App Profile: KendoDou?

KendoDou? is a 1- or 2-player 3D kendo game that uses physics to model the sword and players. There are three zones that are available for attack: head, wrist, and body (these are called "men", "kote", and "dou" attacks in Japanese). There is a room for learning about these attacks as well as defending yourself.

The 1-player room allows you to fight against the computer (you can change the level and the types of attacks that they use). Pressing and dragging on the point of view screen will cause your sword (shinai) to rise and you can move it to defend yourself. Raising it above your head will reveal target buttons for doing different attacks. To do the attack, you need to drag down quickly to the target button and your attack will be initiated. The “men” head button is in the center, and there is a “kote” button for each wrist. The “dou” body button is revealed when your finger is in the top left or top right part of the screen. If you hit the target with sufficient force, you will see its outline light up and you will hear your "kiai" scream. When that happens, you need to either move forward into (or backwards away from) your opponent to complete your attack and a win ("ippon") has been registered. When you win, the judges raise a flag that corresponds to the small piece of cloth on the back of your player ("tasuki").

In the 2-player room, you can play against your friends. First connect both machines to the same wifi. Then one player selects player 1 and the other player selects player 2. Then both players should press the Bow button at the top left of the screen to start. The players will bow together and then once they are up, you can start. At the end of the match, player 1 can press the play button to reset the players on both machines. Then both players must press the Bow button to start the match.

In Japanese, “kendo dou?” can mean “how about doing some kendo together?”(it is pronounced something like “kendo dough?”). “Dou” can also mean stomach/body or way (the “do” in kendo).

This game is still in development, so please leave comments in the reviews to help me improve this game.