As the newest title in the decades-old iconic fighting game series, TEKKEN 8 faced the challenge of bringing its unique style onto home consoles, which required a higher quality of art direction and production. Developers at Bandai Namco upgraded and streamlined their production processes with powerful visual production tools and game engines to create a highly detailed world and roster, trading off neither production time nor the players’ immersion.

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In January 2024, TEKKEN 8, the fighting game franchise’s first new title in nine years, was released for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Games in the TEKKEN series are typically developed first for arcade machines, with additional elements added for home editions. However, TEKKEN 8 was built primarily for home consoles. Therefore, its assets had to be high-quality at launch while maintaining the game’s famous style and diversity in characters and settings. The TEKKEN 8 art team at Bandai Namco Studios explained how they used Autodesk game development solutions to push through these production challenges.
Staff Interviewed from Bandai Namco Studios
(from left in the photo)
Character Model Artist: Nao Yuzawa
Art Director: Hiroshi Asai
Lead Environmental Artist: Katsushi Okazaki
Lead Environmental Artist: Tomohiro Abe

Returning to form with strong tool integration
As the first new release in nine years, TEKKEN 8 is packed with content to delight fans. The game features 32 characters, 15 stages, and about 100 minutes of movie scenes in the main story. Each character has an original story content of one to two minutes, and the total length of the cinematics alone is twice as long as the previous title. Given the improvements in functionality and quality of the content, TEKKEN 8 required about three to four times as much development time as the previous title.
Throughout the early stages of TEKKEN 8’s development, updates and downloadable content for the previous title, TEKKEN 7, were still being developed. Therefore, work on this title began without the core members of the planning and engineering staff, which challenged the team’s resources.
The team used Maya to model characters, backgrounds, and various props, and MotionBuilder for animation. The game itself runs on the popular games industry engine Unreal Engine 5 (UE), which was linked to Autodesk’s software with the plugin “Unreal LiveLink for Maya.”
Tomohiro Abe, the Lead Artist responsible for production, explained his vision of linking cinematic cutscenes with actual gameplay.
“I think that creating characters and backgrounds in Maya and cinematography in UE are highly compatible with game direction, where battles and cutscenes are seamlessly connected. Rather than creating a video based on a single cinematic, the team produces a comprehensive piece of work that takes into account the player’s experience during battle,” Tomohiro Abe said.

“Compared to previous TEKKEN titles, we focused on conveying a perspective that has a more story-like and profound feel. Plus, we reemphasized a satisfying and exhilarating feeling of destruction in the form of art while retaining TEKKEN’s long-running style,” Hiroshi Asai said. “I think it was challenging to create artwork that was consistent with TEKKEN 8’s style and worldview into its publishing and branding stages.”
Raising the bar for TEKKEN character designs
TEKKEN 8 places a special focus on its story mode. The characters and background models were created through the lens and intentions of its concept art. Artists aimed to convey fresh details and portrayals worthy of being precedents for future TEKKEN projects, while
keeping these familiar characters’ previous stories and settings in mind. They paid special attention to bringing out these models’ characteristics.
“I thought it’d be effective to try and build interesting, innovative materials on these models and make them stand out,” said character artist Nau Yuzawa. “Therefore, I was conscious in giving objects and textures more volume than in other titles and focused on making them have impressive texture and detail.”



The character models in this game are the same in both the battle screens and the cinematic portions. In the demo and victory cinematics, when the camera zooms in for a close-up, the model maintains its quality of detail.
“As I saw it, I thought that the details of the torsos and eyes were very finely crafted,” said Tomohiro Abe. “Therefore, I was able to choreograph and create angles for the victory poses confidently, including moving the camera as close as possible to get a close-up of the facial expressions.”
Katsushi Okazaki, Lead Environment Artist, also laughed about this detail. “The camera rarely zooms in during battle, but when you zoom in with our developer editor, the quality is unbelievable. I wish they had divided some of that capacity up for the environment team.”
Nao Yuzawa spoke to the reasoning for the high level of craftsmanship in TEKKEN 8, which had to do in part with the prior game’s longer lifespan: “Just as TEKKEN 7 became a long-lasting title with updates and DLC, we believed that TEKKEN 8 would operate the same way, so we needed to make it a quality that would last a long time.”

When it came to costumes, the art team focused on how they would look during battles, paying particular attention to creating a sense of volume.
“If the creases in the clothes were monotonous and had a matte texture, they would blend in with the background when viewed from above on stage, and it would look bad,” Yuzawa explained. “As a result, even if we showed them off mid-motion, they would be hard to recognize and look low quality. So we tried to add in stronger creases and make them look good even when the camera pulls back.”

Custom processes for customizable character costume design
One of the goals was to reproduce the original concept illustrations for costumes. As a result, they set up strict regulations for texture control. To achieve consistent quality, they prepared a customization tool for texture that was integrated into Autodesk’s modeling tools, helping them to make detailed texture adjustments.
In the tool settings, IDs are assigned to each part using masks, and the final look is adjusted by coloring the grayscale texture in UE. For example, in areas where we want to emphasize the texture in the design drawing, we created a detailed map according to the ID content and made adjustments that focused on the texture of the fine details.







To avoid any major differences, regardless of which ID the detailed map is applied to, there were three guidelines:
1. Keep the UV size constant within the model
2. Avoid distorting the UV as much as possible
3. Always keep the UV orientation the same
This makes it easier to control the quality when adjusting the texture for things with similar textures.
The game’s costumes range from character-specific to customizable. As for the skinning of the model in general, in order to make it possible for a variety of characters to wear it, “squeezing bones” are applied to each combination of upper body, lower body, and shoes, and the UE is devised to prevent any protrusions.
For example, for shoes, the bones are made thinner so that the hem does not sink in and the ankles are not visible. The model was moved in UE to find out which motions would protrude, and the motions were loaded back into Maya, where the protruding points were identified, and the weights were corrected.




Leaning into the quirks of TEKKEN’s diverse roster
The characters’ faces and expressions posed another unique challenge.
“I added wrinkles appropriate to their age, while expressing each character’s small sagging skin, and I tried to create the characters without straying from the strong impression players have of them in publicity art,” said Yuzawa. “I tried to avoid the creepiness of a doll and create it based on the image of the character that the player has in mind.”
Each character in the TEKKEN series has a unique aesthetic that mixes anime-like and somewhat — but not extremely — photorealistic style.
“I had to find a compromise that is difficult to put into words,” Asai said.

Yuzawa agreed that they had to find the right balance. “If it were completely photorealistic, it would look unnatural, so we added some deformed parts, which gives it a ‘TEKKEN’ feel.”
The team used the “GS CurveTools Maya” plugin to create the characters’ distinctive hairstyles. These unique hairstyles are an important element in bringing out TEKKEN characters’ charm, so they had to be of high quality.
The character design and creation process then had to be applied to the full roster.
“All 32 characters have their unique characteristics—and we even prepared separate costumes for each one, so the amount of data was enormous. It was also difficult to figure out how much detail we should give to the characters so that they wouldn’t get lost in the crowd compared to other games,” Yuzawa said.
Building TEKKEN 8 stages with ‘density, heaviness, and destruction’



All environment modeling in TEKKEN 8 was accomplished on Maya, then merged into UE. Stage design was done by first creating a simple model (white box) based on the concept art, then verifying the sense of size and ease of play.
After that, the team play-tested with the planner and director to confirm the purpose of the stage, what they wanted to convey to the player, and what unique fun they wanted players to get out of the final product, and then the team would get to work on the actual assets.


Since UE is characteristically designed with “building block”-like elements, artistic effects such as dirt and tilting textures are added to prevent droll elements when the stage is repeated. For example, in the hangar stage, while the wall parts are made individually, the trick is to go in-depth with textured backdrops to look more interesting.
“For assets that can be repeated in UE, we used modeling and texturing with general output so that they would not look unnatural even when placed continuously,” Okazaki said. “We also reduced repetition by mixing up the models and textures.”



Overall, the design vision for TEKKEN 8’s playable stages, where characters fight each other all around the 3D-style stage, was “density, massiveness, and destruction.”
Players can actually destroy parts of these stages mid-game when they pull off certain battle actions. To make this happen for each stage, the teams needed to create separate models for those specific breakable areas and objects.




Models of buildings and other structures were created in Maya. Vertexes in the same position are merged, invisible faces are deleted, and rendering processing is reduced as much as possible.
The team used the Maya plugin “Pulldownit” for the stage destruction animations and “cracking” visualizations for the environment. The process incorporates physical behavior into the destruction animations and simulates multiple patterns, never reusing the same movement twice to create a natural impression of destructive chaos.
Simple shaking and splashing animations were also done by hand. Physics calculations were hardly used, as they would have been too resource-heavy to process.
A distinctive feature of “Pulldownit” is that keyframes are set for the simulation, but Okazaki said that this did not come without challenges.
“We needed to ensure 60fps throughout these actions, so we struggled to achieve quality within the limits of our resources,” said Okazaki. Framerates are important to fighting game players in order to maintain gameplay consistency.
They created the textures with Substance Painter and by tiling textures. Okazaki explained that when it comes to creating background and setting textures, “it’s important to observe what kind of scratches and dirt will appear in this environment.”
Plus, when it comes to creating a sense of density, “you need to have a keen eye to arrange things naturally.”
As an artist generally, he stressed that “observing scenery regularly, such as sand and dead leaves on the side of the road, and doing exercises such as landscape sketches will help artists create better backgrounds.”



“If you simply tile the walls of a building, it will inevitably have a repetitive feel, so we used the UE material to apply a noise texture in world coordinates (WorldAligned) to reduce the repetitive feel,” said Okazaki.
Taking even silly settings seriously
The asset creation of TEKKEN 8 was initially aimed at a more photorealistic direction, going as far as the research stages, but once approvals started taking place, the appropriate amount of realism for the game’s art style was adjusted.
As a result, they incorporated a certain degree of characterized elements, including lighting, until the style found its current form.
The most particularly difficult setting was the “meteorite” stage. As tough as it was, there’s always a lingering essence of absurdity throughout the TEKKEN series.
“The best part of TEKKEN is doing silly things in a serious way,” Asai said. “In the end, it’s not as funny unless it’s executed with high quality. When conveying the realism of space, stones and the like naturally float. But rather than pursuing that as its own playful element,
we pursued the standard gameplay feel and asked that destroyed objects fall to the ground. I think the contradiction and balance between play and realism was difficult to perfect.”
Creating resonant, memorable animation performances
The fateful battle between TEKKEN icons Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima received extra design attention. It was designed and staged to give a sense of space.
“Rather than a simple visual spectacle, we wanted the player to have an emotional experience,” said Tomohiro Abe, Cinematic Director.
In fighting games, the player’s attention is certainly captured by the action of the battle and its outcome. However, the character’s appeal is largely dependent on the power of the character’s conveyance up to that point.
“The cinematics team always thought about bringing out the characters’ personalities, whether through movements and gestures, layouts and camera work,” Abe said. “This way, the characters really exist in that world, and players can empathize with the characters’ intentions and feelings as they fight.”

For example, the personality and background of the powerful Cinematic Directorwas created by carefully directing the layout, background, and even the way he sits down in order to create a sense of loneliness and deification despite his strength.
In addition, designers paid attention to the relationships between the characters. They provided careful detail not only for the main cinematics for each character, but also the dialogue in their introduction and victory scenes. Such depth of character interpretation is distinctive in the 30-year history of the TEKKEN series.
Even in this latest title, there are some new faces in the 32-character roster. The cinematics team worked with other departments to flesh them out.
“The new character, Reina, is set to have two sides,” said Abe. “We received data from not only the scenario team, but also a motion capture actor and voice actor to develop ideas for what she would be like.”








The cinematics team creates cinematics based on the scenario, and so they ask themselves: How do they want the player to feel at each twist and turn? They consider the timing and length of each moment to direct the cinematics most effectively.
“We had to consider whether we were able to achieve an epic story,” Abe said. “It wasn’t just meant to be like a movie, but also part of an interesting game experience, so it was a difficult but fun task.”
The animations for different types of motions are divided among various development teams. The planning team handles the battle motions, the entrance and victory scenes are handled by the planners and animators, and the direction team handles the story parts.
A director from a partnered company also joined the process, providing direction to ensure it was the best way to express the characters.
This is where MotionBuilder animation software could shine.
“Its real-time capabilities were convenient,” Abe said. “Even when filming with high-mesh, high-definition character and cinematics models loaded into the software, the frame rate was maintained, and we were able to check every aspect on the spot thoroughly. That way, even if a model needed to climb uneven ground or touch something, we could make real-time adjustments on-location to match the 3D model to the actor.”



During certain TEKKEN 8 movies, there are scenes that would be impossible to capture with actors in real life, such as when characters fight in the air. In those cases, the team planned the layout on the storyboard and created simple animatic trajectories in Maya and
MotionBuilder. They then refined the motions. After this capture stage, they adjusted the layout again, and edited additional cuts.
Shifting the subtleties of a smile
When performing facial work on Unreal Engine, the team used the plugin “Unreal LiveLink for Maya.”
They applied lighting and other aspects, and they adjusted facial expressions in real time while viewing the final design, making for an intuitive creative process.
“The main thing I did was check how the face looked at each moment. LiveLink was a very important function in eliminating the barriers between tools,” said Abe.




It turns out the most difficult part of directing the facial expression was making the character smile.
“We had to think carefully about how the character was feeling when they were smiling,” Abe explained. “To create a subtle smile rather than a full-on smile, we simultaneously looked at the final output and adjusted the lighting to find the best expression. We spent a lot of time searching for it together with our partner companies.”
In addition, with an attractive character with large eyes and mouth, it was difficult to create consistent expressions or to express specific ones while in motion, so lighting and camera adjustments down to the millimeter were necessary.






Working towards style and standards with flexible game development software
When asked about the tools used in the project and modeling in general, Asai encouraged young artists to practice their styles in industry-trusted tools like Maya.
“In game production, which largely involves 3D projects, Maya is the core tool for modeling work. There are many useful tools available, but in the end, I think that your own creativity and sense will always be tested in the creation of things, so I hope that students and young creators will work hard to hone their skills and use them as their own weapons.”
Yuzawa praised Maya’s versatility: “Using Maya, you can work consistently from modeling to material construction and rendering. Maya is a highly expandable and useful tool in the workplace, so I would like to see it used more assertively from now on.”
He then touched on the evolving utility of generation tools for Maya, explaining that “as a character modeler, I would like to use AI for skinning and UV work so that I can devote more time to artistic work, and concentrate carefully on artistic modeling.”
Okazaki has been using Maya for 20 years. “Not only is it easy to use, but it’s also highly versatile and customizable, so you can build a style that suits your development environment,” he said.

Abe recommends Maya for its stability and consistency. “The important thing about a tool is that it can quickly, accurately, and with high quality produce exactly what you want when you output,” he explained. “I think Maya is an excellent tool with a long history and high reliability.”
He also praises the easy transition between Autodesk suite tools and third-party software such as Unreal Engine.
“Each DCC tool has its own strengths, and creators will choose the one that’s best for them, but the linkage between them is important.”
TEKKEN 8 was built with the strengths and adaptability of the artists combined with powerful tools. The final product embodies the uncompromising visions the team members created, packed with diverse ideas and innovative handiwork that gives fighting games their beloved, multifaceted depth.
TEKKEN especially brings a world full of originality and vibrancy that fighting game fans can’t get enough of — all thanks to a team’s dedicated, hard work and flexible solutions.
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