NL

Dutch Game Awards for HKU affiliates from three academies

  • 04 december 2025
At the ceremony for Dutch Game Awards on Wednesday evening 3 December, two game productions by HKU-affiliated creators were among the winners. The survival game GRUNN – made by HKU Games alumni Tijmen Tio and Tom van den Boogaart of Sokpop Collective – won in two categories. Also awarded was the adventure game Herald – The Interactive Period Drama, created by three HKU Theatre alumni: Roy van der Schilden, AÏda de Ridder and Bart Heijltjes, with music by HKU Music and Technology teacher Bart Delissen.
Dutch Game Awards for HKU affiliates from three academies
GRUNN not only won the prestigious award for Best Game, but also won in the category Best Game Design. The jury lauded the unexpected turns in the game, that starts as a gardening simulator but suddenly transforms into a mysterious survival game. All in the characteristic visual style where Sokpop collective is known for. The Sokpop production company is, along with Tijmen and Tom, formed by Aran Koning and Ruben Naus, alumni of Utrecht University.

Awards for interdisciplinary HKU-creators

Furthermore, the adventure game Herald – The Interactive Period Drama won in the Best Narrative category. The studio behind the game, Wispfire, was founded by three HKU Theatre alumni: Roy van der Schilden, AÏda de Ridder and Bart Heijltjes are all graduates of the programme formerly known as Design for Virtual Theatre and Games (now called Interactive Performance Design). Through them, teacher Bart Delissen (HKU Music and Technology) was also involved with Herald as composer and sound director. He explained: “This Award proves the strength of interdisciplinarity: three Theatre alumni, together with a Music & Technology teacher, winning at the same event as HKU Games alumni.”

GRUNN: From gardening to survival game

In GRUNN (Best Game, Best Game Design), you play as a gardener hired for what initially seems like a simple maintenance job.But the required tools are oddly missing, forcing you to travel to a nearby village to look for them. There, you find yourself in a mysterious setting populated by strange villagers.

The jury of Dutch Game Awards states on their website: 'Without prior expectations you think you’re starting a pleasant gardener-simulation, untill things suddenly turn scary, and you must try to survive the mystery. The game shows subtle design choices, where blurred artwork and supportive sound create the right tone for a horror story.' The jury also valued the game’s original setting for a mysterious puzzle game, and a strong balance between clear instructions and unsettling uncertainty.

Herald: 19th-century adventure in an RPG

The other HKU game, Herald (Best Narrative) is an adventure game set on a 19th-century ship. You play as a steward who is serving the passengers and must make various decisions while the ship sails toward your birthplace: the Eastern colonies. The passengers aboard vary greatly in wealth and status. How you deal with the dilemmas that arise from this, determines how the open story unfolds.

The jury especially praised Herald’s high quality voice-acting: 'This helps establish the right atmosphere for an intriguing plot. The story, characters and dialogues are compelling enough to keep the player engaged until the end.'

More HKU alumni nominated

Among the nominees were other HKU alumni as well. The strategy game Rift Riff, by HKU Games alumnus Adriaan de Jongh and HKU Music and Technology alumnus Matthijs Koster, was nominated in four categories. Another contender was recent Games-alumnus Mart Snijders, nominated in the Best Student Game category for his game Unshine Arcade.

About the Dutch Game Awards

The Dutch Game Awards were founded in 2007 to stimulate the Dutch games industry. The awards are an acknowledgement for the artistic creativity, design skills and business instincts of Dutch game developers. This year was the fifteenth edition, and the first one in Chassé Theatre in Breda. A total of 13 awards were handed out, by a jury of representatives from the Dutch games industry.