Akira Toriyama, the manga artist behind the franchise Dragon Ball, has died aged 68.

The news was announced by Bird Studio, his production studio, which said that he passed away from acute subdural hematoma on March 1.

While Toriyama was recognized internationally for creating Dragon Ball, he was also involved with game development for decades.

Since 1986, he served as the character and monster designer on the Dragon Quest RPG series. His game credits also include working on Square Enix’s Chrono Trigger and Microsoft Game Studios’ Blue Dragon.

Sand Land, based on Toriyama’s 2000 post-war manga, will receive both an anime and video game adaptation this year.

As translated by Gematsu, he was eulogized on social media by longtime collaborator and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Hori.

He said, “I am still in overwhelming disbelief at the news of Toriyama’s sudden death…In the 37 years since, [Toriyama] has designed characters, monsters, and created countless more charming characters [for Dragon Quest]. The history of Dragon Quest goes hand in hand with Toriyama’s character designs.”