Takayoshi Sato (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
: 佐藤隆善,
Hepburn: Satō Takayoshi) is a Japanese
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
character designer, writer, and
CGI director. Sato is best known as being a member of
Team Silent
Team Silent was a development team within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET), responsible for the first four games in the ''Silent Hill'' franchise by Konami released from 1999 to 2004. Later titles were developed by non-Japanese companie ...
from 1996 to 2003 and was responsible for creating the CGI cutscenes for ''
Silent Hill
is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, ''Silent Hill'', '' Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...
'' and ''
Silent Hill 2
is a 2001 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami. The game was released from September to November, originally for the PlayStation 2. The second installment in ...
''.
Biography
Sato was born and raised in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Sato began studying Art at
Tama Art University
or is a private art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan.
History
The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) founded in 1935 ...
in 1992 and in 1996 received his bachelor's degree in
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
.
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 ...
visited Tama Art University campus in 1996 and Sato took 3 art tests and had 5 interviews with them prior to successfully being hired. During his first year he worked on the team that ported the arcade
cute 'em up Sexy Parodius to the
Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
and
Sony 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 divi ...
. Sato described the experience as "hell", working 15 hour days 7 days per week. Sato began teaching himself how to 3D model and found many of his older colleagues at Konami frequently referring to him for assistance with this due to their lack of knowledge and inexperience. Sato did not receive credit for these referrals until he approached his superiors and requested that he be put on a major project such as
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operat ...
or Silent Hill to complete 3D animation work, otherwise he would keep his talent to himself. Subsequently, his superiors agreed and he commenced working on the original Silent Hill in September 1996. Sato was the sole member of Team Silent to work on the 3D cut-scenes in the first Silent Hill game, taking him nearly 2,000 hours to complete, and he spent much of this time sleeping under his office desk. Sato's work on the Silent Hill series has garnered him critical acclaim. In 1998 he received a Japanese cultural ministry award for his CGI direction and movie work and also received the personal CEO award from Konami.
After working as CGI director on both Silent Hill and its sequel, Sato pitched an idea for the third game in the series which never came to fruition. He left Konami in 2003 and joined
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
, working on character design for a cancelled
Frogger
is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...
game and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent.
Sato left Electronic Arts in 2007 to work at
Virtual Heroes, a video game developer which specialises in
serious games
A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, he ...
. Some of Sato's works included health education and hotel training video games. When Sato started working on serious games, he said, "I feel that games are being standardized into only a few formats lately: FPS, RTS, MMO, 3rd Person Action and Sports. There's a tendency to create the same games over and over with only a visual upgrade. And the only thing artists are supposed to do is "be professional" and gift-wrap the same game elements with a pretty new skin."
In 2011 he received the Advanced Character Animation degree.
Sato has been employed at
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
since February 2012 working as a visual producer.
Works
References
External links
*
Year of birth missing (living people)
Japanese designers
Konami people
Living people
Nintendo people
Silent Hill
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