In a category where competition is fierce, a small studio in Zhuhai has quietly claimed a "number one" spot

If we were to pick a few buzzwords from this year’s gaming industry, aside from the undisputed “Search, Fight, and Withdraw,” the next most prominent term would likely be “life simulation.”

Here are just a few recently announced titles: miHoYo’s *Star Valley*, NetEase’s *Star Paint: Sunny Days* and *Code: Journey*, Tencent’s *Grain’s Little People’s Kingdom* and *Project: OO*…Players are “playing one after another,” and major studios have also viewed this as a battleground in recent years. Including myself, from the first half of the year’s *Fantasy Life i* and *Rune Factory: Dragon’s World* to Nintendo’s sudden release of the *Animal Crossing 3.0* update a while back, I’ve been hooked on every single one from the very start.

It’s hard to pinpoint the source of this appeal, until I recently chatted with Richardo, the producer and creative director of *Star Sand Island*, who cut to the heart of my anxiety: “Under the influence of Western consumerism, everyone is striving so hard. We want bigger houses, higher salaries, and higher titles… but compared to all that, pursuing spiritual growth might be even more important.”In his view, the sense of “returning to the countryside” found in farming and fishing is precisely the philosophical approach to self-reconciliation that has crystallized from China’s five-thousand-year agricultural civilization.”

*Star Sand Island* was developed and published by the indie studio SEED LAB. Prior to this, they secured investment from Kingsoft, and Kingsoft’s subsidiary, Xishanju, assisted them in obtaining the necessary publishing license. Among farming game enthusiasts, their buy-to-play single-player life simulation game *Star Sand Island* has consistently garnered significant attention.During the recent Steam New Releases event, *Star Sand Island* briefly ranked first in popularity among over 2,000 demos, with over 400,000 players adding it to their wishlists. There are more than 60,000 posts discussing the game on Xiaohongshu. A friend who attended the WePlay Expo in Shanghai last weekend told me that the “Star Sand Island Farm” area was constantly packed with people.

In addition to its soaring popularity in China, I’ve noticed that the Steam discussion forum for *Star Sand Island* has been virtually taken over by English-speaking players. Even earlier, Japanese gaming media outlets like 4gamer and Automaton had already conducted several exclusive interviews with the development team. *Star Sand Island* launched a Kickstarter campaign overseas earlier this year, and thanks to the enthusiastic support of international players, it raised over 2 million RMB—reaching 300% of its original funding goal.

Whether at home or abroad, many players have said that the experience of driving, skateboarding, farming, building houses, and falling in love in *Star Sand Island* is just right—they’re just waiting for the official launch so they can jump in the moment it goes live. And I can’t help but wonder: how exactly did they manage to nail this core experience?

01

The Taoist Spirit Shapes an Authentic Chinese Pastoral Landscape

Among the producers I’ve met, Richardo is quite unique. Once he starts talking, he’s unstoppable—his thoughts are wildly imaginative and peppered with references to classical texts. During our hour-long conversation, we discussed everything from the spirit of the times to the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and from Steve Jobs’ entrepreneurial journey to Li Bai’s sense of chivalry. While these reflections may seem unrelated to games, they actually form the conceptual framework of *Star Sand Island*.

Prior to *Star Sand Island*, SEED LAB had explored concepts such as action games, but these were put on hold due to factors including limited project resources. Around the end of 2022, they finally settled on the "farm simulation" genre.

Deeply influenced by Daoist culture, Richardo is particularly drawn to this theme. Not only are he and other team members avid fans of games like *Little Forest* and *Animal Crossing*, but the global economic downturn following the pandemic has also sparked a shift in mindset, with anxiety and confusion becoming shared emotions among a generation of young people.

He was deeply inspired by the original Animal Crossing: if a game could convey such pure beauty, goodness, and truth, what else could they achieve? Meanwhile, Golton, another producer and technical director, was also a devoted fan of *Bossia Times* and an avid farming game player. The two hit it off immediately and decided to usher in a “golden age of farming.”

The leisurely, flow-like experience in *Star Sand Island*—with its slow pace, minimal goals, and return to nature—echoes the Daoist philosophy of “tranquility leads to far-reaching achievements” as proposed by Liu An.The game itself features a soft, Studio Ghibli-inspired art style. Its core gameplay follows in the footsteps of classics like *Stardew Valley*, where players take on the role of a protagonist who moves from the city to the countryside. On the island, they master various professions—farming, fishing, and exploring the outdoors to gather minerals—while also participating in events such as the Spring Festival fireworks display and the Harvest Festival. These simple settings effectively convey a warmth that resonates deeply with players.

Richardo also told me that another aspect of *Star Sand Island* he hopes will resonate with players is the concept of “great power arising from the heartless,” which is the essence of the Daoist philosophy of “wu-wei.”

“Everything you’ve ever done will eventually prove meaningful. Even if you spent the whole day fishing or reading a novel today, that novel might play a crucial role when you create art someday in the future. Take Steve Jobs, for example: the ‘unconventional’ study of typography he pursued back then later laid the foundation for Apple’s aesthetic.”

Applying this concept to the game itself, beyond the core gameplay of traditional life simulation games—farming and fishing—*Star Sand Island* aims to create a highly flexible game system in which various modules are tightly integrated and influence one another, ensuring that everything players do in the game contributes directly or indirectly to their character’s growth.

Richardo gave an example: “The rabbits you raise can help you weed your fields; the weeds can serve as food for the rabbits; and the droppings the rabbits produce after eating the weeds can be used as fertilizer for your crops, helping them grow a little bigger.”He hopes that through this process, players will realize that we don’t need to regret yesterday or worry about tomorrow; as long as we take good care of a rabbit and tend to a field in the present moment, we will always be rewarded in some way—and the same principle applies in real life.

Although the addition of this highly flexible system means that the game’s overall complexity and richness of experience are on par with the project direction they had previously shelved due to cost concerns, Richardo told me that the difference lies in the fact that *Star Sand Island*’s system is more of a “mental complexity.”Much of their early work involved using paper prototypes to thoroughly refine the game’s rule framework. This allowed SEED LAB to complete development extremely efficiently once they entered the content production phase, thereby reducing overall costs—which is, in fact, a manifestation of “unintended yet highly effective results.”

At this point, I interrupted him: “I know these product concepts sound appealing, but they’re mostly just personal insights—do you think your investors will be swayed by a producer’s ‘intuition’?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Not really—it’s the test data that speaks for itself.”

02

Building an island of boundless hope together with players

According to an announcement from the official *Star Sand Island* account, SEED LAB finally secured its project incubation funding around November of last year. Prior to that, they had already conducted several rounds of player testing involving over a hundred participants and gathered a significant amount of data and feedback.

The approach taken with *Star Sand Island* differs from that of many single-player projects. Starting from the white-box phase, the team began inviting players to participate. Each time a gameplay feature or a segment of the visual design was completed, the team invited a group of players to an in-person demo. If satisfaction reached 80% or higher, they moved on to the next step and entered the full-scale development phase of the project.

The project team refers to the players who participated in the early testing as “co-creators.” Richardo believes that a game is a tangible expression of the developer’s vision, and that this expression is only valid if it is endorsed by the players. As a result, this approach to early testing has effectively helped them validate the effectiveness of *Star Sand Island*’s “three core elements” and further refine them.

The “Three Key Features” are the three main highlights the development team has identified for *Star Sand Island*. The first is the diversity and novelty of gameplay, which encompasses a wide range of elements. For example, they’ve created an NPC companionship system—similar to other games with romance and relationship-building elements—where players increase their affinity with NPCs by interacting with them and completing quests, thereby triggering romantic storylines.

What makes this feature unique is that the interaction between players and NPCs is two-way—in addition to players initiating conversations with NPCs, once the relationship progresses to a certain point, NPCs may actively ask players out on dates or offer help when players encounter difficulties.This concept was born out of extensive player feedback, which revealed that many players hoped to experience a scenario where an NPC “pursues” them. Through this two-way interaction, the NPCs’ sense of humanity is significantly enhanced, making the game’s emotional companionship feel more immersive and authentic.

At the same time, they have enhanced the multi-profession freedom system, allowing players to pursue various professions such as Explorer or Craftsman and, under the guidance of a profession mentor, progress from apprentice to master.As romanceable NPCs, these profession mentors further enhance the game’s signature feature of two-way NPC interaction. The diverse vehicle system—which allows players to drive convertibles and ride ostriches—is part of the design team’s effort to fulfill players’ fantasies of “boundless freedom” through gameplay mechanics.

Their second key strategy is their investment in visual assets. As a fan of life simulation games himself, Richardo feels that fellow players haven’t had enough to enjoy in recent years. Through *Star Sand Island*, he aims to convey a sense of healing by providing the richest, most detailed visual effects possible.

He also revealed that the official version to be released in the future will include more elements inspired by diverse global cultures. The current demo already features a significant number of Chinese-inspired elements, such as interacting with pandas, paddling bamboo rafts, and various major events based on Chinese holidays like the Spring Festival. For the official version, they have also planned content such as European-style estates and Japanese-style countryside settings.Richardo sincerely hopes that this game will ultimately be enjoyed by players from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The third key element is the game’s world-building. The way a world is constructed determines how immersive it feels and directly impacts players’ enjoyment—and *Star Sand Island*’s approach is to select a world-building concept rooted in reality that resonates with modern urban players. At the same time, it introduces locations such as ancient ruins in the wilderness, incorporates elements from traditional Chinese philosophy like the *I Ching*, and adds light fantasy elements such as “spiritual veins,” all while maintaining a sense of depth without feeling out of place.

During my conversation with Richardo, I realized that the resources they had at their disposal were indeed quite limited.He told me that the total budget for the entire project—covering both development and marketing—was under $10 million, and the actual time spent in full-scale production was just over a year. Yet, in the end, *Star Sand Island* still delivered a remarkably impressive result. I believe it was precisely these two somewhat unique creative approaches—active co-creation with players and the “pre-production prototyping” mentioned earlier—that helped them minimize the waste associated with repeated scrapping and reworking, resulting in a more efficient development process.

03

Rediscovering "The Origin Game"

At the end of the interview, Ricardo told me that even though he’d created a game designed to help players avoid getting caught up in the rat race, he’s been feeling a bit anxious lately.

The project team’s top priority right now is optimizing the game’s performance and fixing bugs—during the demo testing phase for the Steam New Releases Sale, quite a few players reported that *Star Sand Island* had unstable frame rates, and there were still many details in the gameplay experience that needed polishing. They’re quite receptive to feedback; even though they’re short-staffed, they’ve been logging and fixing every bug reported by players through various channels like Bilibili and Xiaohongshu, and communicating with players on a case-by-case basis.For example, I recently saw some players comment under the official account saying they “wanted a classic rocking horse from their childhood,” and in the latest trailer released before WePlay, they added it in—the classic nursery rhyme “What’s Dad’s Dad’s Name?” plays in the video. This is also a manifestation of their “co-creation spirit” with players.

With the launch date in early February next year fast approaching, the challenges are significant, but everyone on the project team remains committed to ensuring the game is presented to players in the best possible light.

However, I believe that regardless of the final outcome, *Star Sand Island* is at least heading in a promising and meaningful direction. In some respects, it shares many similarities with this year’s hit indie game *Escape from Yakov*: despite the abundance of online and mobile games featuring similar gameplay mechanics, it distinguishes itself by refining a highly refined core experience.

Many successful online games are often built upon a single foundation—such as a well-developed core gameplay loop—which is then expanded and adapted to meet the demands of monetization and long-term operation. However, fragile qualities like “truth, goodness, and beauty,” as well as the most authentic gaming experience, are often lost in the process of incorporating commercial elements.

As demonstrated by *Escape from Yakov*, the search-and-fight-and-retreat gameplay in PVE mode reduces the need for players to engage in a constant battle of wits with the game designers. The fact that it has surpassed 3 million copies sold in a short period proves that this “back-to-basics” approach can appeal to audiences who prefer a pure gaming experience, while also coexisting harmoniously with other titles in the same genre.

This is also why I’m drawn to *Star Sand Island*—just as the game seeks to convey, every choice we make in life has meaning, and the meaning of life lies solely in life itself. Commercial returns don’t necessarily create social value, but a game with such “rare innocence” might just bring about some subtle changes in our current age of anxiety.