Skip to content

Veshike

A horror-but-funny memory game about the Namahage legend, made in 48 hours at Global Game Jam 2026.

Veshike key art: three Namahage loom over a snowy village house beneath the title VESHIKE
Role
UX Designer, Technical Designer
Team
Global Game Jam 2026
Duration
48h game jam
Status
Prototype
Year
2026

The jam

The theme was Mask. The challenge: a horror-but-funny memory game in 48 hours that felt culturally coherent. We took the Namahage of Oga — wear their masks, and find the lazy villagers warming their feet at home while everyone else is working.

The three Namahage of Veshike: green, purple and red masked demons in shaggy straw capes

It plays like Memory: marked feet appear among neutral ones, the villagers shuffle, and you pick the right ones out.

Veshike game flow

Villagers are told apart by kimono colour and pattern.

From a kimono moodboard to the finished in-game scene

My contribution

We met as strangers at the jam, and absences left the team short, so I covered both design and development. The house is staged as a Kabuki theatre; I designed and built the pause menu to match — a curtain closing that is also a pair of Japanese house doors sliding shut.

High-fidelity tutorial screen designed in Figma

The call

After day one, the theatre mechanics weren’t going to land in time. We protected the core loop and cut the rest. The result is solid but unfinished; with more time, I’d bring the theatrical layer back, polished.

Next project

Gig Crawler

Gig Crawler key art: four heroes above the game's logo, surrounded by monsters in blue and green flames

Contact

Got a game that needs its systems sharpened — or its interface untangled?