Obituary: Yoshitaka Tamaki, Shining series character artist, has passed away at age 55

Japanese artist Yoshitaka Tamaki passed away earlier in the year at 55 years old. Per Time Extension, Tamaki died in mid-July from lung cancer, and private service was held in his memory at the end of September.

On X, Tamaki's family said at the time that the service "was attended only by close family members."

Born in October 1967, Tamaki was primarily known for being a character designer on Climax Entertainment's games, notably the Shining series. His debut game was as an outline and storyboard artist on 1991's Shining in the Darkness. 

Tamaki's final credited game is 2007's Shining Force EXA as a designer for the game's monsters.

Outside of those Shining games, he wrote (and drew art for) 1992's Landstalker and designed 1994's FEDA: The Emblem of Justice and 1997's FEDA 2: White Surge of the Platoon. In 1997, he formed his own studio Salamander Factory, which helped work on titles such as Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse and Project X Zone. 

In 1999, he joined developer Swallowtails, which is credited with helping development on 2020's Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions.

"I hope that the work that he devoted his life to as a game creator will always be remembered," wrote the Tamaki family. "Thank you very much."