The official account for Yoshitaka Tamaki announced that the artist has died on July 13, 2023, due to lung cancer. He was 55 years old at the time of death. Tamaki previously worked as an illustrator, character designer, and scenario writer for games such as Shining Force, Landstalker, and Alundra.
Because Tamaki wanted to work until the very end, he had been undergoing treatment for cancer. Though the tweet states that he passed in July 2023, the family only made the news public now. He had a private funeral that only his family members and close friends attended, and the tweet states that they hope people will never forget the works he poured his lifeblood into.
You can read the full Twitter post below:
Though the new Shining games enlist Tony Taka as the artist and character designer, Yoshitaka Tamaki was the one who helped to write Shining Force and design its characters. Shining Force follows the story of Max, who has to defeat Kane by resurrecting the Dark Dragon. It uses turn-based combat with RPG-like exploration elements in between. At the time of launch, Shining Force topped Famitsu sales charts and received positive reviews.
Yoshitaka Tamaki died at 55 as a result of lung cancer. His past works and art are still available on his Twitter account.
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