ᴄᴀʀʀʏɪɴɢ ᴀ sᴡᴏʀᴅ ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ɴᴀᴍᴇ, ᴀ Fɪɢᴜʀᴇ ʀᴜɴs ᴀᴄʀᴏss ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀɪᴅɢᴇ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴs ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ.

Oh, ᴀ ᴍᴇssᴇɴɢᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇɪᴛʏ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏᴍᴇ!

❀ Previous Theory(until I write about my new, current one)❀

Kunitsu-Gami lore as its own entity: looking at myth of the mountain god and new ideas on Cursed Soh's identity.

Friday, 15 May 2026

Kunitsu-Gami Game Design Commentary 13: Tsurube-otoshi(つるべとし)

■第13回 時間があると盛ってしまう!つるべ落とし
空から落ちて来て、人を食べるを解釈して、空で大きく丸っこい幽体が泳いでいて、落ちてくる。落ちて来たものは実は口で開くと、今まで食べられたであろう者たちの顔が見える、発光のテクスチャで泣いてるようにしました。開発初期にデザイン。最初はザコとして考えていたにも関わらず、内容を盛り込んだ物になってました。
元はひとうばんのポジションで扱う予定でしたが、仮モデルでもポリゴン数も骨も多くなってしまい、これは大量に数出せないかもと。
少し小さめでしたので口中の顔群も細かいので見え辛かったので、思い切って巨大にしてつるべ落としに相応しい大きさへ。
船のステージで乗り物になっているのが面白いです。
■13th Round: When I Have Time, I Overdo It! Tsurube Otoshi
It falls from the sky, interpreting "eats people"—a large, roundish ghostly form swims in the air and comes falling down. The thing that falls is actually a mouth that opens, revealing the faces of those it has presumably eaten before, made with a glowing texture as if they are crying. A design from the early development phase. Even though I initially thought of it as a small fry enemy, it ended up being something packed with content.
Originally, it was planned to be handled as a one-pattern enemy, but even the provisional model had too many polygons and bones, so I thought, "This might not be something I can produce in large numbers."
Since it was a bit small, the cluster of faces inside the mouth was detailed but hard to see, so I boldly made it huge to fit a size appropriate for a tsurube otoshi.
It's interesting how it becomes a vehicle in the ship stage.

Plaque Lore:

人間の頭上をねらって執拗しつように落ちてくる畏哭いこく。その姿はオタマジャクシ、あるいは人の口のようだとも伝えられる。 口を開けた中には人の顔のような集まり、苦悶くもんの表情が見られる。かつて水辺で仕事をしていた際に不慮ふりょの事故によって失われた村人たちのうったえなのかもしれないと言われている。
The Tsurube-otoshi aims to relentlessly crush humans from above. Some say it looks like a tadpole, while others say it is a human mouth. When it opens its great maw, many humans faces in great anguish are revealed within. Legend states that it was born from the humans who were lost to unforeseen water-related accidents.