- Patch Release - 1.04 - Phrasebook! ⛩️📖🌸 - 7 May 2026
One of the best ways to learn kana is by actually reading simple Japanese sentences, so in Patch 1.04 we added the new Phrasebook feature so you can do exactly that within the game 💜There is now a new “Phrasebook” button in the Main menu.The Phrasebook contains beginner-friendly sentences together with romaji pronunciation and extra explanation notes about grammar, particles, pronunciation, and small bits of cultural context.The sentence order is designed to slowly build up your Japanese step-by-step.It starts with greetings and introductions so you can instantly begin reading and using real Japanese. From there, the Phrasebook slowly introduces more polite expressions and gradually moves into more descriptive sentences.As you continue, the sentences begin introducing grammar concepts like question particles, sentence structure, and i-adjectives used for colours and descriptions.The go…
- Patch Release - 1.03 - Darkmode! ⛩️ - 25 March 2026
Since our March 11 release, we’ve seen the biggest influx of new players we’ve ever had, which has been awesome to see. Thanks to everyone who tried the game out and shared feedback. The reception has been mostly positive, and it’s helped us understand how the game performs across a much wider range of setups.From this, we picked up a lot of useful insights. In this led to a bunch of bug fixes and general improvements in this patch.As for the main addition this time; you can now switch between light and dark mode! Since this is the kind of game people like to play at night to get some learning in before bed, this felt like a really important feature to add.If you want to enable dark mode, just head into the Settings menu, find the “Theme” option, and switch between Light (day) and Dark (night) depending on what you prefer. (The setting is automaticly saved ofcource.)Here are some sample…
- 🎉 Hiragana Flashcards is Out Now! - 12 March 2026
⛩️🌸🍙 If you’ve ever wanted to start learning Japanese, this is a simple and engaging way to begin 🍙🌸⛩️Making the release announcement post for a new game release is always one of the biggest highlights of working on such big projects, and this time is no different. We have spent a lot of time working to bring everything together and create a game that I am truly proud of. So seeing the big green button on the Steam store is a really special moment for me.A huge thank you to Bixxy for all the amazing work on the engine that powers the game. Your engine made this project possible.I also want to thank everyone who tried the game during Steam Next Fest and shared feedback with us. It was incredibly helpful to see people play, comment, learn, and suggest real improvements.Oh, and this is just the beginning! We already have more content and ideas planned, including new combos, themes, and…
- Steam Next Fest patch 0.23 - 25 February 2026
Second Steam Next Fest Update!With Steam Next Fest now underway, we’ve been getting awesome feedback from players—and this update focuses on turning that feedback into real improvements across the game.Victory Screen ImprovementsThe victory screen now includes a dedicated Continue button. Previously, progressing required a keyboard or controller input, but now it’s fully consistent with the rest of the UI.This means you can navigate every menu using only your mouse, making the experience more intuitive and accessible.Improved Key VisibilityWhen using your keyboard to guess kana, the displayed keys previously used random colors, which could sometimes be hard to read.We’ve introduced a new color generation technique that guarantees contrast on light backgrounds, making keys easier to read at a glance.Faster Font LoadingFont loading has been optimized with a new font cache system.The cache…
- Steam Next Fest patch 0.22 - 22 February 2026
With Steam Next Fest starting tomorrow, we’ve been hard at work polishing the build to make sure we’re showing the game (and i'ts engine) at its very best.So this last update before the fest is one of the biggest technical improvements since the project began. We’ve upgraded to the latest version of our custom engine, rebuilding and improving core systems behind the scenes. This includes major changes to how sprites are mapped in memory, resulting in better performance and a more stable experience overall. (Shoutout Bixxy, the low level engine designer for luminoveau.)Pretty Font renderingUsing the newest version of the engine we completely overhauled how fonts are rendered. With the introduction of MSDF rendering, text now stays sharp and clean at any size (without eating more system resurces). This means better-looking UI, smoother scaling, and improved performance, even when text is…
- Prerelease patch 0.20 - 15 February 2026
This prerelease update expands the Options menu with new extras and improves clarity in the card introduction screen.Options Menu ExtrasThe Options menu now includes a new submenu called “Extras.” Here, you can find the previously announced Hiragana Flashcards PDF.The PDF contains printable Hiragana flashcards designed to match standard card sizes when printed on A4 paper. The cards are foldable, and if you want, you can insert an extra sheet of paper inside to make them thicker and more comfortable to handle.Each card features the Kana on one side and pronunciation guidance on the other. All 71 basic kana are included across 36 ready-to-print pages.The PDF can now be downloaded directly from the “Extras” menu in-game, as well as from the store page by clicking the “View the quick reference” link in the sidebar.Card Introduction Menu UpdateThe card introduction menu has been updated wit…
- Prerelease patch 0.19 - 8 February 2026
This update expands the Settings menu with new customization options and completes the audio control system with the last sound option.Settings MenuThe Settings menu has been reorganized into two submenus: Gameplay options and Sound options.Under Gameplay Settings, alongside card animation speed and deck order randomness, you can now choose whether to display an in-game session timer.This timer lets you see how long you’ve been actively guessing cards during your current session, making it easier to track practice time.Sound OptionsThe new Sound Options submenu now contains all audio-related controls in one place.In addition to voice acting and sound effect volume controls, you can now adjust the background music volume as well.
- Prerelease patch 0.18 - 1 February 2026
On January 29, ladiesgamers published a lovely article about Hiragana Flashcards. It’s the first non-steam review our game has received, and we’re incredibly grateful for it. If you haven’t read it yet, we’d love for you to check it out 💖This patch also includes several changes inspired directly by the feedback in that review.Deck order randomness optionIn her article, Laurane mentioned the following about card order:“Gameplay revolves around picking cards at random and identifying the correct hiragana. In theory, the cards are randomized, but in practice, I sometimes drew the same card three times in a row. This small quirk can be a little frustrating, but it also makes the game feel more like a genuine memory challenge.” — LauraneShe’s absolutely right. With a fully random deck generation, it’s possible for the same card to appear multiple times in a row.To address this, we’ve added…
- Prerelease patch 0.17 - 25 January 2026
This is a smaller patch; This update moves the sound effect volume selector to the settings system and ads an 'currently playing' indicator for the background menu.Moving sound effects to settings improvementsNext to voice volume, now sound effects selectors have fully moved to the Settings menu, now the only remaining audio feature that still needs work is background music volume settings. We have also added a track indicator that shows which background music track starts playing. This indicator appears next to the mute/unmute button in the top bar.Printable flashcardsWe’re also working on a PDF version of the Hiragana flashcards as they appear in game. This project will release later and is intended to accompany the game, offering an offline and printable way to practice.
- Prerelease patch 0.16 - 18 January 2026
This update is all about giving you more control over how you learn, especially if you like to move fast.Adjustable Hiragana animation speedYou can now change the animation speed of the Hiragana symbols on the cards.This allows you to speed up the drawing animation and see the full symbol much faster. It’s perfect if you’re trying to beat your own record times in the challenge modes, or if you simply prefer a snappier experience.This option is especially useful for more advanced kana learners who just want a quick glimpse to check whether a dakuten or maru appears 😉 instead of waiting for the full animation.New settings menuTo make features like this easier to access, we’ve added a brand-new Settings menu to the main menu.Right now, you can:Adjust Hiragana animation speedChange the volume of the voice actor announcing the kanaThis settings menu is just the beginning. Our goal is to mov…
- Prerelease patch 0.15 - 11 January 2026
This update is all about giving you better insight into your learning progress, along with some under-the-hood animation improvements Lerp objects smooth as butter.Kana statistic trackingIndividual kana tracking was partly implemented back in version 0.13, where we started recording how often each kana was seen, guessed wrong, or guessed correctly.With this update, the progress menu has been expanded with a new UI element that shows these statistics per kana. When you select a kana, you can now see how many times you’ve encountered it, how often you guessed it wrong, and how often you guessed it correctly. This has been a frequently requested feature, and it’s great to finally get it into the game.We’ve also refined what counts as a “Seen” kana. Previously, a kana was marked as seen as soon as its card was pulled from the deck. Now, it only counts once the card flip animation has progre…
- Prerelease patch 0.14 - 6 January 2026
This update is mostly about polish, clarity, and small quality-of-life improvements, with one pretty big visual change.Improved kana stroke order animationThe main kana stroke order animation has been reworked to be clearer and easier to follow.The animation now transitions from cyan to black ink instead of white to black ink.The starting cyan is much more visible and eye-catching right from the beginning of the animation, making it easier to track each stroke as it’s drawn. This should make learning and following stroke order feel more natural and less visually confusing.And the black is also a little softer too ;)Smaller installation sizeWe’ve removed a number of unused kana renders, which reduces the overall installation size without affecting gameplay or visuals.New pause behavior (Escape key)Pressing Escape during the main game now puts the game into a paused state. The currently s…
- Prerelease patch 0.13 - 28 December 2025
Another pre-release patch! This pre-release patch focuses on groundwork improvements and performance optimizations that will support future features and provide a smoother gameplay experience overall.Kana statistics trackingWe’ve added backend support for detailed, per-kana statistics tracking. This allows us to record how often each kana is shown, how many times it’s guessed incorrectly, and how often it’s answered correctly.Although these statistics aren’t shown in the UI yet, collecting the data now means that once the frontend is implemented, your historical progress will already be there :)Initial texture cachingTo reduce possible stuttering during gameplay, we’ve improved how textures are loaded at startup.Previously, the game preloaded around 60–80 textures during the loading screen, with the rest streamed in as needed during play. We’ve now expanded this to preload roughly 100 k…
- Prerelease patch 0.12 - 23 December 2025
This patch is focused on usability and performance improvements, based largely on early feedback from the /r/SteamDeck community. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to test the game on Deck and share their thoughts ❤️While I haven’t had enough time to implement all suggested changes yet, this update includes several important fixes and improvements that came directly from that feedback.Controller layout updatedOne of the most noticeable changes in this patch is an update to the controller layout. The face buttons have been adjusted to better align with common controller and community standards. The A button is now used for Continue and Next actions, while the B button is used for Cancel and Go Back. This change improves consistency and makes the game feel more natural when played with a controller (as on Steam Deck).Challenges menuThe Challenges menu has also received attenti…
