CangMo Game Entertainment
CangMo Game Entertainment (成都苍墨信息科技有限公司, Chengdu Cangmo Information Technology Co., Ltd.) is a game development studio based in Chengdu, China. They are the developer and self-publisher of A Whisper of Fall: Jinyiwei.
Founding
The studio was founded in 2022 by Liu Qiwei (刘启威), known online as 离忧先生 ("Mr. Li You"). Liu was working at a casual games company when he saw the trailer for Lost Soul Aside, a solo-developed action game backed by Sony's China Hero Project. Inspired by the idea that a small team could build a competitive action game, he quit to develop Souls of Blades independently, then founded CangMo to build a larger-scale project.
The studio began with approximately six people and initial investment from Hometown Interactive (家乡互动), who took an approximately 14.2% equity stake. They spent nine months building the first demo, which was posted on Bilibili in March 2022 and accumulated over 6.49 million views.
Funding
In August 2024, Shanghai Yingche Network Technology Co. (上海英澈网络科技) acquired a 25.8% equity stake in a second funding round. This provided capital for team expansion. CangMo also recruited the lead programmer from Shanghai Runmeng Network's game Yiwenlu Lunhui (乂闻录轮回).
China Hero Project
CangMo joined Phase 3 of PlayStation's China Hero Project in July 2024. The program provides approximately RMB 1 million (~USD 140,000) in free resources per title, along with technical expertise, international promotion, localization, publishing assistance, and art asset upgrades. Phase 4 of the program adds early code review, UI/UX evaluations by PlayStation's Visual Arts team, co-development with Virtuos, and haptic technology from RichTap.
Other Phase 3 titles alongside A Whisper of Fall include Awaken: Astral Blade, Exiledge, Will-less, The God Slayer, The Winds Rising, Daba: Land of Water Scar, Unending Dawn, and Kroraina (Loulan). Notable China Hero Project alumni include FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch and the upcoming Lost Soul Aside.
Previous work
Souls of Blades (JianPo) was Liu Qiwei's independent project before founding CangMo. Released on Steam in 2021, it established the core combat design philosophy that evolved into A Whisper of Fall: Jinyiwei.