KYOTO, JAPAN—Daruma Soul is a scrolling shooter coming to iOS, but there are no spaceships to be seen.
"Sho," one half of the development team Tengu Boys, said he wanted to make something unique without the usual vessels flying through the universe. Instead, Daruma Soul takes place on the ground, in a small town, starring a ninja who collects red dolls called daruma in Japanese. As the ninja collects more daruma he becomes more powerful, though he can also throw the daruma at enemies like a bomb.
As shooters go, Daruma Soul is pushing for cuteness, which is where the eponymous daruma come into play. Daruma are iconic inside Japan, but Sho knows that few people overseas are familiar with them. So he's given them a makeover he thinks will make them popular even to strangers abroad.
"An actual daruma is a little bit ugly," he says. "But if it's rounded and cute, I think it could take off around the world."
To prove his point, the Tengu Boys' booth is full of handmade plush daruma, available for sale to any BitSummit visitor who might want one. The $29 dolls were made by Sho's mother.
