Dear Village Leaders,
Thank you so much for playing the Idle Frontier Demo during Steam Next Fest!
We received an overwhelming amount of feedback, encouragement, and (sometimes very surprising but super helpful) suggestions from all of you. It was our first time sharing this world, and we're truly grateful that so many of you were willing to step into this still-developing spiritual land.
Here are the most common questions we received — and our official replies:
1. Why is there no language support besides Simplified Chinese?
Before releasing the Demo, we reviewed our own localization and realized… there were way too many mistranslations, missing lines, and awkward expressions that would have completely ruined the first impression for non-Chinese players.
So to ensure a decent first experience, we temporarily disabled other languages.
Once the game’s full script stabilizes, we’ll be redoing the translation thoroughly and will release proper multilingual support. We sincerely hope to provide a comfortable experience for players of all languages in the near future.
2. “Idle” game? Not idle enough!
We hear you.
From day one, our design goal was to let players choose how to engage — go deep when focused, go idle when distracted. But clearly, we haven’t hit the sweet spot yet.
The good news? Thanks to your feedback, we’ve now locked in a clearer direction, one that balances automation and interactivity better — and this direction has been affirmed by many core players.
3. What about bugs and stability issues?
We know — there were some weird bugs at launch.
Due to our tiny team, we weren’t able to do a full QA pass pre-release. In fact, the Next Fest served as our first large-scale open test.
Thanks to your detailed reports and patience, we managed to squash nearly all major bugs by Day 2. We’re confident that the Demo is now stable enough for continued play.
And that’s why — yes — the Demo will remain available even after Next Fest, until we’re ready to transition into full release.
4. Will save data be wiped? How long will the Demo last? Will achievements be added?
We plan to keep the Demo up until development for the full version is complete.
The core systems and data structures are already in place, and we don’t expect major overhauls — so your Demo save data will carry over to the full version.
(If you want to transfer your save in the future, feel free to reach out to us via our community or Discord!)
Achievements are ready but will be launched with the full version, once the data tracking is finalized. We don’t want to give players unstable goals that might change later.
If we haven’t answered your question here, feel free to post it in the Steam Discussions, our community group, or anywhere you hang out — we’ll respond to everyone!
What's Next — Our Development Roadmap
Thanks to your feedback, our team has defined the next milestones and features. Here's our rough version plan:
0.1.x (Current Demo)
Chapter 1 content
Core gameplay: building the village, patrolling, cultivating
Basic gathering and crafting systems
Assign villagers to simple tasks
0.2.x
Chapter 2 content
Choose a religious sect and unlock new spells and sect events
Village management: promotions, villager training and specialization
Dispatch villagers to collect rare items, fame, and treasures
0.3.x
Chapter 3 content
Capture and raise spirit beasts with their own training systems
“Village War” system: send out spirit beasts to raid other players’ villages
1.0.x (Full Release)
Full localization
Achievement system
Bugfixes after closed beta
A new guided intro and main story arc
In parallel, we’ll also be expanding:
Equipment, items, and materials
New events (some inspired by classic Chinese tales)
More village structures and building options
Ongoing balance tweaks
Of course, all your bug reports and suggestions!
Help Us Build This World
You can stay involved and follow development by:
Posting your suggestions here in Steam Discussions
Joining our player community
Keep an eye out for a possible closed beta coming later this year!
And if you enjoyed the game, please consider adding it to your Wishlist — it helps us more than you can imagine!
Once again, thank you to every one of you who tried the Demo during Next Fest.
We know our little immortal village still has a long way to go.
But together with you, we’ll turn this land into a thriving realm of cultivation and peace.
See you in the next update! 🙌
With much love,
🐟 Fish Princess