{"rewrite":{"id":"r_8601b3b6cbee42e838e32a44","clusterId":"c_3dc509b3c1454d366fe21168","slug":"kick-launches-on-steam-as-a-swiss-developer-s-dribble-through-everyday-japan","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"Kick Launches on Steam as a Swiss Developer's Dribble Through Everyday Japan","summary":"Peter Sörensen, working as nospacelost, released Kick on November 4 for PC via Steam. The side-scrolling game follows a soccer boy who kicks and controls a physics-driven ball along his route to school, past people carrying luggage, cafe signboards, stacked cardboard boxes and cats. Sörensen made the game alone, with no funds to hire help. The ball was an accident: he had planned a game about a boy who misses the bus and runs to school instead.","whyItMatters":"The everyday-Japan setting here is assembled from Switzerland with anime and YouTube as the reference, so the game's sense of place is an outsider's composite rather than a local studio's record of a street it walks every day.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eSörensen\u0026#39;s route to game development ran through metalworking, a video and audio editing school, a short stretch editing at a TV station, and jobs as a museum security guard and a cleaner. He kept the game-making ambition through all of it, and now handles the art, code and design himself, which he says taught him to read other people\u0026#39;s games more closely. Kick hides extras along the school route, found by hitting the ball at particular spots. A dog on the route ran fast enough that he slowed it down after the first attempt.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"Kick is out on Steam: a side-scroller about a boy dribbling a physics-driven ball to school, past cats, cafe signboards and stacked cardboard boxes. Peter Sörensen built all of it alone in Switzerland, working from anime and YouTube images of Japan.","twitterPost":"Kick is out on Steam: a side-scroller about a boy dribbling a physics-driven ball to school, past cats, cafe signboards and cardboard boxes. Peter Sörensen built all of it alone in Switzerland, drawing on anime and YouTube views of Japan.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"Peter Sörensen released Kick on November 4 for PC via Steam, a side-scrolling game about dribbling a physics-driven soccer ball along a school route full of cats, signboards and luggage carriers. He made everything himself with no funds to hire anyone. The ball was a late addition: the original plan was a boy who misses the bus and runs.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"Automaton\",\"url\":\"https://automaton-media.com/articles/interviewsjp/20261108-478098/\",\"title\":\"Swiss developer behind 'Kick,' a game about dribbling through a Japanese town, fell in love with 'raw Japan' through anime and YouTube. Depicting 'everyday Japan' from abroad, racing along with a ball\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":5593,"outputTokens":3206,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1794113090,"createdAt":"2026-11-08T04:40:00.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-11-08T04:43:34.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-11-08T04:43:34.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_3dc509b3c1454d366fe21168","canonicalTitle":"日本の町でドリブルしまくるゲーム『Kick』を手がけるスイス人開発者は、アニメとYouTubeで「生の日本」に惚れ込んだ。異国から描く“日本の日常”、ボールと共に駆け抜ける","representativeArticleId":"a_6d9158c4549d2af7d6b9b492","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"Kick\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"news\",\"domain\":\"games\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-11-08T04:00:21.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-11-08T04:00:21.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-11-08T04:43:34.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"Automaton","url":"https://automaton-media.com/articles/interviewsjp/20261108-478098/","title":"日本の町でドリブルしまくるゲーム『Kick』を手がけるスイス人開発者は、アニメとYouTubeで「生の日本」に惚れ込んだ。異国から描く“日本の日常”、ボールと共に駆け抜ける"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["Kick"],"studios":[],"people":[],"type":"news","domain":"games","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":["Peter Sörensen released Kick on November 4 for PC via Steam under the name nospacelost.","Kick is a side-scrolling game about kicking a physics-driven soccer ball along a route to school.","Sörensen developed the game alone, with no funds to hire anyone.","The soccer ball was an accidental addition; the original plan was a boy who misses the bus and runs to school."],"pageLinks":{"healthSlugs":["kick"],"storySlugs":[],"entities":[{"slug":"kick","supported":1,"disputed":0,"contradicted":0,"unverified":5,"overall":"green","story_count":4,"has_dossier":true}],"stories":[],"entitiesOk":true,"storiesOk":true}}