Every fortnight, a visit to Sokpop’s Itch page – and, more recently, its Steam page – guarantees a new treat. Maybe you’ll drive through the rain to hunt down bounties in Blue Drifter, explore a pink sky castle in Labyrinth or spend an hour solving puzzles on Pear Quest’s little island. In two years, Sokpop has released more than 50 games, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Aran Koning, Ruben Naus, Tom van den Boogaart and Tijmen Tio met around five years ago when they started doing game jams together, including the popular Ludum Dare. When there wasn’t a formal one to go to, they’d just jam at home.
Those events always came to an abrupt end, but they wanted to keep it going. The collective grew from that, leading the four of them to embark on what’s become an infinite game jam. But they rarely work together.
“We basically never collaborate,” says Koning. At the time of writing, they’ve released 54 games, though that number will already be out of date when you read it. Only a couple of games in this rapidly growing collection were collaborative projects. So it’s a collective of individuals, all equal within the studio, but always following their own ideas and going off to experiment solo.
This contributes to the incredible range of Sokpop’s massive back catalogue. There are cute sandboxes, puzzlers, management games, racing games – and the themes and art styles are just as varied as the genres. A great deal of them fall into the category of ‘wholesome’ games, some more overtly than others, but otherwise it’s remarkable how the foursome avoids repeating itself.
SOK IT TO ‘EM
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av PC Gamer.
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Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av PC Gamer.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BITING BACK
The tooth is out there in adventure TEETH OF GLASS
SMOKE ALARM
THE INVISIBLE SMOKE FACTORY is back in a Flash
MECH ME OVER
Move over Mario, here's mech-based platforming in ARMORED SHELL NIGHTJAR
"I like Pillars of Eternity better than Baldur's Gate III"
PILLARS OF ETERNITY deserves a bigger space in the CRPG pantheon
"A harrowing dark fantasy about hapless, bright-eyed children"
Spelunking into hell with MADE IN ABYSS: BINARY STAR FALLING INTO DARKNESS
THE IMMORTAL LOCK
A massive, meaty game in a single horrific Quake map.
NEW MANOEUVRES
Building a dedicated sim racing space in an average family house
OVERWATCH 2
Save me space girl.
REET GOOD TIME
THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE is a riotous recreation of Yorkshire
THE PLUCKY SQUIRE
How many games let you make friends with a MtG card?