About the Concept Behind My Hanafuda Game

Hello, this is Yuu!

This week was mostly about polishing rather than implementing new features. I spent most of my time fine-tuning things like how the cards move and how they feel when placed on the table. Choosing to make the game in 3D seemed like a casual decision at first, but I’ve started to regret it a little. Before I knew it, another week had passed just adjusting the UI.

Since that alone doesn’t make for a very interesting update, I’d like to talk about the concept behind this project and how it differs from my previous game.

Hanafuda itself is a fascinating and surprisingly deep card game. However, I think many people see it as something old-fashioned, like a cheap deck of cards sitting in the corner of a game store. It’s probably not a genre that feels particularly fresh to most players.

My previous project was a strip mahjong game, so making a strip hanafuda game would have been the obvious direction. This time, however, I want to focus less on defeating AI opponents and more on creating an experience that feels like a true tabletop game with player-versus-player matches.

For that reason, the heroine will still appear in the game, but this time she will be a playable character rather than the focus of a story mode. I don’t plan to include individual character stories.

Instead, I’d like the game’s systems to be what sets it apart. While researching hanafuda, I discovered that there isn’t a single universally accepted ruleset. Even Nintendo’s hanafuda rules are just one variation among many. Depending on the region, there are countless local rules and unique yaku, making hanafuda much more flexible than I had originally expected.

Most digital versions of Koi-Koi only let players choose whether to enable common optional yaku, such as Hanami-zake or Tsukimi-zake. For this project, I’d like to go a step further by supporting lesser-known regional yaku and allowing players to enjoy online matches with customizable rule sets.