Last year at E3, Natsume released a teaser trailer of its upcoming game, then called Project Happiness. However, the official name has now been revealed, with the game’s new title being HomeTown Story. That’s not to say there won’t be any happiness left, of course…
The creator of the new title is Yasuhiro Wada, who also created the Harvest Moon series. According to an interview he gave to Famitsu, the game will be released this year, and is presently about 50-60% complete.
In HomeTown Story, players will be able to run their own little store in a small town, where naturally there are plenty of characters and stories to be told. Some characters will need your help (which you’ll give in order to progress in the game), and your fairy helper will be around to give you a hand when needed.
As for the character design, its somewhat familiar style comes from Atsuko Nishida, the artist of the Pokémon series—his influence is certainly clear in everything from character design to logo design. And if that wasn’t enough of a star cast for you, the soundtrack is being composed by the one and only Nobuo Uematsu, best known for his work on the music of Final Fantasy.
We’ll see HomeTown Story on the 3DS sometime this year.
