Overview
CyancookGames is an independent game development studio based in Shanghai, China. The studio's public Chinese brand is 青庖游戏 (Qingpao Youxi, also styled Cyan Cook Games on Steam), and the registered legal entity is Shanghai Qingpao Network Technology Co., Ltd. (上海青庖网络科技有限公司). CyancookGames is developing Of Peaks and Tides as its debut title. The studio's announcement materials describe the team as video game veterans with experience at Tencent and on titles such as Naraka: Bladepoint and Diablo Immortal.
CyancookGames is not affiliated with Cyan Worlds, the American studio known for the Myst series. Despite the similar naming, the two studios are entirely separate entities.
Team Background
CyancookGames' public messaging emphasises the team's background on large-scale game projects. The press release for the August 2025 reveal describes the team as composed of video game veterans whose prior work includes Naraka: Bladepoint and Diablo Immortal, with broader experience at Tencent. The studio has not published a full team roster, but the chief technology officer is named in announcement coverage and provided the on-record design quote at the reveal.
Key People
Name | Role | Background |
|---|---|---|
Chenchao Lin | Chief Technology Officer | Cited in studio announcement materials as the design lead behind the custom physics-driven editor built on top of Unreal Engine 5. |
Development Philosophy
CyancookGames has emphasised physics-driven gameplay and freeform player agency as the studio's signature design pillars. The CTO has stated that the team aims to deliver "an incredibly immersive and interactive experience with an aesthetic fantasy setting," with a custom design editor built within Unreal Engine 5 to support that goal. The game's Steam store page carries no AI-generated content disclosure, which is the section that appears when a developer declares that generative tools contributed to a shipped game. The studio has published nothing further about how its art is produced.
Studio Details
Detail | Information |
|---|---|
Location | Shanghai, China |
Chinese brand | 青庖游戏 (Qingpao Youxi) |
Legal entity | 上海青庖网络科技有限公司 (Shanghai Qingpao Network Technology Co., Ltd.) |
Type | Independent studio |
Debut title | |
Engine | Unreal Engine 5 (custom physics editor) |
AI content disclosure | None filed on the Steam store page |
Official website | Studio-operated marketing site |
Public Presence
CyancookGames announced Of Peaks and Tides on August 14, 2025 from Shanghai. The game was first presented publicly at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany (August 20 to 24) with a playable demo. The studio maintains social accounts across Discord, Reddit, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, and Weibo, and its store page also lists a QQ group, a RedNote profile, and a verified Bilibili channel that carries the Chinese-language versions of the development updates. The Bilibili channel is the studio's largest single following. The Steam group operates under the name 青庖游戏 - Cyan Cook Games.
Event Appearances
CyancookGames has exhibited Of Peaks and Tides twice. Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, from August 20 to 24, 2025, was the studio's first time on a show floor and carried the game's first playable demo. The studio followed it with a booth at Tokyo Game Show 2025 in September, where the chief technology officer took part in a live interview on site. CyancookGames stated that the main purpose of the Tokyo appearance was to collect player feedback, and that the project would afterwards enter a closed development phase.
Event | Dates | Stand | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Gamescom 2025 | August 20 to 24, 2025 | Hall 10, stand 1B055 | First playable demo and the studio first time on a show floor. Visitors were given creature illustration cards, a lenticular fan, and postcards. |
Tokyo Game Show 2025 | September 2025 | Hall 1, stand C11 | Same demo build, plus additional world setting material released during the show. A live interview with the chief technology officer took place at the stand. |
Development Update Series
In 2026 the studio started a numbered development update series, published in parallel in English and Chinese and narrated through Little Spirit, its rabbit-like community mascot. The updates are the studio's most detailed public writing about the game's systems to date.
Update | Date | Subject |
|---|---|---|
Devlog #01 | May 15, 2026 | Unique Beasts: creature personalities, the art and design iteration process, and future plans for elite creatures and regional overlords. |
Devlog #02 | July 17, 2026 | Audio design: the combat sound rework, creature audio by size class, instrument research, and the dynamic soundscape. Covered on the Audio and Music page. |
Making the Game by Playing It
CyancookGames has described a development loop that runs through its own editor rather than through design documents. Designers try an interaction, change parameters, and adjust the environment directly until it feels worth keeping, and the studio says a number of its mechanics started life as bugs that turned out to be fun and were kept and polished instead of fixed. It frames the editor purpose as letting a small team chase a large ambition, on the grounds that whether an idea is fun can only be settled by building it and playing it.
The team has also said publicly that it is small for the scope it is attempting, and that it was recruiting experienced level designers around the time of the reveal.
Studio Communications
CyancookGames uses the official Steam News feed as its primary direct-to-player channel. Two notable February 2026 posts established the studio's communications cadence:
Date | Title | Topic |
|---|---|---|
February 3, 2026 | Beware of Fake Downloads | Alerted players to third-party phishing sites misusing the game's name and IP, and directed wishlists to the official Steam page only. |
February 9, 2026 | Happy Year of the Horse! | Celebrated Chinese New Year and confirmed gameplay trailers and hands-on demo events for 2026, with community input requested on the next trailer. |
Related Topics
Of Peaks and Tides