What is Popmates
Popmates is an online party game in pixel art, in the making. You play a balloon, called a Popmate, in a shared world of floating islands. When you feel like a game, you step through a portal into a 30-second word race against other players, then float back out to wander, shop and show off your hat.
It cannot be played yet. There are no matches, no accounts and no server yet, and there is no release date. This page describes the game as it is planned; the Progress page says what is actually built.
How a match works
A category appears, such as "things in a kitchen", and everyone types as many answers as they can think of in 30 seconds. When time runs out, the answers are revealed and scored:
- An answer only you found is worth 2 points.
- An answer that another player or team also found is worth 1 point.
So the obvious answers still count, but the odd ones you think of are worth more. In team matches, you see your teammates' answers as they type them and cannot repeat each other, while the other teams' answers stay hidden until the reveal. Wrong answers cost nothing.
Modes
There are four planned ways to play: free for all, or two, three or four teams. Each mode has its own portal, on its own island. Before you step in, you choose a lobby size and whether the match is Rated or Unrated. Rated matches move your Pop score up or down a ladder; Unrated ones are just for fun.
The world
The world is called the Sky Archipelago (a working name, like every place name here): eight small floating islands in three layers of sky. The low layer, the Cloud Sea, is always at dawn; the Open Sky in the middle is always at midday; and Starlight, at the top, is always at dusk. Rope bridges join the islands in a layer, and updrafts lift you between layers.
Every island is open from the start, and a world map lets you hop straight to any of them, so friends can meet wherever they like. A few foggy "Uncharted" islands on the map hint at places to come. The tone is cozy and silly, and there is no big story to follow.
Looking good
Your Popmate can wear a hat, a string and something on its back, and change its body colour. Each piece comes in a few chosen colours. They are sold in themed sets by shopkeepers on the islands, who also hand out small errands, and an errand can reward a special colour that is not for sale.
You buy pieces with tokens you earn by playing. Everything is decorative: nothing you wear helps you win. No real-money purchases are planned for launch.
Who can play
Popmates is planned for desktop web browsers, played with a keyboard and mouse, with nothing to install. You can jump in as a guest with a made-up name (Unrated matches only, and no shopping), or make an account to keep your Pop score, tokens and wardrobe.
Who makes it
Popmates is made by ColinMakesApps, as a one-person project. The game is built with Claude's help: the code and the pixel-art source files are written with Claude.
This devlog follows along, with one short post each time a stage of the build is finished.
Where it is now
The look of the game is settled, and a Popmate can walk around a test map. Nothing is playable yet, and there is no release date. The Progress page lists every stage and where it stands, and the RSS feed is the easiest way to hear about new posts.