backgrounds! (By "director" here, I mean one whose authority isn't limited to just art, excluding "Art Directors.")

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<Keita Takahashi / Designer> Rep. work: Katamari Damacy. Keita Takahashi was a sculptor who joined Namco as a designer. Namco thought Katamari was just an experimental project, but it became a huge hit...! 'We Love Katamari' was recently released, so give it a play! (Maybe they let a designer take the lead because it was an experimental project?)

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<Nakopapa / Concept Art> Rep. work: Paperman. Known for the 'Potato Village District 8' series. Currently making Uma Musume MMDs. (Seems having an aesthetic sense makes it easier to handle animation or modeling.)

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<Forte Escape (Lee Chul-hee) / Designer> Rep. work: DJMAX Trilogy. Started as a designer but did almost everything except programming, including composing, design, and planning. Truly an extraordinary figure in some ways... Currently retired and running a restaurant.

<Fumito Ueda / Designer> Rep. work: Shadow of the Colossus. Graduated from Osaka University of Arts, served as AD, and then moved up to Director.

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<Conrad Roset / Artist> Rep. work: GRIS. To be precise, he's an artist who made it with Far Cry developers, so it's a bit ambiguous to call him 'the' director, but the game is so art-heavy and it's indie, so I included it. Plus, he says he directed it...

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<Chad Moldenhauer / Graphic Designer> Rep. work: Cuphead. One of the brothers behind this indie hit (Chad / Jared). It's funny that both the characters and the developers are brothers. Chad is from a graphic design background, but Jared worked in his father's construction business, so I left him out.

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<Hyung-tae Kim / Concept Art> Rep. works: Destiny Child, Nikke, Stellar Blade. A concept artist with a lot of debate surrounding his art(?). He was the AD during Blade & Soul, but after founding Shift Up, he became the Director and CEO.

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<Kim Jae-hwan, Yoon Yong-gi / VFX CG Background> Rep. work: Mudang (Shaman). Co-CEOs both from VFX backgrounds. Core members are also VFX people. Currently, the company seems to be at a total standstill facing closure. Might become a bad example of an art-background director?

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<Takashi Takeuchi / Illustrator> Rep. work: FGO. A game everyone's seen at least once. Currently the CEO of Type-Moon's parent company.

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<Tetsuya Nomura / Illustrator> Rep. work: Kingdom Hearts. Usually just did illustrations, but I included him because he was the Kingdom Hearts director. A hardcore artist who loved drawing since he was a kid and even went to an arts high school.

<Keiji Inafune / Illustrator> Rep. work: Mighty No. 9. The reason Mega Man isn't his rep work here is that the design was already finished before he joined (he said so himself). Anyway, he directed Mighty No. 9, so he's a director for sure.

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<Ari Gibson / Animator> Rep. works: Hollow Knight, Silksong. Team Cherry's founding member William Pellen is a web designer so he might know some coding, but Ari Gibson is an animator with zero programming skills, so I put him in.

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<Lucas Pope / Art> Rep. works: Papers, Please, Return of the Obra Dinn. Also from an art background unrelated to coding. Apparently, he also composes. I thought there wouldn't be many, but as I wrote this, I realized there are way too many in the indie scene, so I'll stop here... There's an eternal truth in the game industry: "If the art team gets too much power, the game never ships." I'm an artist too, and I've talked with colleagues over drinks about why artists rarely become directors. Planner = Good at talking, great for building a director's career. Programmer = Has power in the company, mentally tough as hell, persistent, can secure funding when starting a business. Art = Mentally weak, doesn't know much about the overall game... Hyung-tae Kim is a case, but he's a mutant, doesn't have an artist's personality at all... I remember those being the reasons. If anyone knows more art-background directors, let me know. I'll add them. Source: Indie Game Gallery.