Tenjutsu Dev Diary: How John Wick and a Game Jam Built a Rogue-Fu Hit

When Sébastien Bénard sat down to write his first Tenjutsu dev diary, he opened with a confession familiar to anyone who has ever shipped a game: a six-month project that quietly turned into three years of work. That gap between plan and reality is exactly why this Tenjutsu dev diary matters. It shows how a weekend game jam entry became a full martial arts roguelite, and what the developer learned about combat design along the way.

If you have followed the Tenjutsu dev diary since its first public entry, you already know the pitch: smooth hand-to-hand combat wrapped in a roguelite structure, set in a sprawling Japanese city. What you may not know is how deliberately each piece was chosen — and how many hard questions the team is still answering.

What the First Tenjutsu Dev Diary Reveals About the Project

The opening Tenjutsu dev diary entry, published on Steam in mid-2025, frames the game as a "rogue-fu" — the developer's own shorthand for martial arts action layered onto roguelite runs. That label is more than marketing. It signals a specific design bet: that the tension of permadeath and the fluidity of kung-fu cinema can reinforce each other rather than fight for space.

Just as important is who is actually making the game. Bénard describes Tenjutsu as a "solo-dev title," but he is quick to credit two collaborators: animator and character designer Daniel (known as Dnilox) and publisher Devolver Digital, which handles marketing. That honesty sets the tone for the whole Tenjutsu dev diary series — this is a small, hands-on production, not a faceless studio pipeline.

The contrast in that last row is the emotional core of the first entry. The developer openly jokes about the naivety of assuming a jam prototype could become a shippable game in half a year. For aspiring developers reading the Tenjutsu dev diary, that honesty is worth more than any polished postmortem.

From Ludum Dare to a Full Release

Tenjutsu began life as a Ludum Dare entry — a weekend-long jam where thousands of developers build games around a theme constraint. Bénard compares the atmosphere to a 2000s LAN party: chaotic, exhausting, and weirdly addictive. The prototype earned strong feedback, which convinced him to expand the concept.

What started as a linear beat-em-up with a tight 10-second loop gradually grew into a roguelite. New weapons and randomized elements were layered in, and the structure shifted from a straight line to something replayable. The shift was unexpected even for the developer, who had previously worked on Dead Cells and assumed he was finished with roguelites. As he puts it in the Tenjutsu dev diary, never say never.

The Combat Pillars Behind Tenjutsu's "One-vs-Many" Design

Every Tenjutsu dev diary entry so far circles back to one idea: one-vs-many combat. Bénard describes game "pillars" as two or three core concepts you write down and keep visible so the whole team stays aligned. His reference points were not other games but specific scenes from the John Wick films — most notably the museum sequence in John Wick 3: Parabellum.

Those scenes captured three things he wanted players to feel:

• Organic combat where opportunity is a mechanic. Fights flow from what the environment and enemies offer, not from a fixed combo list.
• Constant movement across multiple foes. The player dances between enemies rather than locking onto a single target.
• A rotating toolkit of actions. Responses change based on the threats and openings in front of you.

That framework explains why the Tenjutsu dev diary describes the game as "organic." It is not about memorizing a combo tree; it is about reacting to a shifting battlefield.

Why Fixed Encounters Are Easier Than Procedural Ones

The developer is refreshingly candid about the difficulty of his own design. Carefully tuning combat in a fixed setup — he name-checks Sifu as a game he loves — is one challenge. Generating random encounters that stay interesting and readable across dozens of runs is a much harder one. This tension is the beating heart of the Tenjutsu dev diary series, and it is the kind of problem that roguelite fans should watch closely.

The Hard Questions the Tenjutsu Dev Diary Is Still Answering

The most valuable part of the first Tenjutsu dev diary is not the origin story — it is the list of unresolved design questions. Bénard lays out three challenges that will define whether the game works:

1. AI that creates dynamic encounters in procedural settings. How do you build enemies that produce emergent, non-repetitive fights without hand-placing every arena?
2. Readable intensity. When attacks can come from any direction, how do you keep the screen legible for players with different reaction speeds and attention spans?
3. Progression philosophy. Should players grow through stats, new weapons and techniques, or pure skill? And how do you keep early runs engaging once players have tasted advanced combat?

These are not small details. In a roguelite, the progression model alone can make or break the experience. If early runs feel trivial after players master advanced combat, the loop collapses. Bénard's willingness to state the problem openly, rather than pretend it is solved, is what makes the Tenjutsu dev diary worth following.

What Community Reports Suggest So Far

Player experience with the reveal has been broadly enthusiastic, with community reports highlighting the John Wick comparison and the Dead Cells pedigree as major draws. Fans of martial arts action games have noted that the one-vs-many pitch echoes titles like Sifu and the Batman: Arkham series, but with the unpredictability of a roguelite layered on top. Those are early impressions from trailers and dev posts rather than hands-on play, so treat them as anticipation rather than verdict.

How to Follow the Tenjutsu Dev Diary and Track Development

If you want to keep up with the Tenjutsu dev diary as new entries land, a few channels are worth bookmarking. The primary source is the game's Steam news hub, where Bénard posts developer blogs directly. You can also follow publisher announcements from Devolver Digital and check the official store page for wishlist updates and release timing.

For the most direct source material, the Tenjutsu Steam store page hosts the developer's own posts and is the best place to start. Reading the entries in order gives you a clear sense of how the design has evolved.

Lessons for Aspiring Roguelite Developers

The Tenjutsu dev diary doubles as a mini masterclass in scoping and design discipline. A few takeaways stand out:

• Write your pillars down early. Bénard's advice to print core concepts and keep them visible is simple but effective.
• Expect scope creep — and plan for it. A six-month estimate became three years. Build buffer into your timeline.
• Steal feelings, not features. Referencing specific film scenes gave the team a shared emotional target rather than a checklist of mechanics.
• Name your hard problems publicly. Documenting open questions keeps you honest and builds an audience that roots for solutions.

These principles apply well beyond martial arts games. Any small team building a procedural or replayable experience will recognize the same tensions: readability, variety, and progression.

What's Next for Tenjutsu

The first Tenjutsu dev diary ends with a promise: more behind-the-scenes stories about the decisions that made development "a total nightmare" — his words, delivered with affection. That teaser suggests future entries will dig into specific systems, likely covering enemy AI, animation workflows with Dnilox, and the progression model that is still being settled.

For players, the takeaway is that Tenjutsu is being built with unusual transparency. For developers, the Tenjutsu dev diary is a running case study in how a jam prototype becomes a commercial roguelite without losing its identity. Either way, it is worth watching.

FAQ

What is Tenjutsu? Tenjutsu is a martial arts roguelite — described by its developer as a "rogue-fu" — set in an open Japanese city. It blends fluid one-vs-many combat with roguelite runs and is published by Devolver Digital.

Who is making Tenjutsu? The game is led by Sébastien Bénard, who previously worked on Dead Cells, with animation and character design by Daniel (Dnilox) and marketing support from Devolver Digital.

Where can I read the Tenjutsu dev diary? The developer posts entries on the game's Steam news hub. Following the official store page is the easiest way to catch new installments as they publish.

Did Tenjutsu really start as a game jam project? Yes. According to the Tenjutsu dev diary, the game began as a Ludum Dare entry — a weekend game jam — before expanding into a full roguelite over roughly three years of development.