News ► Square Enix is Hiring More Staff for Kingdom Hearts 3!

[Chaser]

It's been a while since the last public video from Kingdom Hearts 3 was released. Since then, the game has undergone various work such as the change from Square Enix's own Luminous Studio to the Unreal Engine 4. It was also announced that, back in September 2014, Osaka were looking to hire a Technical Artist, Network Programmer, and a UI designer. Recently, Square Enix updated their recruitment website with quite a number of open positions for Kingdom Hearts 3. Such positions include people skilled in mini-game development, construction of magic, snow, water, and rain, and AI development.

Thanks to Goldpanner, you can read the translated job descriptions below!

Job Opening Summaries

3BD/Cutscene Designer Position Description: Working on cutscenes for Kingdom Hearts III. Taking part in the entire manufacturing process related to cutscene production, from storyboarding to layout and lighting.

3BD/Technical Artist (in Osaka) Position Description: In charge of general technical assistance (workflow construction, selection of middleware etc) in implementing the high quality graphic expression of Kingdom Hearts III. In charge of construction duties for a shader on the game engine for nature representations (water, rain, snow etc), and special effects (magic etc) etc, during online games.

3BD/Menu Designer (in Osaka) Position Description: In charge of data creation and design relating to the UI of Kingdom Hearts III. The goal is to communicate with planners and programmers to complete a user-friendly UI with an awareness of the style of the world as well as the characteristic feel of a Kingdom Hearts game.

3BD/Battle Planner (in Osaka) Position Description: Planning the battles for Kingdom Hearts III. Specific Job Contents: battle plan creation (mainly enemy), specs creation and implementing AI that uses Unreal Engine4. Minigame etc plan, specs creation and fine-tuning. Player action and gameplay plan, specs creation.

3BD/Direction Planner (in Osaka) Position Description: Using Unreal Engine4 to apply camera and direction to the explanations of the game player's techniques and maps and the introduction, advancement and completion of missions and battles. Carrying out meetings, storyboarding and ordering of materials in entirety until they are included.

3BD/Level Planner (in Osaka) Position Description: Kingdom Hearts III level design and management tasks. Level design plan, specs creation and implementation adjustment. Minigame etc plan, specs creation and implementation adjustment.

3BD/Character Model Designer (in Osaka) Position Description: General production work on characters to be in Kingdom Hearts III. Job specifics for Tokyo: texture creation involved in polishing up new and old models/texture creation. Design work. Job specifics for Osaka: working on character assets for PS4/XboxOne. Assigned work on the materials and shader used for Unreal Engine4. Schedule and quality management.

3BD/2D Background Art Designer (in Osaka) Position Description: Creation of 2D design documents for the 3DBG designers to work from. Creating concept plans for the natural terrain/towns etc of the various worlds of Kingdom Hearts, and designing plans for the little objects they are made of (trees, signs, houses etc).

3BD/3DCG Designer (BG) (in Osaka) Position Description: General work on background production for Kingdom hearts III. Job specifics: working on background assets for the PS4/Xbox One. Working on layout and lighting using UnrealEngine4. Schedule and quality management.

3BD/Effects Designer (in Osaka) Position Description: Creating effects using our company's customised Unreal Engine4.

3BD/Art Designer (in Osaka) Position Description: Designing the items and enemy characters to appear in Kingdom Hearts III (the goal is to create appealing designs with an awareness of the particular feel of the Kingdom Hearts universe). Proposing ideas regarding movement and gimmicks along with design plans.

3BD/UI Programmer (in Osaka) Job Description: Carrying out maintenance, optimisation, implementation and design of programs for the game's HUD and menu etc. Always working with the shape of better controls and gameplay in mind.

3BD/Game Programmer (in Osaka) Job Description: Being in charge of the maintenance and development of the gameplay programs for Kingdom Hearts III. Job Specifics: governing the actions of player, enemy and NPC characters. Implementing things relating to level construction. Implementing direction, special effects, VFX etc.

3BD/3D Graphics Programmer (in Osaka) Job Description: Taking applications for staff to support the programming side of the visual expression of Kingdom Hearts III. Carry out maintenance, optimisation, implementation and design of real time rendering programs.

 

[Chaser]

All these jobs just have my brain flowing with ideas for what they're doing with KH3. It seems like they just need a few extra hands to help them out with everything, but what they're asking for is just delicious.

In charge of construction duties for a shader on the game engine for nature representations (water, rain, snow etc), and special effects (magic etc) etc, during online games.

No idea what the online games part refers to, but I do love rain in games. The rain in The World That Never Was was too brief for my liking so I'm glad they might be doing much more with it. The snow has me a bit worried, for obvious reasons, but my friend assures me there's plenty of other Disney films out there with snow.

texture creation involved in polishing up new and old models/texture creation.

I hope polishing up old models refers to taking the old models from previous games (such as Shadows and Large Bodies) and re-creating them in Unreal Engine 4. I'd be so disappointed if they just took them from KH2, put a coat of current gen gloss on it, and called it a day. I want detail damn it

Creating concept plans for the natural terrain/towns etc of the various worlds of Kingdom Hearts, and designing plans for the little objects they are made of (trees, signs, houses etc).

Towns and houses has got me really excited. I know previous games have featured plenty of this (Traverse Town, Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion, Land of Dragons, Christmas Town), but I just can't stop thinking of brand new Disney worlds such as Robin Hood for some reason.

Being in charge of the maintenance and development of the gameplay programs for Kingdom Hearts III. Job Specifics: governing the actions of player, enemy and NPC characters.

Nomura said before that NPC characters would join in the fight so I'm reaaaallly hoping that this is what this job is referring to. I'm so excited to see how that all plays out.

 

[BEASTENDER]

@Chaser, I'm with you man, but I remember an interview where Nomura said that Disney is really pushing certain films.


Given how much people just seem to love that movie all around the world, the comments from Square Enix's director, and the push from Disney, I hate to say it...but I feel "THAT" movie, is all but confirmed unfortunately...


However, I also really like rain in games. I remember seeing a Walking Dead playthrough, and the night time rain scene with random bouts of thunder and lightning really set the mood. If I'm not mistaken, it also rained in the Fantasia like world in DDD for a time. So I hope to fight some very epic battles in harsh and inclimate weather.


As far as everything else goes, it's what I'd expect. Though...I'm really hoping it's just to make progress move along at a faster rate instead of being a reflection of where they are from a development standpoint. Osaka team didn't honestly seem that big, and AAA titles usually have big teams.

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

I`m really looking forward for some weather effects. Do you guys think one type of weather will be one one world(example there is always night on Traverse Town or rainy all the time in some other place) or could they even make some sort of cycle? Sometimes it is sunny, but when time progress it could start to rain?

I`m little concerned about the multiplayer thing, since I am not really fond of it(I dont want any multiplayer elements in KH) All though it can mean a variety of things.

 

[Vanitas666]

@Chaser, I'm with you man, but I remember an interview where Nomura said that Disney is really pushing certain films.
Given how much people just seem to love that movie all around the world, the comments from Square Enix's director, and the push from Disney, I hate to say it...but I feel "THAT" movie, is all but confirmed unfortunately...

I thought he was talking about Nightmare before christmas again lol (and at first only Mulan came to mind), yeah, I do hope they don't include Frozen but I've started to like it slightly more after seeing the symbolism (I'm really in to that kind of stuff).
If they include it they will have to make up for it by including another great cgi film from PIXAR like Toy Story.
They can't let Frozen be the first cgi animated film they use, I got no idea what people see in it.
As long as it's not marvel I can forgive them though, well at least wait until after KH III and PotC 3 to include Star Wars (even if I don't want that either).

I really hope we get some great mini games this time, I've always been one of the few who like/appreciate most of them but they could still be much better a lot of the time. Here's hoping for Winnie the Pooh again but only for one last game, it feels like it could be a big trademark for this trilogy and would obviously fit very well with Maleficents story and all that.

I`m really looking forward for some weather effects. Do you guys think one type of weather will be one one world(example there is always night on Traverse Town or rainy all the time in some other place) or could they even make some sort of cycle? Sometimes it is sunny, but when time progress it could start to rain?

I`m little concerned about the multiplayer thing, since I am not really fond of it(I dont want any multiplayer elements in KH) All though it can mean a variety of things.

It would be cool to see TT in daylight, I'd like that at least for the original worlds if nothing else.
As for multiplayer that could be an Arena thing and personally I would really love that, I hope they still keep the Hercules arena though and I wouldn't mind seeing some other players walking around in the coliseum area.

 

[Bearghost]

Personally, I'm growing a little short with people complaining about the prospect of "that" movie being featured in the game. I'm no big fan either, but everyone is acting as though playing the game will be such a burden if they have to endure a beautiful white world filled with snow. I think people need to stop thinking about how much they disliked the movie, and start thinking about how fun it will be to visit completely new and hopefully beautifully rendered areas with Sora. And if you still don't enjoy the world, so what? There will still be several others, along with the fantastic story Kingdom Hearts III is bound to offer.

 

[Chaser]

Personally, I'm growing a little short with people complaining about the prospect of "that" movie being featured in the game. I'm no big fan either, but everyone is acting as though playing the game will be such a burden if they have to endure a beautiful white world filled with snow. I think people need to stop thinking about how much they disliked the movie, and start thinking about how fun it will be to visit completely new and hopefully beautifully rendered areas with Sora.

It's certainly in the game for sure, but for me it's not a matter of disliking the movie (although I do not like a lot of it). For me, it's the over exposure it's gotten. From Let It Go being played in shopping malls (and various covers of it, even Disney let The Mindy Project and Glee have it), to Once Upon a Time taking Frozen on as a sequel story to the film. It's just been a LOT of Frozen constantly.

Tangled was popular, but it never lasted this long. Neither did The Princess and the Frog and that was one movie I love dearly.

 

[Vanitas666]

Besides, if it dies for a couple of years before it's featured it will be so much nicer to see it again and you'll have given it time to become an actual classic (even if I don't like it myself that much)

 

[BEASTENDER]

Personally, I'm growing a little short with people complaining about the prospect of "that" movie being featured in the game. I'm no big fan either, but everyone is acting as though playing the game will be such a burden if they have to endure a beautiful white world filled with snow. I think people need to stop thinking about how much they disliked the movie, and start thinking about how fun it will be to visit completely new and hopefully beautifully rendered areas with Sora. And if you still don't enjoy the world, so what? There will still be several others, along with the fantastic story Kingdom Hearts III is bound to offer.

I....I just really don't want Sora to sing again lol. Certainly a fan of Mr. Osment's work, but I don't eeeever need to hear him sing again after the incident that happened in KH2 Atlantica, which we fans have promised never to talk about again....lol

Also, there have been worlds based on Disney movies that I didn't care too much for, but were great. Haven't really seen it, but I didn't really care for TRON too much, but I really like that place in KH2 and even in DDD. Didn't really like The Nightmare Before Christmas all that much either apart from the infamous music, but I love that world in the KH series. I do want to fight fierce battles in harsh blizzards, I just don't want to fight alongside Elsa and Co. or hear any of those songs, which is almost bound to happen, as the movie is a musical.


As long as Donald and Goofy aren't laughing it up with Spiderman and Captain America, I am perfectly fine with whatever worlds they pick. It'd be selfish to only want the worlds based on movies you like. I may dislike it, but the world clearly loves that movie. For that reason alone, I do think it should be considered for a game like KH3. It will surely make a lot of fans happy. And it makes me genuinely happy to see young fans gravitate towards things I grew up with.

I want movies like Treasure Planet and Atlantis the Lost Empire to make the cut: Two movies I feel are extraordinarily underrated, but a lot of young fans don't even know what these movies are, as they're not as popular as other older animated Disney Films. Movies like Frozen and newer Pixar movies just may be wiser picks from a business standpoint, and I certainly won't fault them for that.

 

[Bearghost]

My reply to anyone worried about hearing Frozen music in the world because it is a musical WOULD have been that most of the films who's worlds were featured were musicals. That would have been my response until Mr. Yasue had to go and say he wanted to include musical elements, and I must agree with everyone there that I think that is a horrible idea.

I also think that Treasure Planet and Atlantis would make great worlds! They would just be fantastic places to explore and I feel there is much that can be done with them. I'm not the hugest fan of those movies, but when I think about the worlds I want in a Kingdom Hearts game, I don't think about what my favorite films are. I think about unique worlds that would be interesting to play through. This is the only reason I'm not in the band wagon for a Robin Hood world. Don't get me wrong, I would be super excited to hear of it's inclusion, but I just don't think there is anything wildly interesting about it's environment. Whereas there are many Disney/Pixar films that they could have a blast with.

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

I will be quick and short about this certain movie that we are talking about: I`m pretty sure it will be in it, and I don`t really mind(all though I did not really like it). The thing that kind kind worries me is that KH3 will be came the game where people say: Oh, it`s that game were Frozen is. I know this sounds little silly, but I`am afraid that Frozen steals KHIII spotlight.

Does this make any sense?

 

[Some guy]

Personally, I'm growing a little short with people complaining about the prospect of "that" movie being featured in the game. I'm no big fan either, but everyone is acting as though playing the game will be such a burden if they have to endure a beautiful white world filled with snow. I think people need to stop thinking about how much they disliked the movie, and start thinking about how fun it will be to visit completely new and hopefully beautifully rendered areas with Sora. And if you still don't enjoy the world, so what? There will still be several others, along with the fantastic story Kingdom Hearts III is bound to offer.

Amen to this.

I've enjoyed every KH game to date by keeping an open mind, and KH3 won't be an exception. I mean, it's KH! It can't be that bad.
Even KH2's Atlantica (that everyone and their mothers seem to hate) wasn't that bad, at least gameplay-wise. I also think Osment is a good singer (he's better than me at the very least).

What I want to say is: going into the game with a "Im gonna hate this" mindset isn't how you should play KH ...

Edit: forgot to stay on topic.
Thank you Chaser for finding this, it's exiting getting little clues at how the game will be. However I'm also worried, I hope this means they want to speed up the production, and not that they're underhanded.
But at least this is proof KH3 is actually in production, it seemed like a dream up until now.

 

[WanPisu]

Frozen's definitely in it and I can imagine this jolly "Do you want to build a snowman?" piece by Shimomura being played while wandering around. A full snowy world, unlike NbC and Land of Dragons, could be fun. Storywise? I have my doubts.

Just don't let it be a musical...the risk is too high.


Online features? Don't care.


As for the news, I'm not sure whether to take this as the game being in really early development or if they're trying to speed things. Not much to say.

 

[dgruwez]

Fighting the abominable marshmallow could be a lot of fun though.

 

[Chaser]

I really didn't mean to turn this into a Frozen discussion, I was merely trying to say there are other Disney/Pixar films out there, such as 101 Dalmatians, Monsters Inc and Bambi that also have snow. I did a very bad job of saying it, I know.

As for the news, I'm not sure whether to take this as the game being in really early development or if they're trying to speed things. Not much to say.

They don't say how many people they need for each position, but it just sounds like they need a few extra hands in each department to speed things along. Tai Yasue said at the end of December that the general structure of the teams has been decided, and development was moving ahead so I'd say this is a good thing.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

As for the news, I'm not sure whether to take this as the game being in really early development or if they're trying to speed things. Not much to say.

It should be noted that staff are hired throughout an entire dev cycle, even up until the release and in huge numbers sometimes. It isn't indicative of where the game is development wise. Osaka in general has a small team and would certainly need more hands in order to speed up development/keep up with their schedule/benchmarks.

 

[Keyslinger]

I personally would like to see The Jungle Book or A Bugs Life. I'm excited not matter what. Brave or The Incredibles would be cool too.

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

Osaka in general has a small team and would certainly need more hands in order to speed up development/keep up with their schedule-benchmarks.

Hmm. So we all can agree that KHIII is going to be the biggest KH game in the series till now? I wonder how massive and complex the worlds will be. I remember Nomura stating in an interview how Sora`s jumping ability would be upgraded, so that he could perform huge leaps. That opens up a really good opportunities for exploration, and I think DDD showed us that that aspect of the series is making a return.

 

[Chaser]

Hmm. So we all can agree that KHIII is going to be the biggest KH game in the series till now? I wonder how massive and complex the worlds will be. I remember Nomura stating in an interview how Sora`s jumping ability would be upgraded, so that he could perform huge leaps. That opens up a really good opportunities for exploration, and I think DDD showed us that that aspect of the series is making a return.

It's a given that since there's a massive jump in hardware capabilities that Kingdom Hearts 3 will have a lot in it, and it will be impressive looking.

But in general a small team hiring extra people doesn't automatically mean a bigger game. It just means they're getting people in to help speed the development a long. More people sharing the workload means things get done just a little bit quicker.

 

[Keyslinger]

The Osaka team worked on the HD remix's and if I'm remembering correctly Birth by sleep and I don't remember if they did DDD. I can't wait to see how flowmotion will be implemented in these worlds.