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In a Famitsu interview, developers at Luminous Productions praised the studio's work environment and shared a development update on their new triple-A game

Famitsu just published an interview with two developers of Luminous Productions: Saya Nakahara, a Project Manager, and Yuuki Matsuzawa, a Lead Concept Artist. The interview mostly focuses on the studio as a whole and their working conditions.

Luminous Productions has a 09:30-18:00 work schedule all employees need to stick too, in order to avoid crunching and sacrificing their private lives. Judging from the interview, this seems to function well. Saya Nakahara mentioned she joined Luminous Productions a year ago and the studio has great communication. She most notably mentioned everyone’s opinion is taken into account, regardless of hierarchy or how long they’ve been working in the studio. Personally speaking, while I’d like to avoid generalizations, seniority being prized above anything else seems like a pretty big issue in Japan overall, so I’m glad to hear otherwise for once.

Moreover, Nakahara and Matsuzawa were asked by Famitsu about the development status of this “Triple-A title created with a worldwide perspective”. It seems like the game won’t be ready anytime soon, but Luminous Productions is hard at work on it:

There’s not much we can tell you for now (laughs). We decided on certain elements of the game, but others elements are still under consideration. People like me who are at the top of the development process are very busy. It’s a brand new IP, so some things about it are different compared to what we’ve done until now. Meaning it’s a project difficult to work on and takes a lot of time.

Square Enix's New Triple-A Title By Luminous Productions Won't be Here Anytime Soon

In a Famitsu interview, developers at Luminous Productions praised the studio's work environment and shared a development update on their new triple-A game.

www.dualshockers.com

 

[Deleted member 17706]

"Square Enix’s New Triple-A Title ... Won’t be Here Anytime Soon"

Basically describes how things have been for well over a decade now.

 

[Caffeine]

ah good another 10 year development time hell game from square

 

[KàIRóS]

There’s not much we can tell you for now (laughs). We decided on certain elements of the game, but others elements are still under consideration. People like me who are at the top of the development process are very busy. It’s a brand new IP, so some things about it are different compared to what we’ve done until now. Meaning it’s a project difficult to work on and takes a lot of time.

Well thank god it's not Final Fantasy XVI, you guys butchered Final Fantasy Versus XIII pretty hard, just leave FFXVI to Yoshida and the rest of the FFXIV team and we'll hopefully have a proper single player FF again.

 

[Enjay]

So in about 13 years this project will shift to become a mainline final fantasy game.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

I just want Square Enix to get another Deus Ex game out. I like what I like.

 

[Fbh]

As long as I don't need to watch a (paid) movie, a set of animated prologue shorts, buy a season pass and then another additional chapter for the story to feel somewhat complete (and yet still lacking) I'm fine with waiting

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

What does Square-Enix even do anymore?

 

[Myths]

Same old song and dance.

 

[cireza]

That's good, they have a proprietary engine that helps creating games that differentiate them from other developers, they need to invest more into it.

 

[Shifty1897]

Luminous Productions has a 09:30-18:00 work schedule all employees need to stick too, in order to avoid crunching and sacrificing their private lives

Damn, I need to work at Square Enix.

 

[Fuz]

Well thank god it's not Final Fantasy XVI, you guys butchered Final Fantasy Versus XIII pretty hard, just leave FFXVI to Yoshida and the rest of the FFXIV team and we'll hopefully have a proper single player FF again.

This.

And keep nomura miles away from that studio.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I’m glad it’s a new IP, but it beings AAA probably means an unhealthy prioritization of graphics. By now they should know how that turns out. I’d love to be proven wrong but SE doesn’t seem to have learned the lessons it needs.

 

[mortal]

Pfffft

You can pretty much guarantee we're still going to get a pretty trailer for this game despite it being at least 5 years away.

 

[kiphalfton]

Could go either way, now that Tabata is gone. If he were at the helm, god have mercy on us all. I meanFinal Fantasy Type-0, Crisis Core, and Final Fantasy XV had awful gameplay. People like to blame Nomura, but it isn't Nomura's version of FFXV we got, but Tabata.

 

[Myths]

Could go either way, now that Tabata is gone. If he were at the helm, god have mercy on us all. I meanFinal Fantasy Type-0, Crisis Core, and Final Fantasy XV had awful gameplay. People like to blame Nomura, but it isn't Nomura's version of FFXV we got, but Tabata.

He practically had to wipe the man’s ass on clean up duty. .

 

[Quixz]

I just want Square Enix to get another Deus Ex game out. I like what I like.

They should probably wait a few years after Cyberpunk and go BIG!

 

[Xmengrey]

Maybe that's because they are making Versus or Verum Rex now I kid but goddamn I need Final Fantasy Versus XV in my life, Square should stop teasing and just give me that game already.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Good. Keep focused on FFVII:R for the time being and get your house in order. S-E has been an utter mess since the Enix merger, thank god for Eidos hanging on to some semblance of quality.

 

[Xmengrey]

Good. Keep focused on FFVII:R for the time being and get your house in order. S-E has been an utter mess since the Enix merger, thank god for Eidos hanging on to some semblance of quality.

Those are different teams
Luminous Studios isn't working on VIIR that would be BD1.

 

[Jubenhimer]

thank god for Eidos hanging on to some semblance of quality.

Eidos hasn't existed as its own entity for over a decade. It's just Square Enix Europe now. In any case, I think Square Enix does pretty well with games that aren't their Big 2 (Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts). They seem to have trouble with making decent AAA games this entire decade.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Those are different teams
Luminous Studios isn't working on VIIR that would be BD1.

Naturally. But it’s quite common for internal teams to shift resources, moving people from project to project based on need (and something S-E has done routinely in their AAA groups). As FFVII starts its expansion into the forthcoming installments, I am positing that they should put all available resources into it and allow other projects to incubate.

From the wording above, it sounds like the Luminous project is still very much tinkering with its core design, situated between pre-production and full development, meaning it has time on its side to stew on its end direction both creatively and technologically.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Eidos hasn't existed as its own entity for over a decade. It's just Square Enix Europe now. In any case, I think Square Enix does pretty well with games that aren't their Big 2 (Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts). They seem to have trouble with making decent AAA games this entire decade.

Eidos teams largely retained much of their independence in managing their projects, at least initially, which is more of what I was addressing. Had they not, more incursions by S-E would have certainly caused greater internal strife and instability ala S-E Japan. Just ask the development team about the backseat drivers on DE:MD.

I am aware the Eidos label has been retired, studios restructured, and the S-E branding circulated.

 

[Caffeine]

square is a pretty weird company it feels like they restructure every 3 years, as top changes a lot and philosophy changes this generally does come down and impact the games. people who save projects are let go. they dont seem to lock anyone down. and kinda wing it. their organization really seems like disorganization and it seems like anything takes forever to have a decision made upon. this goes back to spirits within i cant imagine they watched the film and said ye this is good slap final fantasy on it the fans will eat this shit up.
xvi is in limbo from what i take it during concept stage and remakes/remasters/ports also a mmo are really holding down the fort.
lets waste cash on a marvel licensed avengers game in the vein of destiny it can go destiny or it can go anthem in terms of success, being licensed it needs to sell a minimum amount of units to break even. thats the reason we dont see many licensed ip's anymore.

 

[Andrew Evenstar]

square has been mostly trash for a while now. ff7 better be good.

 

[D.Final]

In a Famitsu interview, developers at Luminous Productions praised the studio's work environment and shared a development update on their new triple-A game

Famitsu just published an interview with two developers of Luminous Productions: Saya Nakahara, a Project Manager, and Yuuki Matsuzawa, a Lead Concept Artist. The interview mostly focuses on the studio as a whole and their working conditions.

Luminous Productions has a 09:30-18:00 work schedule all employees need to stick too, in order to avoid crunching and sacrificing their private lives. Judging from the interview, this seems to function well. Saya Nakahara mentioned she joined Luminous Productions a year ago and the studio has great communication. She most notably mentioned everyone’s opinion is taken into account, regardless of hierarchy or how long they’ve been working in the studio. Personally speaking, while I’d like to avoid generalizations, seniority being prized above anything else seems like a pretty big issue in Japan overall, so I’m glad to hear otherwise for once.

Moreover, Nakahara and Matsuzawa were asked by Famitsu about the development status of this “Triple-A title created with a worldwide perspective”. It seems like the game won’t be ready anytime soon, but Luminous Productions is hard at work on it:

Square Enix's New Triple-A Title By Luminous Productions Won't be Here Anytime Soon

In a Famitsu interview, developers at Luminous Productions praised the studio's work environment and shared a development update on their new triple-A game.

www.dualshockers.com

I am very curious to see what the new IP is about
It's always good to have new IPs.

 

[EDMIX]

I love how they just don't learn their lesson.

FFVII development is going pretty well for a remake of such a massive title, even KH3 had a pretty fast dev time, ohhhh what do you know they are using Unreal Engine 4.

Its.....its almost as if the ease of those tools are allowing for smoother development? hmmmm

 

[Panajev2001a]

I love how they just don't learn their lesson.

FFVII development is going pretty well for a remake of such a massive title, even KH3 had a pretty fast dev time, ohhhh what do you know they are using Unreal Engine 4.

Its.....its almost as if the ease of those tools are allowing for smoother development? hmmmm

Who is saying development for this new game is not going well, thankfully for once they are even putting anti-crunch and good communication policies forward?

Not to say UE4 cannot produce good results, obviously it can, but it is a bit of a myopic vision to think there are not advantages at having an in-house built engine battle tested already by a shipped game (hardest on both engine and game production timelines, but what any new engine needs badly).
S-E is not a small indie studio, they have the know-how and budget to create engines and internal tools that fit their games and processes best alongside sampling and using off the shelves solutions for short to medium term projects and to keep an eye on the industry state of the art licensable technology.

 

[EDMIX]

Who is saying development for this new game is not going well, thankfully for once they are even putting anti-crunch and good communication policies forward?

Not to say UE4 cannot produce good results, obviously it can, but it is a bit of a myopic vision to think there are not advantages at having an in-house built engine battle tested already by a shipped game (hardest on both engine and game production timelines, but what any new engine needs badly).
S-E is not a small indie studio, they have the know-how and budget to create engines and internal tools that fit their games and processes best alongside sampling and using off the shelves solutions for short to medium term projects and to keep an eye on the industry state of the art licensable technology.

Very well thought out post.

Its not to say in house tech doesn't have its advantages, simply that under Square they've yet to really show that such a set up can help them out in terms of output. So I'd love for them to just use 3rd party tech to speed things up as FFVII remake looks unbelievably good, but if they've been able to work out those issues with Luminous and it speeds things up, I'm open to them continuing using it. We just need to see those results as from the consumer end, seeing many of those titles not even release or have a decade of development only to release on time when they switch to UE4 only supports this idea that such a tool set like Luminous is holding them back. Maybe its simply how it appears to be and maybe its not really what the issue was.

I could be wrong and for all we know it really was what you are saying with "anti-crunch and good communication policies forward" and it might be the public thinking the real fix was the engine switch or something. I'm open to seeing many perspectives on this as I might be jumping the gun to make Luminous out to be the key thing that messed them up.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Very well thought out post.

Its not to say in house tech doesn't have its advantages, simply that under Square they've yet to really show that such a set up can help them out in terms of output. So I'd love for them to just use 3rd party tech to speed things up as FFVII remake looks unbelievably good, but if they've been able to work out those issues with Luminous and it speeds things up, I'm open to them continuing using it. We just need to see those results as from the consumer end, seeing many of those titles not even release or have a decade of development only to release on time when they switch to UE4 only supports this idea that such a tool set like Luminous is holding them back. Maybe its simply how it appears to be and maybe its not really what the issue was.

I could be wrong and for all we know it really was what you are saying with "anti-crunch and good communication policies forward" and it might be the public thinking the real fix was the engine switch or something. I'm open to seeing many perspectives on this as I might be jumping the gun to make Luminous out to be the key thing that messed them up.

As I was saying creating a good engine and set of tools takes time and making an AAA at the same time, which they did before, takes even longer and does make creating the game itself more complex and time consuming (just imagine the back and forth between engine developers and game developers).
Ultimately though, I think it still is a very good way to battle test your engine and ensure the workflows are best for what you intend to create and match your company’s processes best.

 

[EDMIX]

As I was saying creating a good engine and set of tools takes time and making an AAA at the same time, which they did before, takes even longer and does make creating the game itself more complex and time consuming (just imagine the back and forth between engine developers and game developers).
Ultimately though, I think it still is a very good way to battle test your engine and ensure the workflows are best for what you intend to create and match your company’s processes best.

This man changed my mind lol

I'm more open to seeing what they do with their own tool set next gen as I do like some of the tech demo stuff they've put out.