Development Update #4: Creating a Sense of Childhood

In our previous update, we talked about the importance of the Oni as one of the core elements that define KAKUREONI.

As a follow-up to our previous update,

“ Why did we choose this particular design for the children?”

That's what we'd like to talk about today!✨

Games Are About “the Experience”

There’s a phrase we come back to again and again while developing KAKUREONI.

“Games are all about the experience”

To put it more simply, our goal is to create a game that lets players feel like they're truly playing make-believe.

Remember playing hide-and-seek as a child?

Running around until sunset, holding your breath and staying perfectly still so you wouldn't be found.

KAKUREONI started from the idea of reimagining that childhood experience as a modern horror game.

That's why the character players control—the one who represents us in the game—was such an important part of the design process.

We didn't want players to simply control a character.

We wanted them to feel as though they had become a child in that world.

Creating a Stronger Sense of Childhood

For the Oni to feel truly frightening, there needed to be a contrast—a stronger sense of innocence.

That was the very first thing we focused on when working on this design update.

Smaller bodies. A sense of vulnerability. Slightly unbalanced silhouettes.

And the uniquely Japanese nostalgia carried by school uniforms and *randoseru backpacks.

(*randoseru is a traditional backpack carried by Japanese elementary school students)

All of these elements come together to create a sense that these are the ones who need protecting.

In horror games, vulnerability is an important emotion.

Players naturally feel more tension when they're thinking,

"Will this kid be okay?"

than when they're playing as a strong and capable hero.

In KAKUREONI, that's a feeling we place a great deal of importance on.

Building Symbols Instead of Explaining the World

Another major goal

was creating something that could serve as a symbol of the game itself.

For example, zombie stories often feature things like special forces units, firearms, or quarantined cities—visual cues that instantly tell you what kind of world you're looking at.

We spent a lot of time discussing what that symbol should be for KAKUREONI.

Through those discussions, one image kept standing out:

"a child carrying a randoseru backpack."

For many Japanese people, the randoseru is deeply tied to childhood memories.

The evening chime heard on the way home from school. The streets where you once played with your friends.

When those memories of safety and innocence meet something unsettling, the distinctive atmosphere of KAKUREONI comes to life.

Not just frightening,

There's also a sense of nostalgia—and a touch of melancholy.

Throughout this design update, we kept those feelings firmly in mind.

Main Characters Need to Represent the Game

Game characters don't exist only within the game itself.

Store Page

Thumbnails

Trailers

Even a single image shared on social media

In those first encounters with the game, we need something that makes people stop and think:

"This looks interesting."

Of course, the Oni's presence is important as well.

But the game of hide-and-seek itself is deeply connected to childhood memories for many people.

That's why we felt the true face of the game should be the children first, rather than the Oni.

As part of this update, we've given each child more unique details, including variations in their randoseru decorations and personal touches.

They may be small details, but we wanted the children to feel like someone you might remember from your own childhood.

[画像：キャラクターごとのランドセル比較]

Creating Memories Before Fear

We don't want KAKUREONI to be just another horror game built around jump scares.

It's scary.

Yet somehow, a little nostalgic.

You want to run away.

But at the same time, you can't help wanting to look just a little longer.

That's the feeling we want to create.

We want players to walk away feeling more than just,

"That was scary."

We hope they'll feel as though the game touched something in their memories.

This character design update was an important part of pursuing that feeling.

Full video here👇

View store page

How these updates translate into the actual gameplay experience is something we'll be sharing more about in future updates and videos.

We hope you'll look forward to seeing it for yourself!

And if KAKUREONI has caught your interest, even a little,

we'd love for you to:

Wishlist KAKUREONI on Steam ✅

Join the Community Hub and share your thoughts ✍️

Thank you so much for supporting KAKUREONI!

📢 Announcement!

The game development VTuber group behind KAKUREONI, “Pixelade!”, has officially launched a note blog! 🎉

Pixelade! Game Development Club 📖

https://note.com/pixelade_forces

We’ll be sharing game development stories, behind-the-scenes moments, struggles, and progress updates from our streams in a more easy-to-read format!

So if you don’t always have time to catch our livestreams, we hope you’ll check it out there! Steam post image