Danju is a pachinko game with unique ticket upgrades and quirky levels. Bet coins to collect trophies with increasing stakes and earn enough trophies to complete more and more challenging levels!
Thee various ticket upgrades in the game serve to help the player with each play, either through increasing the rewards and payout or making the rounds safer by tipping the odds to favor the player. Figuring out the ticket synergies, and learning the patterns of each board allow for deeper skill expression while keeping the surface gameplay simple!
Tech
Danju is built using a custom engine using C++ and OpenGL. The engine includes various systems, such as a custom physics engine written from scratch - as well as a customizable UI layer to create data-driven layouts for quick scene iteration. A generic input handler allows seamless switching between mouse, keyboard and controller inputs. A particle system was also built from scratch, utilizing instanced rendering to allow for large amounts of particles on screen at the same time.
Additionally, the engine integrates various Steamworks SDK features - including leaderboards, achievements, Steam Input, etc. These features are implemented in a modular way so that the engine code can easily be ported for easy integration into future projects.
Publishing
Danju is self published - meaning the start to finish process of launching on Steam was all handled myself. Additionally, all marketing work was also handled myself, including making and posting short form content on social media as well as reaching out to over 200 content creators to cover the game on launch.
From start to finish, the project took 3 months - with the first 2 months focusing on development work and the last month focusing on marketing and release. Additionally, more updates are still being released for the game, with the first one being the Candy & Sweets update released in April 2026, and the Pool Party update released in August 2026. More updates are being planned to continue improving the game in the future!