Emiko Iwasaki (岩崎恵美子, Iwasaki Emiko, born October 16, 1976) is a Japanese video game artist from Yokohama active since 1999, most known for her work with Arc System Works's Guilty Gear series.
Career
editInitially joining the company as a part-time artist,[1] she went on to work as general director on four titles, one of the few women in the Japanese game industry to hold such a position.[2] The last of those, Battle Fantasia, came from an original concept by Iwasaki herself[3] and was the developer's first fighting game with 3D models.[4] With no previous experience, she and her team developed 2.5D techniques that influenced Street Fighter IV,[5] as well as other Arc System Works games.
In 2011, she left Arc System Works and relocated to Singapore, holding leading positions in mobile game developers Gumi.
Although she found Arc System Works' CEO and the Guilty Gear team welcoming, Iwasaki also faced gender discrimination during her work with the company, which made her interested in working on other countries.[3][1] She has been vocal about the hurdles women face in the Japanese video game industry, sharing her experience in United Nations events[6][7] and working as an ambassador for the Singapore Committee for UN Women programme Girls2Pioneers.[8]
Works
edit| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Guilty Gear Petit | WonderSwan Color | general director, promotion illustration |
| Guilty Gear Petit 2 (ギルティギア プチ２) | general director, design, promotion illustration | ||
| 2002 | Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition | Game Boy Advance | graphics |
| Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival and updates | arcade, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch | illustrator, character art, webmaster[9] | |
| 2003 | Naruto: Ninja Council (ＮＡＲＵＴＯ－ナルト- 忍術全開! 最強忍者 大結集) | Game Boy Advance | art director[9] |
| Guilty Gear Isuka (鶍) | arcade, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox | illustrator, character art[9] | |
| 2004 | Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (特捜戦隊デカレンジャー) | Sega Pico | general director[9] |
| 2005 | Ys IV: Mask of the Sun -A New Theory- | PlayStation 2, cell phones | art director[9] |
| 2007 | Battle Fantasia (バトルファンタジア) | arcade, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows | general director, original story plan, lead designer, planning, art and character design, voice of Marco Van de Land |
| 2009 | Diva Girls: Diva Dancers | Nintendo DS | costume design, logo[9] |
| 2011 | Hard Corps: Uprising | Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | character and machine concept,[9] character design, 3D-character design, effect design |
| 2013 | Puzzle Trooper | Android, iOS | art director[10] |
| Brave Frontier | iOS, Android, Fire, Windows, Windows Phone | [9] | |
| 2016 | Final Fantasy Brave Exvius | iOS, Android, Fire | creative director (art team, Gumi Asia Pte. Ltd.)[11] |
References
edit- ^ a b Microsoft Citizenship Asia Pacific (9 October 2015). "Emiko Iwasaki Unleashes her Creativity and Leadership in the Gaming Industry". Microsoft TechNet. Microsoft. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ "IGN: Emiko Iwasaki Biography". IGN. 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-11-29. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ a b Spencer (26 August 2015). "Origins Of Battle Fantasia And The Art Of Making A 2.5D Fighting Game". Siliconera. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ Christian Nutt (13 January 2009). "Dodging, Striking, Winning: The Arc System Works Interview". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. p. 2. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ Brandon Sheffield (26 September 2008). "Saving Street Fighter: Yoshi Ono on Building Street Fighter IV". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. p. 3. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ "Closing the tech gender gap: EU Commission VP Kroes to speak at top-level panel debate in New York". Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations - New York. 19 April 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ "GIRLS IN ICT DAY PROGRAMME — APRIL 26, 2012" (PDF). International Telecommunication Union. United Nations. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ "Emiko Iwasaki Unleashes her Creativity and Leadership in the Gaming Industry". Microsoft Technet. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Emiko Iwasaki - Game developer, UN Women Girls2Pioneers ambassador". LinkedIn. Microsoft. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ https://www.mobygames.com/developer/emiko-iwasaki/credits/developerId,202579/ [bare URL]
- ^ "Staff Credits". Gumi. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
External links
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