Yoshitaka Tamaki

Photograph of a painting featuring Shining Force characters originally posted on Tamaki's Twitter.

Illustration of the cast of Shining and the Darkness, Yoshitaka Tamaki's first game in the Shining series.

Yoshitaka Tamaki (玉木美孝, Tamaki Yoshitaka) was an artist and game designer whose contributions at Climax Entertainment to the early Shining series include character designs and artwork for Shining and the Darkness and Shining Force: Legacy of the Gods, as well as scenario writing for the latter. Tamaki also wrote and illustrated the serial comic Doom Bladeː Shining and the Darkness Gaiden, which was published over the span of twenty-one issues of the Japanese magazine Mega Drive FAN (メガドライブFAN) starting in February 1992. Doom Blade connects the events of Shining Force and Shining and the Darkness and features characters from both.

Tamaki had left Climax Entertainment by May 1993. After becoming freelance, his later work on the Shining series includes character art for Shining Soul, Shining Soul II, and Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon and monster design for Shining Tears and Shining Force Neo.

Tamaki also provided character design and illustrations for Land Stalker: The Emperor's Treasure, a game developed by Climax Entertainment that was originally to carry the Shining brand, as well as its sequels Lady Stalker and Climax Landers.

At the independent studio Max Entertainment, Tamaki directed the strategy role-playing game FEDA: The Emblem of Justice and its sequel.

Tamaki founded the studio Salamander Factory in 1999 to work independently following his departure from Climax in 1993, though the Salamander name also appears on earlier work.

Yoshitaka Tamaki became the main designer at Swallowtails, a studio founded in in January 2006 with Hisayoshi Tamaki serving as representative director.

Tamaki usually covered his face or used props in photographs, so images of him are rare.

Yoshitaka Tamaki died of lung cancer at the age of fifty-five on July 13, 2023.

Published Statements

Beep! MegaDrive, November 1991, on Shining Force

The following is excerpted from an article in the November 1991 issue of Beepǃ MegaDrive on the development of Shining Force.

Commentary from Tamaki on Shining Force excerpted from the November 1991 issue of Beep! MegaDrive.

Mr. Tamaki's graphics from Shining and the Darkness to Shining Force (シャイダクからシャイニング・フォースへ、グラフィックの玉木し)

As you can see, I was conscious when making the characters of Shining Force to give them a bit more of a realistic touch compared to the characters in Shining and the Darkness. I would say that Shining and the Darkness had a feeling of an action adventure film, and the dungeons that were the focus kind of had a stiff feeling to them. That's why the character designs looked like caricatures.

見るとわかると思うけど、「シャイニング・フォース」のキャラクターたちっていうのはシャイダクのキャラよりも、ちょっとリアルなタッチにしようという意識があったんです。どっちかというとシャイダクは、冒険活劇映画みたいなノリがありましたし、ダンジョンがメインでなんとなく硬質な感じがありましたよね。だからキャラのデザインはけっこうディフォルメしていたんですよ

But in Shining Force you go to more spacious places and your relations are more complex when compared to Shining and the Darkness. I might say the previous game feels more like a fairy tale and this one more like a war spectacle . . . That's why in the second half of the game you see frightening enemies you've never seen before. And there's stuff hidden there. Well, I hope you look forward to the flashy battles in the second half.

だけど、「シャイニング・フォース」のほうはシャイダクよりも行ける場所が広いし、人間関係もかなり複雑になってる。まあ前作が冒険つきの“おとぎ話”みたい感じだったとすれば今回は“戦争スペクタクル”みたいな雰囲気とでもいいますか......。だから、敵のモンスターなんかでも後半のほうにはいままでに見たこともないような恐いキャラもいますよ。こんなのありかってヤツがね。あと、戦闘シーンも後半にいくほどハデになってくるから期待しててほしいですね。

[Caption]

Mr. Tamaki won't show his face for some reason. He's definitely not a rent-a-hero (naturally). Our expectations are high for his new characters (really).

わけがあって顔は出せない玉木氏。けっしてレンタヒーローではない（あたりまえか）。彼の作る新キャラには期待も高い（ホント）。

[Figure]

Shining and the Darkness (シャイニング＆ザ・ダクネス)

The main character didn't leave much of an impression. When's the sequel?

いまいち印象の薄かった前作の主人公。続編はいつ?

Shining Force (シャイニング・フォース)

This time there's lots of companions. Keep in mind the roles they're best suited for . . . Seems wilder than the last guy, right?

今回は仲間も多いので、役どころが気になるが...。前作よりワイルドかな?

Sega Saturn Magazine, September 1995, on The Elder Scrolls: Arena

See: The Elder Scrolls: Arena § Interview with Yoshitaka Tamaki

Dengeki PlayStation Interview on Alundra (1997)

A 1997 developer interview with Alundra staff originally published in Dengeki PlayStation has an English translation on shmuplations.

Animeland, Issue 71, on Salamander Factory and Work History (May 2001)

An English translation of a May 2001 interview originally published in French in issue 71 of Animeland is available on VGDensetsu.

Dorimaga Interview on Shining Soul (October 2001)

See: Shining Soul § Dorimaga Interview with Yoshitaka Tamaki

Tamaki's Message—Shining Soul II Character Create Book (2003)

See: Shining Soul II Character Create Book § Tamaki's Message

Sega.jp—"Creators Note", Vol. 17, on Shining Soul II (2009)

Yoshitaka Tamaki was interviewed for the release of Shining Soul II as part of Sega's "Creators Note" series.

Email Interview with Babel1027 (2018)

Community member Babel1027 sent Yoshitaka Tamaki an email and received the following response on September 19, 2018. Tamaki used machine translation to provide his answers in English.

On Wed, Sep 19, 2018, at 8:45 AM <info@white-surge.secret.jp> wrote:

Thanks for the email

I would be pleased if you could answer your question.

1:do you have any of the development art that you can share for Landstalker, Alundra, ladystalker or Climax Landers(Timestalkers here in the USA)?

→ I have moved away from each title, so I think there is nothing to engage. I'm sorry

2:You made a gaiden manga for shining and the darkness (Doom Blade) was it ever supposed to be part of the shining games?

→That's right. However, time has passed, I will try to make up for the missing parts. I could not do it for games.

3:What was the favorite art you made for any game?

→All titles are the ones that have all the power to do at that time, so all titles are favorites. I am thankful to the players who enjoyed the staff at that time.

4:I am an amateur illustrator, can you offer any advice?

→ I think that I am not a great human being enough to give advice, but I realize that everything I experience in my life is a sample of creation and a material. I think that various experiences (good and bad) will be nutritious. It is always indebted to see and hear many things carefully. How?

5: Was FEDA a result of the DOOMBLADE gaiden manga?

→I am no longer official, but I think that I think that it is a story in the same world.

Since it is a translation of google, there may be a part not to be transmitted, but I am happy if it becomes nutrition of your heart even a little.

Thank you.

from Yoshitaka Tamaki

Artwork Gallery

See: Yoshitaka Tamaki Gallery

Game Credits

Tamaki discusses FEDA Remake! in a 1995 RPG Fan magazine appearance.

The following table is based on information given in the staff credits of the relevant games. Titles of Shining games are in bold.

Release	Title	Credits
1991-03	Shining and the Darkness	Outline and Storyboards
1991-12	Fangs: The Saga of Wolf Blood	Monster design, concept art (uncredited)
1992-03	Shining Force: Legacy of the Gods	Scenario, Character Design, Graphics Direction, Graphics Design
1992-10	Land Stalker	Original Story, Character Design, Item Graphics
1994-10	FEDA: The Emblem of Justice	Direction, Character Design
1995-04	Lady Stalker	Character Design
1995	The Elder Scrolls: Arena (Unreleased Japanese Saturn/PlayStation version)	Main Illustrator
1996-05	FEDA Remake!	Original Story, Character Design
1997-04-11	Alundra	Character Design
1997-04-18	FEDA 2: White Surge the Platoon	Concept Design, Character Design
1999-09	Climax Landers	Character Design
2000	RPG School 4	Character Graphics Main Design, 2D Graphics
2001–2003	Runebrid (Unreleased)	Character Design, Illustration
2002-03	Shining Soul	Character Design
2003-07	Shining Soul II	Character Design
2004-08	Shining Force: Resurrection of the Black Dragon	Character Design
2004-11	Shining Tears	Enemy Design
2005-03	Shining Force Neo	Monster Design
2007-01	Shining Force EXA	Monster Design
2007-03	Spectrobes	Character Design
2008	Impetuth	Character Design, Illustrations

External Links

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/f3PAg2NPxL7Rvtn
• Art studio Swallowtails: https://swallowtails.jp/
• Website: http://white-surge.secret.jp/, [Archived] October 20, 2019
• VGDensetsu profile: http://vgdensetsu.net/2_YoshitakaTamaki.html

Staff Directory

Seeː Who Made the Shining Series?

Shining Staff
Artists	Yoshitaka Tamaki・Hiroshi Kajiyama・SUEZEN・Fumihide Aoki・Shin Yamanouchi・Tony Taka・Masaki Hirooka・Yuriko Nishiyama・pako・Noizi Ito・Shishizaru・HACCAN・Ryota Murayama
Musicians	Masahiko Yoshimura・Motoaki Takenouchi・Motoi Sakuraba
Writers	Masaki Wachi・Sami Shinosaki
Translators	Victor Ireland
Programmers	Kan Naito・Yasuhiro Taguchi・P. E. Jareth Hein
Directors	Kenji Orimo
Producers	Hiroyuki Takahashi・Shugo Takahashi・Tsuyoshi Sawada
Related Staff
Artists	Masanori Sato
Translators	Jon Rodgers