Toejam and Earl creator working on unique Sony game

Greg Johnson, best known for creating the Toejam and Earl series, is hiring staff for a new project - and it sounds very, very interesting.

Superannuation noted two positions vacant ads for Johnson's company, HumaNature Studios.

A now-inactive posting for a lead designer on Gamasutra mentiosn HumanNature is working on "a new first party title for a major Japanese publisher".

"The game is sweet and charming and very quirky. It targets a cross-gender audience and a broad age-range in the US, Japan, Korea, and Europe. It also happens to push the boundaries of interactive emotional A.I. and visual story-telling," the ad claims.

The position calls for "a wild imagination" and "a love of innovation" and a knowledge of "different approaches to UI, reward systems, state-based A.I., goal-oriented, and open-ended game structures". The ad name drops ICO, Beyond Good and Evil, Animal Crossing, Scribblenauts and Little Big Planet.

"You should care about making the world a better place," it adds.

Meanwhile, in a casual post on Tech-Artists.org, Johnson himself dispels any doubt as to the publisher's identity, describing the game as "a new title directly for Sony that is cute and filled with quirky personality".

"It's also super innovative in the area of emotional AI and personality simulation. It designed for both male and female players, and will be marketed in the U.S. and in Japan."

No official comment from Sony has ben forthcoming, but we're putting $5 on "Vita" and $3 on "Play.Create.Share". HumanNature is responsible for Deko Deko Mail, a quirky messaging system, and its website suggests it expects to expand the Deko Deko line to other releases.