is a

video game artist Game art design is a subset of game development involving the process of creating the artistic aspects for video games. Video game art design begins in the pre-production phase of creating a video game. Video game artists are Visual arts, visua ...

, director and producer. He was employed by

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

from 1993 to 1999 and is now working at

Monolith Soft trading as Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game development studio originally owned by Namco (later Bandai Namco) until being bought out by Nintendo in 2007. The company was founded in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi with the support and coopera ...

. He is known for his work on the ''

Chrono Chrono may refer to: Prefix ''chrono-'' a Greek combining form relating to time * chronometry, science of the measurement of time *"chrono", colloquialism for chronograph in watch and clock collectors' language Games * ''Chrono'' (series), a Ja ...

'' series, '' Xeno'' games and '' Baten Kaitos'' series.

Early life

Yasuyuki Honne was born on March 5, 1971. When he was young, Honne enjoyed video games and playing fighting games in

video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as c ...

s, but wanted to become a freelance illustrator. However, after graduating and moving to

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 ...

, he saw a recruitment ad for

in the magazine ''Gamest'', with a picture of ''

Final Fantasy VI also known as ''Final Fantasy III'' from its initial North American release, is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Final Fantasy'' s ...

''. Since his design studies had made him interested in the relationship between a person's life and fantasy art, Honne decided to apply for a job at the company.

Career

Honne joined Square as a graphic artist in 1993 and notably worked on ''

Front Mission is a collection of video games and related media produced by Square (video game company), Square, now Square Enix. The series was created by Toshiro Tsuchida and developed by G-Craft, a studio that was later absorbed by Square and existed withi ...

'' and ''

Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first game in the ''Chrono'' series. The game's development team included three designers th ...

'' under graphic director

Tetsuya Takahashi (born November 18, 1966 in Shizuoka Prefecture) is a Japanese video game designer and director. Takahashi worked at Square (now Square Enix), in the 90s as a graphic designer and director, participating on some of their most well-received title ...

. Honne then served as the art director of Square's Product Development Division-3 on ''

Xenogears ''Xenogears'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger '' Xeno'' franchise. The gameplay of ''Xenogears'' revolves around navigating 3D enviro ...

'' and ''

Chrono Cross is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is set in the same world as ''Chrono Trigger'', which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Chrono C ...

''. In 1999, Honne left Square to join

, the new company founded by Takahashi, previously ''Xenogears''' director, who had suggested that Honne and he work together again after Honne finishes working on ''Chrono Cross''. Honne became a

board member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of Monolith Soft, owning 20 shares out of the total 2,400, and the director of the company's graphics development division. His position also includes handling the graphics work contracted for by external companies. After serving as the art director for '' Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht'', Honne made his debut as a game director on '' Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'', the project that has left him with the fondest memories since the founding of Monolith Soft. This was followed by a prequel, ''

Baten Kaitos Origins ''Baten Kaitos Origins'', also known as ''Baten Kaitos 2'', is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and Tri-Crescendo for the GameCube video game console. The game is a prequel to ''Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocea ...

''. Honne's first project as a game producer was '' Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans'', during which he gained experience on the handling of

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

d characters. When Takahashi was in the planning stages for the project that would become ''

Xenoblade Chronicles is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the '' Xeno'' metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The se ...

'', Honne produced a model of the two gods of the game's world in order to help explain the concept to the publisher

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 ...

. Honne is currently working on an unannounced title. As of October 2011, he is part of Monolith Soft's new

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

studio.

Personal life

Honne is married. He enjoys traveling, and his hobbies include practicing

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

(he is black belt) and playing

plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucki ...

Games credited

Honne has been credited with the following games: * ''

'' (1995): assistant graphic designer * ''

'' (1995): map designer * ''

Treasure Conflix Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

'' (1996): main graphic * ''

'' (1998): art director, map textures * ''

'' (1999): art director, map painter * '' Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht'' (2002): art director, map designer * '' Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'' (2003): director, art director, map painter * ''

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- is a 2006 Action role-playing game, action role-playing third-person shooter video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII'' Media franchise, metaseries, a multime ...

'' (2006): special thanks * ''

'' (2006): director, art director, map painter, opening movie * ''

Super Smash Bros. Brawl ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...

'' (2008): Adventure Mode map design * '' Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans'' (2009): producer, art director * ''

'' (2010): concept model * '' The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword'' (2011): special thanks * ''

Project X Zone (pronounced as "Project Cross Zone") is a crossover tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft with assistance from Capcom and Red Entertainment and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game is a follow up to the ...

'' (2012): map graphic supervisor * '' Animal Crossing: New Leaf'' (2012): special thanks * ''

Pikmin 3 ''Pikmin 3'' is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U video game console. It is the sequel to the GameCube games ''Pikmin'' (2001) and ''Pikmin 2'' (2004), and was released in Japan on July ...

'' (2012): special thanks * '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' (2013): special thanks * ''

Splatoon is a third-person shooter video game franchise created by Hisashi Nogami, and developed and owned by Nintendo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth inhabited by anthropomorphic marine animals, the series centers around fictional cephalopods known a ...

'' (2015): special thanks * '' Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer'' (2015): special thanks * ''

Project X Zone 2 ''Project X Zone 2'' is a crossover tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Despite the game being the sequel to '' Project X Zone'', the plot is a homage to the eve ...

'' (2015): map graphic supervisor * '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' (2017): special thanks * ''

Splatoon 2 is a 2017 third-person shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released on July 21, 2017, and is a direct sequel to ''Splatoon'', which includes a new story-driven single-player mode and various online ...

'' (2017): special thanks * ''

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Released on December 1, it is the third installment in ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' and the seventh main en ...

'' (2017): artwork

References

External links

Duende
Yasuyuki Honne's personal blog * {{DEFAULTSORT:Honne, Yasuyuki 1971 births Japanese video game designers Living people Japanese speculative fiction artists Video game artists Japanese video game directors Japanese video game producers Fantasy artists Square Enix people