Sonokunisstory begins in 2014, in Japan, when a group of soon-to-be-friends met at university.

They shared their love for music, hip-hop culture, and other art forms like DJing and graffiti.

The group banded together to create rap songs and work on music video productions.

A collage showing characters of Hotline Miami at the front and Sonokuni’s protagonist behind them, looking menacing.

They called it Don Yasa Crew, and they didnt know anything about developing video games.

But that would change some years later.

We played Sonokuni at Gamescom, the upcoming game developed by Don Yasa Crew and published by Kakehashi Games.

Ben Affleck looking stressed with a space helmet on and Citizen Sleeper 2 in the background.

Don Yasa Crew thought it was time to jump into game development.

None of us had a background in the game industry, lead developer Don Sagawa explains.

With the development of modern game engines, making games is more accessible now than ever.

characters making drugs in schedule 1.

In May 2020, the group made the shift and became a video game studio.

With Sonokuni we would like to create a game that is filled with the same kind of appeal.

In those myths, there is a famous hero and a country called Sonokuni.

A collage showing one of the members of Don Yasa Crew on the left, riding a bike, Don Sagawa rapping and sitting on a bench on the middle, and Sonokuni’s protagonist looking at a tower from a cliff on the right.

It was full of villains and they were destroyed by that hero.

Were they really so evil that they needed to be destroyed?

Where do the people from Sonokunis annihilated souls come from, and where are they going?

Members of Don Yasa Crew riding motorbikes on a road.

Picture provided by Kakehashi Games.

That way, they can avoid the issue of devs becoming too good at the game without play-testing sessions.

So we developed a mechanism (or an algorithm) to quantitatively design the flow before designing the levels.

Initially, they envisioned that it would take six months during the pandemic to complete Sonokuni.

The main character slashing monsters in a room with green neon lights.

It ended up taking four years, and theyre still working hard in the polishing phase.

If we had known it would be this difficult, we might not have jumped into game development!

Don Sagawa is aware of the difficulties that many game studios face all over the globe.

Five members of Don Yasa Crew rapping near a department.

Picture provided by Kakehashi Games.

As musicians, we [might] have a unique view here, he explains.

I certainly hope thats the case and things start stabilizing soon.

Sonokuni still doesnt have a release date, but its planned to be launched later this year.

The protagonist running around a grey background with blue monsters flying away from her.

you could try a free demo on Steam to see if youre up to the task.

The indie RPG will make your brain chill while your palms sweat.

Don Sagawa looking at the camera and rapping on a studio.

Picture provided by Kakehashi Games.

Indie Games