October 7th, 2012 | By Emerson Smith
Tagged in: americana dawn | chiptune | historical | juri hayasaka | maxwell tattnall | RPG | soundtrack | story
Last March, Americana Dawn, a retro, Japanese-styled RPG set around the American War of Independence, met its Kickstarter goal. Since then, Maxwell Tattnall has been hard at work creating the greatest historical fiction he can. In his latest update, he revealed that the art for Americana Dawn is being created by Juri Hayasaka.
In a Kickstarter update, Tattnall stated, “I was very worried that I could not find artists who could convey what I wanted. I am not fond with realism, and I do not want Western comic book styled artwork for this game…I was very lucky Juri signed on.” Juri’s skills as an artist have her works ranging from a variety of realistic portraits to more fantastical creatures and encounters.
As well as being appealing to the eye, Americana Dawn is also boasting a beautiful soundtrack. Composer Samuel Ascher-Weiss created retro chip-tunes that fit the visual style with Juri Hayasaka’s artwork for the game. Archer-Weiss explained the music as, “…written to emulate the sound of SPC700 chip found inside the old Super Nintendo Entertainment system. Just under 30 instruments all made from tiny 32khz waveforms with a Gaussian filter applied. Songs must never exceed 7 Channels of sound at any given time …. Following this rule will preserve a crisp and authentic feel.”
For the uninitiated, Americana Dawn is a game based on historical fiction taking place in during the early years of America and will feature a highly-detailed, explorable world viewed through the eyes of a spirit, Rarascau, who is the last among his kind. Immortal to all but despair, he borrows the likeness of a human named Alfred and witnesses the brutality of America’s history under the colonists’ banner.
You can learn more by visiting Americana Dawn‘s website, as well as check out some more of Juri Hayasaka’s artwork and Samuel Ascher-Weiss’ music.
Emerson Smith (73 posts)
I am an independent developer currently in school. I've designed smaller flash games as well as some larger projects. During the summer I teach game design with iD Tech Camps and during the school year I write for The Indie Game Magazine as well as other incredibly awesome extracurricular activities.