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Aya Kyogoku

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Aya Kyogoku
Kinh cực あや
Born1981 or 1982[1]
Osaka,Japan[2]
Occupation(s)Video game director and producer
Employers
Notable workAnimal Crossing
TitleManager ofNintendo EPDProduction Group No. 5 (2019–present)

Aya Kyogoku(Japanese:Kinh cực あや,Hepburn:Kyōgoku Aya,bornc.1981)is a Japanese video game director and producer. She is the current manager ofNintendo'sEntertainment Planning & Development(EPD) Production Group No. 5, which oversees theAnimal Crossing,Splatoon,andWii Sportsfranchises. Kyogoku is best known for her work onAnimal Crossing,where she has alternately served as a producer, director, and supervisor since 2008.

Career

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Kyogoku began her career in 2000 at the video game companyAtlusbefore joiningNintendoin September 2003.[1][3]While at Atlus, she served as an Assistant Planner for the Dreamcast titledeSPIRIAand Assistant Director for thePlayStation 2titleWizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Landbefore moving to Nintendo.[4][5]At Nintendo, Kyogoku worked as a scriptwriter onThe Legend of Zelda: Four Swords AdventuresandThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,work for which she won aGame Developers Choice Award.[1][6]

In 2008, she worked as a sequence director onAnimal Crossing: City Folk,where she was responsible for script writing and all elements relating to non-player character behavior and dialogue.[1][7]Kyogoku andIsao Morojointly served as directors ofAnimal Crossing: New Leaf,the 2012 sequel toCity Folk.[8]Following the mixed critical and commercial performance ofCity Folk,Kyogoku sought to "get back to the series' roots" inNew Leaf.[9]In 2015, Kyogoku produced theAnimal Crossingspin-off titleHappy Home Designer.[10]In 2019, she was named as Manager of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development (EPD) Production Group No. 5, a position previously held byHisashi Nogamibefore he was promoted at Deputy General Manager of Nintendo EPD.[1][11]She directedAnimal Crossing: New Horizons,the fifth main series title in theAnimal Crossingseries, in 2020.[1]Following the extensive critical and commercial success ofNew Horizons,Kyogoku has received media attention from both video-game and non-video-game media outlets alike, being dubbed “Nintendo’s Rising Star and Secret Weapon.”[12][13][14]

Serving as the director ofAnimal Crossing: New Leaf,Kyogoku became the first woman to direct a video game at Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD).[1][11]After noting that she was frequently the only woman on development teams, Kyogoku andNew LeafproducerKatsuya Eguchihired a team that was half female; Kyogoku also encouraged all individuals on the development team to contribute ideas for the game, regardless of their role on the project.[15][16]Kyogoku credits the diversity of the team forNew Leaf's critical and commercial success,[1][16]stating that "when you are trying to create something that will appeal to many types of people, I have experienced how beneficial it is to have diversity on your team"[9]and “it is very exciting to be able to have different types of people on the development team.”[17]When asked for a message to women who would like to work in the game industry during a Nintendo Developer Chat, Kyogoku responded, “if you want to, please join! I’ll be so happy if we can work together.”[17]

Furthermore, Kyogoku has been praised for broadening the series' appeal "beyond the typical teenage-male demographic.”[12]Notably,Animal Crossing: New Horizonsexpanded visibility and representation through increased character customization options, including skin tone options and gender-neutral hairstyles that the player can switch between freely. Kyogoku explained that these options are "not just about gender," but rather the sentiment that "society is shifting to valuing a lot of people's different identities."[13]She explained further that “we basically wanted to create a game where users didn't really have to think about gender or if they wanted to think about gender, they're also able to."[13]

Works

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Year Game Credit(s)
2000 deSPIRIA[ja] Assistant planner[4]
2001 Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land Assistant director[5]
2004 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Scriptwriter[18]
2006 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
2008 Animal Crossing: City Folk Sequence director[7]
2012 Animal Crossing: New Leaf Director[8]
2013 Animal Crossing Plaza Producer[19]
2015 Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival Director[20]
2016 Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo Producer[8]
2017 Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Supervisor[21]
2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Director[1]

References

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  1. ^abcdefghiWoitier, Chloé (18 June 2019)."Ikumi Nakamura, Aya Kyogoku... les créatrices de jeux vidéo mises à l'honneur durant l'E3 2019".Le Figaro(in French).Retrieved12 February2020.
  2. ^Garcia, Eddie (2015)."Nintendo E3 2015 Press Kit".Nintendo.Retrieved21 March2020.
  3. ^Davidson, Ty (29 March 2016)."Aya Kyogoku: Nintendo's Rising Star and Secret Weapon".Goomba Stomp.Retrieved12 February2020.
  4. ^ab"deSPIRIA – Credits".GameFAQs.Retrieved12 February2020.
  5. ^ab"Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land – Credits".GameFAQs.Retrieved12 February2020.
  6. ^"Aya Kyogoku".IMDb.Retrieved16 March2021.
  7. ^ab"Iwata Asks - Animal Crossing: City Folk".Nintendo.Retrieved12 February2020.
  8. ^abc"Iwata Asks - Animal Crossing: New Leaf".Nintendo.Retrieved12 February2020.
  9. ^abMcWhertor, Michael (19 March 2014)."Animal Crossing: New Leaf director says team diversity, communication core to its success".Polygon.Retrieved12 February2020.
  10. ^"Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer devs – spin-off origins, decision to focus on house creation, more".Nintendo Everything.20 September 2015.Retrieved12 February2020.
  11. ^ab"Nintendo promotes Aya Kyogoku, Hisashi Nogami, Eiji Aonuma, and Yoshihito Ikebata".Nintendo Everything.14 June 2019.Retrieved12 February2020.
  12. ^ab"Aya Kyogoku and Hisashi Nogami, the Humans Behind Animal Crossing".Bloomberg.com.3 December 2020.Retrieved16 March2021.
  13. ^abcFavis, Elise."Nintendo explains philosophy behind Animal Crossing's big changes, such as gender expression and terraforming".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved16 March2021.
  14. ^"Aya Kyogoku: Nintendo's Rising Star and Secret Weapon".Goomba Stomp.29 March 2016.Retrieved16 March2021.
  15. ^"Nintendo's New Key to Creativity: More Women".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved16 March2021.
  16. ^abHudson, Laura (28 March 2014)."Nintendo's New Key to Creativity: More Women".Wired.Archived fromthe originalon 3 June 2014.Retrieved9 February2020.
  17. ^abNintendo - Developer Chat with Aya Kyogoku and Risa Tabata,retrieved16 March2021
  18. ^"Iwata Asks - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess".Nintendo.Retrieved12 February2020.
  19. ^Doolan, Liam (8 December 2014)."Animal Crossing Plaza Service Stops At the End of This Month".Nintendo Life.Gamer Network.Retrieved1 February2020.
  20. ^Parish, Jeremy (9 July 2015).""Honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo": Nintendo's Aya Kyogoku on Evolving The Series ".USGamer.Gamer Network.Retrieved12 February2020.
  21. ^Weber, Rachel (20 December 2017)."Nintendo explains how it added microtransactions to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp without pissing me off".GamesRadar.Retrieved12 February2020.

Further reading

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