Hello Guardians! Summer has ended, and autumn has arrived. Have you also changed your identity?
Thank you to all the players who are still supporting us. Our Kickstarter campaign was a success, it feels like a dream.
Not long ago, we wrapped up our graduation ceremony. After the busy period of game development, it was a rare pleasure to sit on the lawn and breathe in the fresh air. During this brief moment of leisure, I felt inspired to write down some stories and reflections from the past few years.
One of the team members
Some of you might be surprised. Yes, we’re not seasoned professional developers, but rather students struggling to juggle bug fixing and academic responsibilities.
Looking back on my college years, it’s hard to say if they were fulfilling or a waste of time.
In the eyes of my “social butterfly” and “athletic” classmates, I was always the odd one out, spending days in front of the computer playing single-player games that didn't interest others, and sketching game designs that seemed inexplicable to them.
Fortunately, I met some like-minded friends later on. We hit it off and formed Hucang Studio, finally bringing our game concepts to life. (Here, you can insert some interesting anecdotes about how we met.)
However, the journey of indie game development was much tougher than we imagined, especially with our academic commitments.
As a result, we had to sacrifice our spare time, which our peers spent enjoying their youth in the sun, and instead spent countless nights in a cramped, dark studio. Due to our lack of experience, we faced numerous technical challenges early on, which required us to spend extra time learning and solving problems. Even our development funds had to be pieced together from our living expenses. (Here, you can add some early difficulties faced by the team.)
One of the team members
Thus, our first game, "CTcity: My Time in Chengtu," was born. It received positive reviews from many players and even won an award in a college game development competition, which greatly encouraged us.
Unfortunately, as an unknown small studio, our game didn't get much promotion on Steam, resulting in poor sales that couldn't even cover the development costs.
So, in a strict sense, we failed.
Without tangible success, I remained, in my parents' eyes, just a gaming-obsessed, unmotivated son. Other members of the studio faced similar situations. They had parents who had high expectations for them but chose to forego grad school, reject big company offers, and abandon many excellent post-graduation opportunities to pursue this unconventional dream.
I know that since I chose this path, I cannot give up easily.
We spent another two years raising funds and developing our new game, “Guardians of the Sanctree” This game, into which we poured our hearts and souls, features a unique worldview and survival-building mechanics.
Recently, during what should have been the busiest pre-graduation period, we worked overtime to release a free demo version for everyone to try.
Many players participated in the demo testing, some playing for dozens of hours and providing valuable feedback, which we greatly appreciated. Even though some criticism was mixed in with the praise and encouragement, it helped us improve the game, which we welcomed. At least our game received more attention than before. Even though there's still a long way to go to achieve success, we have indeed taken a step closer to our goal.
One of the team members
During this graduation ceremony, when asked about my future plans and goals, I smiled and said that I want to grow our studio and create more amazing games!
Honestly, as long as our games bring joy to players and prove that our efforts were not in vain, that would be enough for me.
Someone said that graduation is both an end and a new beginning, but I don’t care what it is. My starting point began when I threw myself into game development, and I never intended to stop at any endpoint. Regardless of the outcome, the most important thing is to persist and stay true to my choice.
Finally, thank you to everyone who read the above reflections and to all the players who like and support “Guardians of the Sanctree” We will work even harder to perfect the game and not let you down.