Following is a slightly edited announcement made earlier this week at /r/roguelikes.
Hi,
I wanted to share a game I've been working on for about a year now. Skip to the links at the end if you want to check it out at once. Otherwise I thought I'd write a bit on how this game came to be and its current state.
First and foremost, it was born out of affection for the genre (roguelikes are awesome!) and desire to make my very own shiny new roguelike (people who make roguelikes are awesome too, right?). Secondly, I wanted something I could play on the go in short bursts: being able to escape reality 10-20 minutes at a time is a precious thing. Finally, it had to have a setting that resonated with me on a personal level.
Enter Yōdanji*.
Have you ever heard of Yuki-Onna? She is a pretty famous (and just pretty) yōkai. "Yōkai" itself is a broad term that incorporates all sorts of spirits, ghosts and monsters from Japanese folk tales. Even if you've never heard of Yuki-Onna specifically, those tales are intertwined with Japanese pop culture so tightly, and Japanese pop culture is so everywhere (yōkai watch, anyone?) you've probably encountered them one way or another.
I personally am very fond of those, and when you like a thing, you want to share it. Making a game, as any act of creation, presents an opportunity to share what we love while simultaneously making it our own through interpretation. And one couldn't ask for a better source of inspiration - yōkai made for perfect game characters with their unique appearance, powers and quirks.
So here it is, out today for Google Play (iOS version coming a bit later (soon!)). The game is by no means huge in scope**, but I think it's fun enough to die a hundred times or so.
Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions - shoot.
*Yōdanji is 妖談寺 in romaji, which could mean "Temple of yōkai stories" and any number of other things. It's all about yōkai, after all! Also sounds a bit like yōkai dungeon, maybe?
**it features a single dungeon with two game modes and a tutorial floor. The amount of playable characters is substantial, though, since I took "treat player and monsters the same way" mantra and extended it to make all monsters playable. Yep, even lowly skeletons, which you can possess.
Yōdanji home pageYōdanji on Google Play
