Project Phoenix - Japan's Indie Game Featuring AAA Talent
TOKYO... Project Phoenix today announced their intention to set up a Kickstarter to develop a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) combined with Real Time Strategy (RTS). Uniting top developers from the East and West, Project Phoenix is the brainchild of game developer Hiroaki Yura, the founder of Creative Intelligence Arts. This fresh take on the JRPG genre features the art direction of Kiyoshi Arai, who brings experience from Final Fantasy XII and XIV, and music headed up by Nobuo Uematsu, the legendary composer of the Final Fantasy series, marking Uematsu's first ever commitment to an independent game project.
“For 25 years, I've been working on a lot of video game music like the Final Fantasy series. This is the first time I've worked on an independent game,” says Uematsu, Project Phoenix's lead composer. “Although it's fun to create a game within a large company, I've always been interested in being able to work in a small, passionate independent games team. I'm really looking forward to it.”
The development team members have an impressive array of credits, including the Final Fantasy series, Halo 4, Crysis 3, L.A. Noire, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Soulcalibur V, Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Steins;Gate Fuka Ryōiki no Déjà vu, and much more. Several of the members are yet to be announced, including a secret designer from a leading anime mecha title that changed the course of Japanese pop culture's influence in the world.
The Project Phoenix Kickstarter is seeking $100,000 to fund the programming and artistic development of the game. Backers have the opportunity to secure digital and limited edition physical copies of the title, along with the chance to be featured as non-playable characters such as a bar owner with their own personal musical theme composed by Uematsu. Stretch goals also include the creation of additional areas, graphics and cinematics, as well as the talents of Grammy Award winning sound engineer John Kurlander (Lord of the Rings trilogy, Skyrim, The Beatles) and the Eminence Symphony Orchestra bringing the music of Uematsu and his co composers to life.
Players will follow the story of the amnesiac angel, Ruffles, who has landed in the world of Azuregard and encounters the troubled Templar, Marcus Stern. Together with the elven princess Sylrianah, who is reserved but curious to see the world beyond the forest, and Zarum the Lost, a battlemage with his own internal conflicts, they form an unlikely bond. These four heroes must discover their place in a world brought to war by misunderstanding and ignorance, and perhaps ultimately even save it from itself.
Project Phoenix is a sprawling adventure where you will travel and battle enemies across Azuregard. The game departs from traditional JRPG conventions through its use of RTS elements, yielding a combat system that is fast paced and dynamic. Furthermore, players can have their characters interact with environmental terrain features, be it rope bridges or boulders, to create tactical advantages.
Project Phoenix is scheduled for release in mid 2015 for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. Excited fans can venture to http://projectphoenix.info to learn more about the game's development and join the community forums. Game director Hiroaki Yura and team members will be there to answer fan questions about the development of Project Phoenix.
About Project Phoenix
Project Phoenix is Kickstarter's first Japan based video game project that brings in top talents from around the world. Founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2013, Project Phoenix will be working on its squad based real time strategy game combined with Japanese RPG design influences, with the goal of releasing it to worldwide audiences by mid 2015. Visit http://projectphoenix.info and http://twitter.com/PhoenixJRPG for more information.
