Our game “Liaozhai”is expected to officially meet everyone in the first quarter of 2026.
Since opening the Steam store page, many players have already added our game to their wishlists. Thank you all so much for your attention and support for our game.
This log primarily discusses the project approval phase of our game——why I wanted to create a game like this.
When starting the project, I was thinking: what kind of story did I actually want to write?
Until one day, I saw an answer on Zhihu(Chinese Q&A platform).
This answer said:
Phrases like “None of your business, don't stop the silk production”are only heard by central state-owned enterprise employees.
Ordinary people at most get to see documents like “Deployment Notice from Chun'an, Jiande, and Eight Other Counties on Strengthening the Protection Work of the Xin'an River Embankment During the Dragon Boat Festival Flood Season”and “Police Bulletin from the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau on Arresting Foreign Spies in the ‘Green Shoots' Incident in Chun'an and Jiande”and their related news reports.
This answer was about the TV drama “Ming Dynasty 1566”. I watched this series a long time ago. Because its story begins in my hometown, it left a deep impression on me.
The beginning of “Ming Dynasty 1566” is about the “Young Cabinet Elder”deciding to change rice fields to mulberry fields in Chun'an and Jiande, destroying dykes and flooding farmland, leading to a power struggle with Juzheng Zhang and others.
When I saw this answer, I thought, why don't I write a story about Chun'an? Starting from the Young Cabinet Elder destroying the dykes and flooding the fields.
This became our story background.
Later, I re-watched “Ming Dynasty 1566”several times, each time with different feelings.
“When the empire prospers, the people suffer; when the empire falls, the people suffer.” Some lament that whenever the glory of the Ming Dynasty is mentioned, even the drowned commoners unconsciously puff out their chests with pride.
Then an idea struck me: why must I only write stories about the living? Those people drowned by the Young Cabinet Elder should also have a voice. So, a ‘Liaozhai' version of ‘Ming Dynasty 1566'——okay, let's write it like this, let's write this story.
And that's how “Liaozhai” was approved.
Now we have the story background and the worldview. So, in this ‘Liaozhai' version of the Ming Dynasty, what specific story do I want to tell?
A series of images flashed through my mind, and then I remembered one picture.
This one. The underwater ancient city of my hometown, Chun'an.
Combining this with the Young Cabinet Elder's destruction of the dykes and flooding of the fields, my thoughts began to expand, revolving around this ancient city.
In those days, the common people worked at sunrise and rested at sunset.
At night, while she was still resting in bed, the dyke broke. The water came.
She sank forever to the riverbed, still in her dream.
She waited day after day at the bottom of the river, enduring the icy cold water, forgotten by the world.
But she still persevered.
Just waiting for the day when someone would bring her back to see the light of day.
…
A young girl, waiting endlessly for someone at the bottom of the river.
Then finally, one day…a young man passes by the riverbank…
Alright, that's the story of how “Liaozhai”was born. This log ends here. Thank you for reading this far. I am Fox Language. I might post more creation logs in the future, talking about things encountered during development, or perhaps discussing the art or music of “Liaozhai”.
Finally, I sincerely hope for your support. It would be fantastic if you could add our game to your wishlist on the Steam store——it's extremely important to us.
Thank you all again!