#asian devs

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[ID.: A gifset containing four gifs of the upcoming low poly game Petit Island.

Gif 1 shows the player character, a cat named Lily, approaching an NPC on the beach. The NPC is a brown bear and Lily’s speech bubble reads, “Hi Pete!”

Gif 2 shows Lily being customized by the player, who can select the colors of Lily’s fur, clothing, and backpack. Of all the options, Lily has large circular glasses that are a constant. 

Gif 3 shows Lily running along a path through town. The path goes past several colorful buildings and the player runs with their arms spread out like an airplane. 

Gif 4 shows the player looking through a camera lens at a turtle. The lens flashes, with the scene transitioning to a polaroid picture of the turtle. 

end ID.]

Petit Island is an open-world game about relieving your grandpaw’s youthful adventures! Play as Lily as you capture beautiful photos to help grandpaw remember his past. Discover a the spirit for adventure in yourself as you explore Petit Island, find hidden treasure, meet a quirky cast of characters, and customize yourself to your heart’s desire!

Release date for Windows is to be announced. 

Developed by Xelo Games, a small studio based in Bali, Indonesia. The studio’s Twitter links to an official Discord server for the game, and they have produced other titles such as Escape from Naraka. They also post frequent community questions on their Instagram.

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Later Daters is a dating sim that takes place in a retirement home! Customize your appearance, name, gender, and romance history as you seek love amongst the silver foxes of Ye OLDE. Explore LGBTQ inclusive romances, polyamorous relationships, and more!

For Nintendo Switch, Mac, and Windows.

Developed by Bloom Digital Media, a studio based in Toronto, Canada. They aim to represent livelihoods that are often overlooked, and partially based their game on real life seniors that they interviewed. 

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[I.D.: A gifset containing five gifs of the pixel art game Coffee Talk.

Gif 1 shows a shot of civilians in the town the game takes place in. There is an orc wearing a hat, a woman with pink skin and long pointed ears, another woman with purple skin and horns, a human with blonde hair and white skin, and a another man with brown skin and red hair. They are all dressed in modern, 2020 attire with text beneath the image shot spelling, “It is a city that holds the many dreams and stories of its people.”

Gif 2 shows two shots of patrons sitting behind the cafe counter. The first shot is of two people, a woman with pale skin and a man named Gala who is saying, “Yeah, things changed a lot in just twenty years.” The other shot is of three people: a police officer with black skin, a woman with cat ears, and a pale-skinned person with short green hair. The officer, named Jorji, is saying, “I fought a lot with my kids.”

Gif 3 shows a montage of the player’s hand setting out different drink orders. They set out drinks called Sugar and Spice, Shin Genmatcha, and Bitter Heart. Besides each drink order are the options “Trash It” and “Serve It.”

Gif 4 shows a top-down view of a coffee cup. The player turns the cup as they pour milk to make latte art resembling a flower.

Gif 5 shows a close up shot of a table. A folded newspaper, an ashtray with cigarette butts in it, a pack of cigarettes, a cup of coffee, and a cigarette are on its surface. Text beneath the image spells out, “But some few find solace in the embrace of bricks and wood and closed doors.”

end I.D.]

Coffee Talk is a narrative game about serving coffee to elves, aliens, orcs, mermaids, and other fantasy races! Play as a barista who has heart-to-heart conversations with patrons while serving up warm drinks from the ingredients you have in stock. How you serve your customers will affect the game’s branching storyline in this alternate version of Seattle!

For Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Windows, and Mac. 

Developed by Toge Productions, a studio based in Karawaci, Indonesia. They  believe that great accomplishments can start from simple beginnings, and have published other titles such as What Comes After. Recently they have written a tribute to Mohammad Fahmi, creator of Coffee Talk and What Comes After, who tragically passed away this year. 

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Kabaret is is a visual novel about Southeast Asian folklore! Set in the dark fantasy realm of Alam, play as Jebat, a young man cursed to be a monster. Help him carry out tasseomancy services, speak to monsters, brew tea, and meet characters inspired by real life myths/folklore as your own humanity is questioned!

Set to release Summer of 2021. Demo is out now. 

Developed by Persona Theory Games, a studio based in Malaysia. They focus on experimental narrative games and also make films/documentaries on the side. 

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[I.D.: A photoset containing four screenshots from the visual novel game Love on the Peacock Express: A Short Mystery MILF Dating Game. 

Image 1 shows the game’s title card with its main characters beneath it. The romance options Iris, Cassandra, and Vic stand together next to another character, the train conductor.

Image 2 shows Cassandra with her dialogue reading, “Do your investigations usually require this much gawking?”

Image 3 shows Vic, who is described as “Salt-and-Pepper Butch” by the player character. Vic is saying, “Looks like we’ll be locked in this little room together for a while. Why don’t you come in and take a load off?”

Image 4 shows Iris with her dialogue saying, “They treated me like a queen. It’s one of the happiest memories of my life.”

end I.D.]

Love on the Peacock Express: A Short Mystery MILF Dating Game is a visual novel about solving mysteries and kissing hot older women! Play as a private investigator and solve one of three mysteries tied to three different women: Iris, a trans diva and singer; Vic, a blue-collar butch grifter; and Cassandra, a CEO with power and influence. Piece together clues and flirt your way through one of three romance routes with two unique endings!

For free on Windows, Mac, and Linux. 

Developed by a wide team of lgbt+ developers (listed in the game’s Itch.io page) who are donating all proceeds from the game to Planned Parenthood and the María Fund, a grassroots organization that aims to help the people of Puerto Rico. The dev team made this game to highlight older women in romantic media, and the game also has an official Twitter.

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[I.D.: A gifset containing four gifs of the first person detective thriller game Keyword: A Spider’s Thread.

Gif 1 shows two scenes. One scene is of the player lifting the blinds on a window, showing a night time view of a neon-lit cyberpunk city. Another scene focuses on a silhouette of a large figure sitting against a darkned sky while a red ring sits behind it like a halo.

Gif 2 shows a close-up of the player filling out information in an order window. The window is labeled “SHIPPING INFO” and the Street Number is entered in as 3336, the Street Name is entered in as Queen, and the Unit Number is entered in as 703. The player then clicks on the “order” button in the window, causing the screen to zoom out to reveal a sushi website. A new window pops up saying “ORDER RECIEVED!” as its title, with the additional message, “Your order has been processed, please watch your window for delivery!”

Gif 3 shows the player standing at a computer desk. The player picks up a photo frame, which moves closer to the screen to be examined in detail. As the photo is rotated, the player has the option to Take Notes or put the photo away.

Gif 4 shows a text message conversation between a stranger and Sala, the player’s daughter. The stranger’s text bubbles read “I finally found you. You looked very really pretty last night :)” to which Sala’s text bubbles reply with “WTF. Who the fuck are you.”

end I.D.]

Keyword: A Spider’s Thread is an interactive fiction game about being an investiagtor! Play as Guo, a Private Investigator whose daughter is missing in the 2048 sci-fi city inspired by Toronto with traditional Chinese aesthetics. With your binoculars, logical skills, deduction, hacking, and social engineering, travel through time loops to change your view on reality and evaluate if forgiveness is possible!

For Windows and Mac. Free demo is also out.

Developed by City From Naught Inc., a Toronto-based indie studio. Keyword is the company’s first full indie title, and was inspired by the tech devs’ experience in hacking the Instagram account of a real life stalker to was harassing a friend of the company. 

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[I.D.: A photoset containing four screenshots from the interactive fiction game Airwaves.

Image 1 shows a setting inside a small military tent. A typewriter sits on the left side of the screen. It’s printed message reads, “I. Use the transciever to receive incoming transmission. II. Use the standardized Morse code to interpret and translate any and all messages.” On the right side of the screen is a guide that translates morse code.

Image 2 shows a close up of an object in the game: a pack of cigarettes. The object’s description has a header saying “Da Qian Men.” Its text description says, “Da Qian Men translates to Great Front Door. The ‘Daqianmen’ cigarette label Qian Men is a famous brand in China. The front door or gate is referrnig to the front gate of Beijing, and it has been a miraculous journey for the brand for more than 100 years.”

Image 3 shows a setting inside a type of military building. The typewriter is on the left side of the screen. Its message dates the day as “06/02/1970 0530HRS.” The title of the typewriter’s message says “Today is Lunar New Year” with following text reading, “Spring in Zhenbao Island is just as cold as the winter. I hope my brothers are taking good care of our parents, life has been hard on them.”

Image 4 shows a setting inside a home. Red decorations hang in the room and the typewriter is on the right side of the screen. Its message reads, “1. The right of the working class must be protected and supported by all. 2. All personal must keep and guard their post and cannot change post on their own.”

end I.D.]

Airwaves is a visual novel about deciphering codes as a radio operator. Set in a fictional contempoary China, translate morse code and cryptic messages to witness 4 short stories about generational trauma. With each story spanning across the different political generations of time, witness the perseverance experienced by marginalized people living in rural China.

For free on Windows and Mac.

Developed by Michael Luo, a Chinese developer who makes short games about his culture and identity. His works are inspired by diaspora experiences, hallucinations, vulgarity, crudeness, roughness, and anything else that undermines the status quo.

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[I.D.: A gifset containing four gifs of the puzzle game Ever Forward.

Gif 1 shows the player character, Maya, as she travels through different level environments. She runs through a grassy field through flowers, she glides ave water on a sailing raft, she runs through grass towards a mossy stone structure, and she runs to a rising platform in an area with other floating platforms. 

Gif 2 shows Maya as a translucent white figure. She looks out a window and into the night as snow falls. She says, “Wow! I can’t believe it’s snowing here” before stepping back from the window when a bird falls out of the sky and hits the ground.

Gif 3 shows Maya running through different levels with floating platforms and reddish black roots branching out from the platforms. The camera angle shifts as Maya falls, seeming to float in the air and fall backwards before landing on another platform.

Gif 4 shows a Maya and her mother standing in a grass patch  and surrounded by floating houses. Their forms are translucent and white. Maya’s mother walks up to her and kneels down, saying, “Maya... I’m sorry. Mom has to go... But I know you’ll be okay without me.”

end I.D.]

Ever Forward is a puzzle game about helping a girl find her way home! Trapped somewhere between imagination and reality, play as Maya as she is alone to confront her despair. Unlock her memories so she can face her fears to unravel the secrets of the world and see what dark secrets she has buried!

For Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Windows, Xbox One, and PS5.

Developed by Pathea, an indie studio based in Chongqing, China. They aim to create unique games based on new technology, new ideas, and user generated content.