has become known for. The
cavalcade of novel ideas,
playful experiments and
cute diversions has become
its brand identity.
Many of Sokpop’s
creations have an endearing
quality that make them very
gifable, so they found a
home on Twitter. A
community has also
sprouted up in the wake of
the Patreon, so every game
is guaranteed players and
feedback. It’s not until pretty far intoagame’s
development that anyone can reallyknowifit’sgoingto
resonate with people, but Sokpop doesn’thavetoworry
about that. “Whatever game we release,there’san
audience for it,” Koning says. “There’salwaysatleastone
of our patrons who’s like, ‘This is mynewfavouritegame’,
for every game, and it’s super fun tohavethatmany
people playing all these smaller games.”
LONGGAME
forsureafewhundred
peoplewillplayit,andwe’ll
gettotalktoabunchof
themintheDiscord.”
Patreoneffectivelylets
Sokpoprunagame
subscriptionservice
withoutneedingtoworry
aboutprocessingpayments
ortheplatformitself;with
theincreasingpopularityof
thesubscriptionmodel,it
seemswell-timed.While
Sokpopisn’taversetoits
gamesappearingonotherplatforms,likeAppleArcadeor
HumbleMonthly,itofferssomethingquitedifferentfrom
thenorm.EverygamepatronsgetfromSokpopisbrand
newand,withtheirsmallscope,won’tcontributetothe
dreadedbacklog.Well,nottoomuch.
“Wemightbemakingtoomanygamesactually,”says
Tio.“Evenforourfans.”
Everyyear,Sokpopdecidesifit’sgoingtokeepdoing
thePatreonforanotheryear,orifitmaybewantstoshake
thingsup.It’sgoingtocontinuethroughout2020,and
With the Patreon now in its third
year, the developers are still
enthusiastic about the platform,
though they’ve been surprised to see
it keep growing. It was a gamble,
with none of them knowing if it was
going to last for a month or a year,
but now they’ve got nothing stopping
them from carrying on for the
foreseeable future.
“I feel like we could do this for a
long time,” says Tio. “It feels like a
dream, making small, experimental
games. It could be anything. Right
now, the next game is the one I’m
releasing, and it’s a text adventure
MMO. I think it’s kinda weird, so I’m
really excited to see people play it.
The most fun thing about making
games: watching people play with it
and seeing their experiences. Now
when we make something, we know
“WE MIGHT BE
MAKING TOO MANY
ACTUALLY, EVEN FOR
OUR FANS”
TOP: Bernband offers
a window into a
strange, alien world.
BELOW: Cycling
through traffic makes
Dark Souls look easy.