Luminous Productions, the studio behind Final Fantasy XV, have put up nearly 20 job postings for various positions on the Japanese job-hunting website Creative Village. In order to tell potential sollicitants what kind of project they'll be working on and what their responsibilities within the team will be, the job listings include a bunch of details about Luminous Productions' current project.
Project description
There are couple of elements that return a lot between the different job listings. The project is described as a "high-end AAA console game project", "a world-class large-scale game that everyone [knows or will get to know]", and as a game that is developed in the Luminous Engine. At least one job listing describes the position as "a chance to touch the latest technology". Meanwhile, other job listings are hiring for people who can "investigate, research, and develop core features of the next generation Luminous Engine".
Project features
A variety of project features are listed:
- Hires will create assets for photorealistic and non-photorealistic human characters, as well as animals and monsters.
- Hires will design action gameplay ("mainly battles" is specifically mentioned).
- Hires will implement character behaviour, battle and game content, game UI, and level elements.
- Hires will implement NPCs and quest and event planning, as well as create a planning for AI processing to control battle characters - both companions and enemies.
- Hires will be in charge of facial motion production and production of motion capture data.
- Hires will be in charge of facial rig creation (photorealistic and non-photorealistic characters, monsters, animals, etc)
- Technical animators interested in the job will "actively take in new technologies, [with an] approach from the technical point of the character's all-in-one strike, the action, the monster's dynamism and so on."
- Hires will be in charge of the operation of the player's or the enemy's action relationship (mainly battle) and the planning of player action or AI behaviour in high-end AAA game development. This is a job for "those who can respond to the expansion and change of operations according to the experience of manufacturing 3D games with action elements or action games for console or RPG's AI character planning experience".
- Hires will be in charge of simulation work in high-end AAA game development. They will research and develop cloth simulation, muscle simulation, and real-time destruction simulation of in-game [objects].
- Hires will produce various art pieces necessary for the high-end AAA game title in development at this studio, such as art for advertisement, concept design and design of backgrounds, characters, monsters, various props, etc.
- Hires will produce 3DCG characters in general that will appear in high-end AAA games and produce assets such as people, monsters, weapons, and accessoires. They will need "deep knowledge of human body shaping and anatomy."
- For the hired data analyst(s), "it [will be] possible to build a service analysis system for big game titles that everyone [will get to know]" and to "analyse player data [from] all over the world, not only in Japan".
- Hires will create a planning for "a long-term service of a world-class large-scale game that everyone [will get to know]".
Engine features
- Hires will produce tools and do "workflow maintenance of the Luminous Engine, which will be used for a high-end AAA project".
- Hires will implement "state-of-the-art graphics in the Luminous Engine used in a high-end AAA game development project".
- Hires will investigate, research, and develop core features of the next generation game engine including: dropping into pre-render VFX real-time rendering using machine learning; lightmapping using ray tracing; development of skin and hair shaders; and optimisation of the drawing system.
- Hires will help the studio investigating, researching, and developing core features of the next generation Luminous Engine, such as creation of a procedural walking engine, an animation engine which runs on the GPU, and a next generation facial system. The job will be fun, because "the studio works with state-of-the-art technology in both real-time graphics and pre-render movies".
- Hires will help the studio investigating, researching, and developing core features of the next generation Luminous Engine, such as development of Character AI using machine learning and automatic test case generation by auto test play.
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In other words, the studio is working on a futureproof version of the Luminous Engine and on a new IP with worldwide aim for next generation consoles!
The fact that this game is coming to next generation consoles does not mean it will not be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Edit: I made a mistake in my research, which opens up the possibility that this project doesn't have to be an existing series. It could also be a new IP, which others pointed out is much more likely.
I've edited the text to fix the error.
Luminous Productions is currently hiring for the following positions:
Graphics programmers, gameplay programmers, animation programmers, AI programmers;
Tool programmers, R&D programmers, and various VFX positions;
Game designers, AI designers;
Technical animators, facial animators;
Rigging artists, concept artists, 3D character artists, 'simulation technical artists';
Live service planners, data analysts.
Graphics programmers, gameplay programmers, animation programmers, AI programmers;
Tool programmers, R&D programmers, and various VFX positions;
Game designers, AI designers;
Technical animators, facial animators;
Rigging artists, concept artists, 3D character artists, 'simulation technical artists';
Live service planners, data analysts.
Project description
There are couple of elements that return a lot between the different job listings. The project is described as a "high-end AAA console game project", "a world-class large-scale game that everyone [knows or will get to know]", and as a game that is developed in the Luminous Engine. At least one job listing describes the position as "a chance to touch the latest technology". Meanwhile, other job listings are hiring for people who can "investigate, research, and develop core features of the next generation Luminous Engine".
Project features
A variety of project features are listed:
- Hires will create assets for photorealistic and non-photorealistic human characters, as well as animals and monsters.
- Hires will design action gameplay ("mainly battles" is specifically mentioned).
- Hires will implement character behaviour, battle and game content, game UI, and level elements.
- Hires will implement NPCs and quest and event planning, as well as create a planning for AI processing to control battle characters - both companions and enemies.
- Hires will be in charge of facial motion production and production of motion capture data.
- Hires will be in charge of facial rig creation (photorealistic and non-photorealistic characters, monsters, animals, etc)
- Technical animators interested in the job will "actively take in new technologies, [with an] approach from the technical point of the character's all-in-one strike, the action, the monster's dynamism and so on."
- Hires will be in charge of the operation of the player's or the enemy's action relationship (mainly battle) and the planning of player action or AI behaviour in high-end AAA game development. This is a job for "those who can respond to the expansion and change of operations according to the experience of manufacturing 3D games with action elements or action games for console or RPG's AI character planning experience".
- Hires will be in charge of simulation work in high-end AAA game development. They will research and develop cloth simulation, muscle simulation, and real-time destruction simulation of in-game [objects].
- Hires will produce various art pieces necessary for the high-end AAA game title in development at this studio, such as art for advertisement, concept design and design of backgrounds, characters, monsters, various props, etc.
- Hires will produce 3DCG characters in general that will appear in high-end AAA games and produce assets such as people, monsters, weapons, and accessoires. They will need "deep knowledge of human body shaping and anatomy."
- For the hired data analyst(s), "it [will be] possible to build a service analysis system for big game titles that everyone [will get to know]" and to "analyse player data [from] all over the world, not only in Japan".
- Hires will create a planning for "a long-term service of a world-class large-scale game that everyone [will get to know]".
Engine features
- Hires will produce tools and do "workflow maintenance of the Luminous Engine, which will be used for a high-end AAA project".
- Hires will implement "state-of-the-art graphics in the Luminous Engine used in a high-end AAA game development project".
- Hires will investigate, research, and develop core features of the next generation game engine including: dropping into pre-render VFX real-time rendering using machine learning; lightmapping using ray tracing; development of skin and hair shaders; and optimisation of the drawing system.
- Hires will help the studio investigating, researching, and developing core features of the next generation Luminous Engine, such as creation of a procedural walking engine, an animation engine which runs on the GPU, and a next generation facial system. The job will be fun, because "the studio works with state-of-the-art technology in both real-time graphics and pre-render movies".
- Hires will help the studio investigating, researching, and developing core features of the next generation Luminous Engine, such as development of Character AI using machine learning and automatic test case generation by auto test play.
---
In other words, the studio is working on a futureproof version of the Luminous Engine and on a new IP with worldwide aim for next generation consoles!
The fact that this game is coming to next generation consoles does not mean it will not be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Edit: I made a mistake in my research, which opens up the possibility that this project doesn't have to be an existing series. It could also be a new IP, which others pointed out is much more likely.
I've edited the text to fix the error.
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