- Kicking Into High Gear - 15 September 2026
Earlier this year, I released the first playable build of Kaido Genkai to Patreon supporters after two and a half years of development in my spare time. It was such a nerve-wracking experience, showing my very first attempt at a game to people who actually paid money for it (what!). I felt confident in the initial builds, and early testing went well, or at least well enough. A few adjustments later, and the demo was released publicly on Steam. Then the Kickstarter became 150% funded, and we hit two stretch goals: the farm area and seaside/beach area.Not only am I feeling incredibly grateful for the support, but I’ve been blessed enough to recently resign at my day job - which I’m so thankful for, since I was probably going to lose it soon. And while I may live on rice and beans this year, I am able to work on Kaido Genkai full time! I am truly happy.I haven’t just been sitting around do…
- Kickstarter Finished at Over 150% Funded! - 14 July 2026
Kaido Genkai’s Kickstarter has officially come to an end at 151% funded! What a wild ride. I was just chatting in Discord about how it's felt like the campaign lasted for ages. I was quite nervous at the start, but things really took off at a couple points. I am humbly grateful. This funding chart feels like a rollercoaster of slow and and fast!Thank You So Much, Once AgainWhether you backed the project, shared it with friends, joined the livestream, played the demo, posted fan art, or just cheered us on, you helped make this possible. I'm going to be working on Kaido Genkai full time as well, starting in August. Not just evenings and weekends anymore, the game may now completely consume me and the end product should represent that. c:And thanks to all of you, we also unlocked two stretch goals! The farm area with tiered rice paddies is coming to the game, along with a brand-new beach a…
- We’re Almost at the Farm - 8 July 2026
Hey everyone!We’re officially down to the final 5 days of the Kaido Genkai Kickstarter campaign! I'd call it quite a success thus far - we hit our funding goal, sold out all of the custom car tiers, and backers got their hands on a bunch of custom characters and billboards. This campaign and demo release built up so much momentum around Kaido Genkai in such a short time. Thank you all for being a part of it. Only $2K to the FarmWe’re heading into the final few days, and we’re just over $2,000 away from unlocking the Farm stretch goal which would add a tiered rice paddy / farm area. I think it would be an amazing environment for some cool jumps and beautiful scenery. This environment would be inspired by Smugglers Run 2 on the PS2 / Gamecube / Xbox. As a young teen, I remember being really struck by the Vietnam level for including rice fields and how you could do jumps off of the banks b…
- We’re Funded! Thank You So Much! - 26 June 2026
We officially hit our Kickstarter funding goal over the weekend! This message is a little late, but I wanted to take a moment to properly say thank you.You're Amazing!Kaido Genkai hit its $50,000 funding goal on Kickstarter only a few days after I added the bundled car tiers with other rewards, and the response has honestly been incredible. Across all tiers, backers have pledged for 9 billboards, 17 custom characters, and 10 cars (which is all we allotted for the cars, so they remain sold out). It still feels surreal seeing those slots fill up and knowing that real supporters, creators, and artists are going to become part of Kaido Genkai in some way. So cool! And there is still two weeks left of the campaign!Also, we crossed 50,000 Steam wishlists around the same time! $50k funded and 50k wishlists... nice, it's been a good week! Stretch GoalsNow that we’re funded, we’re officially cli…
- We Sold Out of Cars! - 18 June 2026
I was planning to make a big announcement when we hit 50% funded on Kickstarter, but thanks to all of you, we blasted straight past that and landed at over 80% funded in just a 24 hour time period.The game's stats are looking incredible too: 47,000+ wishlists, 17,000+ library adds, 10,000+ players and a 96% positive review rating from over 200 reviews. At the time of writing, we're also just shy of 90% funded!That's honestly amazing. I'm incredibly grateful and humbled by the support you've shown Kaido Genkai. Look at this crazy funding graph:Phenomenal. All custom car tiers are now officially closed.After creating combination tiers that bundled cars with other rewards, the 5 cars we had allotted sold out within a handful of hours. I then doubled the number of available cars from five to ten, and those sold out too. I wish I could add more, but the amount of scope it would take would st…
- 30% Funded, Tier Updates, and an Incredible Demo Launch - 11 June 2026
Hello everyone!First off, thank you all so much for your support. I'm excited to share that the Kaido Genkai Kickstarter is now over 30% funded! It's been amazing to see so many people rally behind this weird little anime racing RPG, and every pledge genuinely helps bring the game closer to reality.Kickstarter Tier UpdatesI've taken another look at some of the higher-end reward tiers and have reduced pricing on several options that didn't yet have backers. If there was a reward that felt just out of reach before, it may be worth taking another look!Here's a quick overview of the higher-end personalization tiers (each also come with early access to the game, wallpapers and game credit). Prices are converted from Canadian, so might be slightly off: Name an NPC$105 USD - Add an interactable NPC with a name of your choice (no character artwork). Custom Billboard$350 USD - Feature your logo,…
- Play Chapter One Today! - 9 June 2026
Hello everyone,The Kaido Genkai Chapter 1 Demo is now available! I hope you'll give it a try!Here's the pitch: Explore a nostalgic '90s Japanese countryside, challenge rivals, collect unique vehicles, uncover secrets, and experience the beginning of Kaido Genkai's adventure.This demo represents over two and a half years of development as a solo project, created during nights and weekends around my full-time job. It's been an incredible journey getting to this point, and I'm excited to finally share it with all of you.As this is still a work in progress, I'd love to hear your feedback. Whether it's bug reports, suggestions, screenshots, or favorite moments, every bit of feedback helps shape the future of the game. Kickstarter Now LiveAlongside the demo launch, the Kaido Genkai Kickstarter campaign is now live!If you'd like to help support development, you can back the project to receive…
- Thanks For An Amazing Early Access Launch, and What's Next! - 28 May 2026
Thank you so much for the successful early access demo launch on Patreon (you can still get in on this if you haven't yet)! I’ve been blown away by the amount of comments - both positive and constructive - as well as the sheer amount of excitement I’ve seen from everyone. Your support genuinely motivates me, and it also directly impacts how much time I’m able to dedicate to development.The current version of Kaido Genkai was built through two and a half years of nights and weekends working around my day job, and I hope that with continued support and engagement I’ll be able to spend more and more time prioritizing development.I also want to give credit to all Patreons specifically, because you’ve genuinely helped set Kaido Genkai up for a successful public/free demo launch by being such amazing beta testers! With your feedback and involvement in the Discord community, the game has alrea…
- Developer Update 3 - 2 April 2026
Hi friends, thanks for taking the time to check out this dev blog and for your continued interest in Kaido Genkai!The biggest news first: Kaido Genkai now has a Patreon, AND I’ve officially applied to be part of Steam Next Fest in June 2026. Which means, the upcoming demo is confirmed!The public demo release will be June 2, with early access for paid Patreon supporters starting May 12 - which is 3 weeks early.If you’d like to join Patreon, it directly supports the game and you have my huge thanks. Patreons will also get their names in the thank you credits for the demo (if you join before its released). I haven’t set the cut-off date for this, but please don’t join too close to launch if this is something you’re interested in. Consider signing up! https://patreon.com/KaidoGenkaiThe demo is a huge milestone for the project, and honestly, a pretty nerve-wracking one too. Getting the game…
- Developer Update 2 - 23 December 2025
Hello friends!Though it has been almost a year since my last written update, I have been working on Kaido Genkai daily throughout 2025! Thank you all for your patience and for not forgetting about this game - it’s a labor of love and I cannot wait for folks to try it out. Firstly, an obligatory excuse as to why the update posts are infrequent: my time is quite limited, so I usually choose to work on the game rather than creating promotional content. It is to my detriment, but it does mean the game keeps its development momentum up (even if it doesn’t seem like it)! Kaido Genkai is my passion project that I work on outside of my day job, so it can be tough to create content while working on development. With that said though, I do post several times a week on social media - it’s a lot easier than longform content creation. With that out of the way, the game has been updated massively sin…
- Developer Update 1 - 12 February 2025
Thanks to everyone who has Wishlisted Kaido Genkai or otherwise checked out the game so far! As we have received more interest lately, we felt it would be a good time to post an update to let you know that the game’s development has been steadily progressing. Here's a short list of updates, though by no means is this comprehensive. 1) Big advancements to the game’s graphical style. Car windows have received an anime-style effect that is glossy and stylized, while remaining semi-transparent with interiors. Wheels now have highlights and moving brake callipers with 3D rims. Cars now receive shadows and lighting updates from the environment as well as specular highlights - this has been a huge upgrade. The skybox has also been improved with a day/night cycle, which also means working headlights! The car lights have also been improved with a glowing light trail when braking. Skid marks have…
