Hi, I'm Bob Maxine, and I'm the lead game designer here at Bloody Enso Studios (that's not me in the header photo, by the way. That's just a photogenic lady kendoka posing in an image I purchased). I'm an old man now, but ever since I was a young boy I've been fascinated with the traditional Japanese martial arts. Mind you, this was back in the 70's before North America knew much about martial arts from other countries at all, and long before modern combat sports like mixed martial arts or BJJ entered the scene.
I guess you might have called me a spiritual guy - or at least I wanted to be - and it was definitely this aspect of Japanese martial arts which initially compelled me to take up karate - that, and the fact that I was picked on quite a bit at school! Over the decades karate led to judo and aikido, some jiu-jitsu and even capoeira. And then, at 48 years old, I decided to look into kendo.
I lived near Toronto, Ontario in Canada. I visited the closest kendo dojo - the Etobicoke Kendo and Iaido club. And here I should pause a bit.
One memory of that first time I observed a kendo class sticks out for me, and it's one I'll never forget. There were about forty students there. They were lined up in about five rows at one end of the giant gymnasium. I was watching from the bleachers above and could see the entire room as a whole. Then on a command from the instructor each group of five at the head of the lines would leap forward striking at head level with their bamboo swords and then continue moving across the floor in front of me, gliding rightward, swords up, and screaming. Within a few seconds upon more commands to strike forty athletes in dark uniforms were sweeping across my line of sight, their torsos undulating with the movement of their legs hidden under their hakama, the air full of forty battle cries, resembling nothing so much as a battalion of men and women on horseback, in some kind of war.
I had never seen anything so majestic.
So - unpause - back to li'l old me. One of my favourite video games as a kid was the now classic, 1984 arcade game Karate Champ. I liked it so much not just because it involved karate, but when I played side to side against my brother (something we did almost daily), I found that I could actually fake a technique, luring him in so I could catch him unawares. No other game felt so much like actual fighting.
And so, a few years ago when I decided to try to make a game, both Karate Champ and kendo came to mind. What if I could somehow, even if in a somewhat childish way, combine the setting, accouterments and atmosphere of a kendo dojo with the actual feel of swordplay?
This is what I have set out to do with KEN. I will have fallen short in many respects, and there are many improvements to be made. I am committed to making those improvements in a timely manner, and I need your help. As you play, please use the Contact page of this website or the Comment section of the blog to leave your honest feedback, good and bad, so I can make KEN the game I know it can be, as quickly as possible. And thanks.
Bob
I guess you might have called me a spiritual guy - or at least I wanted to be - and it was definitely this aspect of Japanese martial arts which initially compelled me to take up karate - that, and the fact that I was picked on quite a bit at school! Over the decades karate led to judo and aikido, some jiu-jitsu and even capoeira. And then, at 48 years old, I decided to look into kendo.
I lived near Toronto, Ontario in Canada. I visited the closest kendo dojo - the Etobicoke Kendo and Iaido club. And here I should pause a bit.
One memory of that first time I observed a kendo class sticks out for me, and it's one I'll never forget. There were about forty students there. They were lined up in about five rows at one end of the giant gymnasium. I was watching from the bleachers above and could see the entire room as a whole. Then on a command from the instructor each group of five at the head of the lines would leap forward striking at head level with their bamboo swords and then continue moving across the floor in front of me, gliding rightward, swords up, and screaming. Within a few seconds upon more commands to strike forty athletes in dark uniforms were sweeping across my line of sight, their torsos undulating with the movement of their legs hidden under their hakama, the air full of forty battle cries, resembling nothing so much as a battalion of men and women on horseback, in some kind of war.
I had never seen anything so majestic.
So - unpause - back to li'l old me. One of my favourite video games as a kid was the now classic, 1984 arcade game Karate Champ. I liked it so much not just because it involved karate, but when I played side to side against my brother (something we did almost daily), I found that I could actually fake a technique, luring him in so I could catch him unawares. No other game felt so much like actual fighting.
And so, a few years ago when I decided to try to make a game, both Karate Champ and kendo came to mind. What if I could somehow, even if in a somewhat childish way, combine the setting, accouterments and atmosphere of a kendo dojo with the actual feel of swordplay?
This is what I have set out to do with KEN. I will have fallen short in many respects, and there are many improvements to be made. I am committed to making those improvements in a timely manner, and I need your help. As you play, please use the Contact page of this website or the Comment section of the blog to leave your honest feedback, good and bad, so I can make KEN the game I know it can be, as quickly as possible. And thanks.
Bob
