Composed of two expats and a Kyoto native, the three co-founders are Liam Edwards (Designer), Taku Arioka (Designer), and Jan de Graaf (Programmer). Denkiworks have already begun development of their debut project, codenamed Project Tanuki, which is being developed in Unity and set to be revealed at a future date.
Denkiworks: Taku Arioka, Jan de Graaf, and Liam EdwardsDenkiworks is based in Kyoto, Japan - where the three Co-Founders met while working at Q-Games on Pixeljunk Scrappers, back in 2018. Following completion of the project, Liam left Q-Games to direct his own new IP, Cursed to Golf, at Chuhai Labs. Following the launch of Cursed to Golf, the trio reunited to found Denkiworks, with the idea to continue creating innovative indie titles with a unique feel and ''East meets West'' perspective. In Japanese, the word ''denki'' means electricity, but it also carries a second meaning for the team, as ''spark of creativity''.
This is the foundational concept the team will be following on their journey creating games together. The company’s logo is proudly emblazoned with the first part of the kanji spelling (den) of the word denki, with a lightning bolt overlaid to emphasise its meaning to a global audience. Despite the company being founded in 2023, the logo says established in 2018, referencing the time period the team met and first felt that invigorating spark of creativity working together while developing Pixeljunk Scrappers.
“We are so excited to finally reveal Denkiworks,” said Liam Edwards. “We’ve been hard at work on our first title, inspired by our experiences of life in Japan, coming from an expat and native perspective,” “It’s essentially a love letter to this country and its beautiful culture. We all have an idealised vision of what Japan is, especially its stunning countryside, popularised in art and media over centuries. Project Tanuki will be our take on that!”
“Our experience working together on Pixeljunk Scrappers was a really special collaboration and we all gelled really well together creatively,” said Jan de Graaf “We joked back then that one day we’d re-unite to make a game again. I don’t think we actually thought it would happen, but here we are.. We’re honoured to now be able to plant our personal flag in the Japanese indie scene. If you’re attending BitSummit, please say hi!”
“Forming a new studio is always risky, but we needed to take ourselves out of our comfort zone,” said Taku Arioka. “We have so many ideas and needed complete creative freedom to pursue them.“It’s been so stimulating to collaborate with Liam and Jan again, and work on the new project has been progressing so well already. We cannot wait to reveal it to the world!”