Jun Akiyama (秋山 淳, Akiyama Jun?) is a Japanese video game event director and scenario writer that has been working for Square since 1995. He is best known for his work in Vagrant Story (2000) and Final Fantasy XII (2006).
Biography[]
Jun Akiyama joined Square in 1995, around the time Chrono Trigger released in Japan. In his role as event planner for Final Fantasy VII, Akiyama was responsible for the story elements and event scenes involving the characters Red XIII and Yuffie Kisaragi.[1] During his work as the event director of Vagrant Story, he intended to make the transitions between gameplay and event scenes as smooth as possible. The game's fully polygonal graphics entailed precise camera movements, character animations, and the use of lens effects.[2]
In January 2002, Akiyama joined the Final Fantasy XII project as event director. He was in charge of all aspects of the cutscenes, such as the cinematography, camera movements, character facial expressions and body movements, and the Japanese voice acting.[3] When Yasumi Matsuno stepped down as the game's producer and co-director in mid-2005, he expressed his confidence in the remaining core team members, such as Hiroshi Minagawa, Hiroyuki Ito, and Jun Akiyama.[4] Akiyama was given Matsuno's position of scenario director, while still remaining as the event director. Minagawa, who was handpicked by Matsuno to be his replacement as the game's co-director, has stated that many of the scenario ideas Akiyama came up with had to be abandoned for the game to be finished on time.[5]
He was originally the event director of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which was being directed by Tetsuya Nomura. However, he left the project in July 2012 when it was decided by Yoichi Wada (then Square Enix president) the game would be rebooted in Luminous Studio as Final Fantasy XV. When that decision was made, Wada chose Hajime Tabata to be the game's new director and assigned the Final Fantasy Type-0 dev team to make the game.[6][7][8]
Works within the series[]
Game | Release | Work |
---|---|---|
Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | Event Planner |
Final Fantasy Tactics | 1997 | Event Planner |
Vagrant Story | 2000 | Event Director, Scenario Planner |
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance | 2003 | Event Script Editor |
Final Fantasy XII | 2006 | Event Director & Scenario Director |
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions | 2007 | Storyboard (New FMV Cutscenes) |
Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System | 2007 | Event Director & Scenario Director |
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift | 2007 | Special Thanks |
Final Fantasy XIII | 2009 | Crystal Tools Development Staff |
Final Fantasy XIV | 2010 | HQ cutscene production (Ul'dah Intro: "Flowers For All")[9] |
World of Final Fantasy | 2016 | Event Director |
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age | 2017 | The Zodiac Age Game Designer |
Final Fantasy Versus XIII | Cancelled Akiyama left the project in July 2012 when Final Fantasy Versus XIII was rebooted as Final Fantasy XV. | Planning Director (Event) |
References[]
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania page 8–13
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20020808122651/http://www.playonline.com/archives/psgame/vagrantstory/flb/stuff/02.html
- ↑ Final Fantasy XII Scenario Ultimania「FFXII」開発スタッフインタビュー4
- ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ffxii-producer-steps-down/1100-6130121/
- ↑ http://youtu.be/EYIzjBbO2FQ?t=5m37s
- ↑ http://kotaku.com/meet-the-new-man-in-charge-of-final-fantasy-1680386455
- ↑ http://www.4gamer.net/games/260/G026084/20140917119/
- ↑ http://www.famitsu.com/news/201409/22062014.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHQrOn1MElc