Originated from a Game Jam at the end of 2016 and officially launched in 2018, “A Perfect Day” has been on a journey of more than 7 years. Now, with the release of the console versions, this long journey is about to come to an end. We want to write this article to memorize this journey, and to share our most authentic feelings with you.
CYC told me that on his first day of work, everything was unfamiliar, until a curly-haired, big-eyed guy suddenly came to him and started chatting with him. They hit it off and soon became friends.
It seems that we received the same script. It was 7PM on July 1st, 2019, my third day after graduation and first day of work. When I was ready to leave the office, suddenly, a guy with curly hair and big eyes popped up in the corridor and asked me if I was the new colleague. That was Deng Buran, and that’s how we met.
Thanks to him, I got to know the others quickly. On my third day at work, Deng Buran invited me to lunch with other colleagues, including Old Ge, a cold, distant, seemingly-guarded programmer who looked 20 years older than his actual age and whom I would never have imagined to be shouting out high notes with me on the highway last night, and Keke, cold, distant and seemingly-guarded as well, with the bottom half of her long hair dyed blue, whom I would never have imagined to become my wife’s bestie and be moved out to tears even for their birthday gift exchanging.
For me, that was the start of everything. For Deng Buran, that was when the ending of “A Perfect Day” became clear in his mind. On a scorching noon, he whispered to me about the story. As he reached the last scene of a sudden reverse shot followed by the revelation of everything, I exclaimed with surprise: this idea is so brilliant.
The development went on, and I officially joined the team. Deng Buran would occasionally bring his laptop with the latest game build to Hangzhou to let CYC playtest it. I had heard about CYC’s unique style in game art, like how bizarre yet realistic, sharp yet humorous, self-mocking and ironic it was in the game “Haywire Hospital” to merge various expressions into the visuals of modern disease. Unfortunately, before I joined the team, CYC had already left and started his own studio in Hangzhou, transforming himself into a big shot in costume design.
No longer developing games, CYC kept his ultra-picky taste in games. Deng Buran looked happy every time returned from Hangzhou. Without him saying it, we knew that CYC must have appreciated a game like “A Perfect Day” as well.
Man with glasses on the left: Deng Buran; Man with glasses on the right: CYC
So, what kind of game is “A Perfect Day”? It would be pretentious for us to answer directly. Instead, we know what kind of game we don’t want to make: Deng Buran doesn’t want to make purely toy-like games; Keke doesn’t want to make emotionless games; Old Ge doesn’t want to make bad games (worth pondering); CYC doesn’t want to make games that lack authenticity; I don’t want to make games that cannot “talk” to players. Ultimately, it seems that we all want to make one kind of game—a game that is difficult to make.
Every time CYC met Deng Buran, he could see the slow but steady development of “A Perfect Day”. This stirred his desire to make games again. In February 2022 when “A Perfect Day” was officially launched, he couldn’t sit still anymore after playing its full version. He still wanted to make games, especially one of this kind. As a result, the Heart Department Store he illustrated opened in Zhen’hua, and the Limited Edition was successfully completed with his input.
Poster of the “Heart Department Store” DLC
We are grateful that “A Perfect Day” has been loved by its players, and your love and feedback has strengthened our faith in our belief that a game of this kind can find its own way, that it is worthy of more exploring and refining, and that it possesses endless possibilities.
Keke had once considered continuing her journey of art and promised to join her mentor’s art center for woodcarving after finishing “A Perfect Day”, but in the end broke her promise and teamed up with Old Ge to make “Insomnia: Theater in the Head” (launched late 2022), which serves her milestone to being a producer. Old Ge, after all these years, has gradually become the person opposite to the stereotypical image of a stubborn and rigid programmer who lacks imagination. Instead, he is quite capable of understanding our abstract ideas and quickly carry them out.
As for CYC, he is still making his own games. At this year’s BOOOM Game Jam in October, he formed a team with Old Ge and six other members and developed a game called “DatePlus” (约会普拉斯). This game starts with the final indifferent back view of Ke Yun in “A Perfect Day”, but it on the contrary resists indifference and encourages people to care for each other and establish genuine intimacy—of course, with the usual yet unusual witty and humorous CYC style. “DatePlus” has received a lot of positive feedback, and he wants to continue developing it as well.
As for the studio, we have been doing the pre-production of our new game and the multi-platform porting of “A Perfect Day”. The mobile version is still under development, and the console versions are now completed and released on PC and console platforms. More work to be done, more challenges to take on, but everything is gradually getting on track. As Deng Buran said, our strength is weak, but we want to be the one who throws out a little stone that creates some ripples or, even better, endless waves that, just like the new waves initiated by film directors in France and Taiwan, ultimately make Chinese games Chinese, and players’ experiences personal. To make games that tell the story of true life and authentic feelings—that’s the path we are pursuing and walking towards you, our players.
On this path, “A Perfect Day” is a perfect start, and now, it is time to move forward.
