Final Fantasy Tactics writer/director Yasumi Matsuno is collaborating with Playdek on two new mobile games.
You could probably say that Yasumi Matsuno has already made a fairly substantial mark on the role-playing genre. In addition to working as the director on classics like Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen and Tactics Ogre, he also wrote and directed Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story and worked on Final Fantasy XII. In short, the man could pretty much call it day and still have accomplished more than many others in the game industry. That being the case, Matsuno is pressing forward with new projects geared toward the mobile market.
Working in collaboration with digital tabletop developer Playdek, Matsuno will be developing the lore and story for two games taking place in the new fantasy world of Rasfalia. The first, Unsung Story, will be a digital card game due for release next year. The second will be a tactical strategy game where the player takes on the role of an ordinary soldier fighting in a conflict between nine Rasfalian countries, each with different races, cultures and religions.
His role in these titles will be less managerial than in prior projects. “In the past, I was deeply involved as director of games,” he said. “But this time I wanted to participate in the project as an original story game creator.” He went on to explain that while he likes making games for traditional platforms he has recently enjoyed playing on mobile platforms and would like to explore them as a developer. “I thought this [collaboration with Playdek] is going to be a perfect match. I appreciate the quality of the mobile games being released in the U.S.” Despite Matsuno’s focus on mobile however, there is a chance that these new titles could find homes on consoles and handhelds at some point in the future. “We’re creating our core engine to be platform agnostic,” said Playdek CEO Joel Goodman. “We do plan on putting it in as many gamers hands as possible.”
Source: Polygon
