Pioneering Indie Game Developer and Digital Artist Cukia Kimani

Pioneering Indie Game Developer and Digital Artist Cukia Kimani

Cukia “Sugar” Kimani is a digital artist originally from Kenya and currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. In an interview with Bubblegumclub Cukia describes the beginning of his love affair with digital art when he first got his hands on a playstation.

 “From the moment I put it on and saw the magic on the screen, I knew I had to become one of those magicians making the magic,”

The love of games would eventually lead him to pursuing degrees in Computer Sciences, Maths and Digital Artists. In 2015 Cukia was recognized for his most successful game, Boxer, which he created with game designer Ben Crooks. He later created an independent studio based in Johannesburg along with Ben Myres called Nyamakop..  As a game developer he gained experience designing indie games and later on developing interactive experiences that we have highlighted below. Cukia continues to simply make games and often collaborates on projects that are  innovative, weird, interactive and digital.

Semblance is a puzzle platformer where your character and the world it inhabits is made of playdough. Squish, squash and deform your character and the world to solve puzzles in Semblance’s soft, bouncy world.

Semblance is a game that makes the platformer, one of the most saturated and stale genres of games today, feel fresh and interesting again.

Boxer, is a top down boxing game played using only the analogue sticks — and without all that boring ‘moving’ stuff in the way. Boxerstrips out all the boredom of boxing and gives you what you really wanted to see in any boxing match: juicy punches to the face. No hugs, no running – just boxing

Grab that controller and get your fists all up in your opponent’s face – but don’t forget to defend your own pretty features!

Raptor Polo is a silly local multiplayer game for 4 players, where all the players are potentially the ball in a game of Orc vs. Orc polo, set in the Aztec retro future past, that never was. Players ride raptors, swing axes, and trample each other to win Raptor Polo – only the coolest orc will survive.

Painting with Music

A collaborative project with Yann Seznec part of the British Council Connect ZA 2018 programme. An installation/performative piece to create permanent visual artifacts – a digital painting – with music. Using MIDI data from the music and generative algorithms, together the two will create a digital painting.