At its heart, our game wants to remind people that working
non-stop isn’t the only path to success. Sometimes, happiness is as simple as listening to the waves, growing your own veggies, or having a heartfelt chat with a friend. There’s no toxic competition or backstabbing here - just wholesome farming, fishing, and everyday joys. It’s the perfect way to relax and soothe your soul. In short: Escape the 996 grind and come farm on the island! Rediscover life’s simplest pleasures.
Why do you think we are seeing an upswing in “cozy” games of late? Gao: Here’s my perspective: COVID-19 was a globally significant event that revealed the world hitting a peculiar bottleneck. As the external material world became less reassuring, people increasingly sought spiritual solace and healing in virtual worlds. I believe this trend will persist for at least another three decades.
The game is very visually impressive for a town and farming sim, and has a very ‘Japanese anime’ look. How important was getting the look right to your team’s success? Wang: We believe this visual style is absolutely crucial to the game’s success. Our conviction is that players are drawn to this genre precisely because they yearn to immerse themselves in a warm and delightful virtual world, and the ‘Japanese anime’ aesthetic we’ve chosen perfectly aligns with that emotional tone.
Starsand Island was fully funded on Kickstarter in under two weeks — congratulations, by the way! — what was the vibe like at the studio when you crossed the ‘funded’ line? Wang: To be honest, when we launched the Kickstarter campaign, we only had 200 followers — not exactly an ideal starting point. So when we hit our funding goal in under two weeks, it genuinely exceeded our expectations. We were deeply moved by the love and support from our players, and it brought us tremendous joy. More importantly, it validated all our hard work and gave us even greater confidence and motivation to continue developing and polishing the game.
Was the studio founded to make Starsand Island, or did it get together and then come up with the idea? Gao: SEED LAB was originally established to incubate interesting creative ideas. We first formed a small team and experimented with various sandbox prototypes before ultimately deciding to develop a cozy life simulation sandbox — that’s how Starsand Island came to be.
How did you fund the game development work done before the Kickstarter? Wang: Actually, we released a concept trailer for the game very early last year. Despite having no marketing push, it received remarkably positive market feedback. Later, we followed up with offline demo playtests, which also performed exceptionally well. Thanks to this traction, we secured our initial project funding.
June/July 2025 MCV/DEVELOP | 15
Is now a good time to be an indie developer? Gao: Yes, I believe this is truly a golden age for indie developers! We now have excellent distribution platforms like Steam, so the only remaining question is how to create a great game. Personally, I think the greatest advantage of game development is
that it’s incredibly hard to monopolize. Players inherently crave fresh, engaging experiences — so there will always be untapped niches waiting for bold creators to explore. It just takes a bit of insight, passion, courage, focus, and patience.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you’d give to someone who might also want to go indie? Gao: If you want your indie game to succeed, I believe the most crucial thing is to identify and understand the needs of a specific group of players — and ensure that meeting those needs falls within your team’s capabilities. You can stretch slightly beyond your comfort zone, but not too far. I’ve always believed that satisfying players’ needs is the first
principle of game development. So, find your target players, become one of them, communicate with them, and truly understand them. Let your ideas resonate with them — and with yourself. Once you’ve done that, you’ll already see the light at the end of the tunnel. The rest is about execution: How to deliver the game within a
limited time and budget. This is a serious engineering challenge — one that requires discipline, not indulgence.
Does your team have any other games in development, or is the focus strictly on Starsand Island right now? Gao: The team is currently focused on the development of Starsand Island and is not concurrently working on any other games.
What are the next big challenges on the horizon? How do you intend to take them on? Gao: If we aim to deliver a high-quality, next-gen life simulation game by Q4 2025 while supporting as many platforms as possible, the biggest challenge will be the enormous workload. We are currently ramping up production capacity as quickly as possible to complete the remaining planned content. In any case, additional effort will always be our final safeguard to ensure a timely release.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
