is a Japanese

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

game director A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing game development, development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he found ...

and writer. She helped

Yoshitaka Murayama is a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is the creator of the ''Suikoden'' series of role-playing video games, which he produced and directed for Konami until his departure in 2002 before the release of ''Suikoden III''. ...

create the ''

Suikoden is a series of role-playing video games created by Yoshitaka Murayama. The games are loosely based on the classical Chinese novel ''Water Margin'', whose title is rendered as in Japanese. Each individual game centers on themes of politics, co ...

'' series of

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

s. Initially a character designer and illustrator, she helped the series for

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

following Murayama's departure in 2002, writing and producing ''

Suikoden IV is a role-playing video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami exclusively for the PlayStation 2 video game console and is the fourth installment of the '' Suikoden'' video game series. It was released in A ...

'' and its spinoff title ''

Suikoden Tactics ''Suikoden Tactics'', originally released in Japan as , is a tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 console as part of their ''Suikoden'' series. Initially released in Japan and North America in ...

''.

Biography

A newly hired artist at Konami in 1993, Kawano was assigned to create an RPG along with writer

, another newcomer to the company. The project was initially intended for an internally developed

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally placed i ...

, which was scrapped, but it was later reopened to be included as one of Konami's first games for

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

's upcoming

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

console. Kawano was not directly involved with the following two entries to the series, instead writing, producing and designing her own title, the

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

Shadow of Memories (''Shadow of Destiny'' in North America) is a mystery adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, it was later ported to Xbox (which is only releas ...

'' (AKA. ''Shadow of Destiny'' in North America). It was released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

in 2001 to generally positive reviews, and later ported to

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

/PC,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and PSP. Following some departures from the Suikoden team in July 2002, including series creator Murayama, just a month before the release of

Suikoden III is a role-playing video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 video game console, and the third installment in the '' Suikoden'' video game series. It was released in 2002 in Japan a ...

, Kawano took creative control of the series. She wrote and designed ''

'' in 2004 and the spinoff ''

'' in 2005, with plans for further installments on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

that were never realized. She made a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to ''Shadow of Memories'' in 2008, titled ''

Time Hollow is a Japanese adventure visual novel video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS video game console. The game was released in Japan on March 19, 2008, North America on September 23, 2008, and Europe on February 6, 2009. The g ...

'', and the

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

game ''Zack & Ombra: The Phantom Amusement Park'' in 2010, both for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawano, Junko Living people Japanese video game designers Year of birth missing (living people) Women video game designers