Overview
Firewo Games (Chinese: fenghuo youxi gongzuoshi) is an independent game development studio based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The studio is developing The Bustling World (Chinese: fenghuo yu chuiyan), an open-world sandbox RPG set in ancient China. Founded by a young married couple, the studio has grown from two people to over 50 team members over the course of development.
Founding and early development
Firewo Games was founded by a married couple in Chengdu. The studio started with just the two founders working on The Bustling World, which has been in development for over five years. Chengdu has become one of China's major game development hubs, with a lower cost of living than Beijing or Shanghai and a growing talent pool of developers, artists, and designers.
The early development period was characterized by a small team working across all aspects of the game simultaneously. As the project grew in scope and ambition, the team expanded gradually, bringing in specialists for art, programming, game design, and quality assurance. The growth from 2 to over 50 team members reflects both the project's expanding scope and the studio's ability to attract talent to an ambitious indie project.
The studio has a golden retriever named Mao Mao who has appeared in developer communications and social media posts. The dog has become something of an unofficial mascot for the team.
Art and visual philosophy
One of the studio's defining commitments is hand-rendered artwork. The game features over 5,000 hand-rendered textures, and the team has explicitly stated that no AI-generated art is used in the project. This is a deliberate artistic choice in an era when many game studios are experimenting with AI image generation tools. The hand-rendered approach contributes to the game's distinctive visual style, which draws from traditional Chinese painting and architectural documentation.
The visual fidelity extends to architectural details, clothing physics, environmental textures, and cultural artifacts. The nearly 2,000 building components referenced in the city management systems are all hand-designed based on historical paintings and records. This level of manual art production is unusual for a studio of Firewo's size and represents a significant investment of time and skilled labor.
Kickstarter campaign
Firewo Games launched a Kickstarter campaign on December 29, 2023, seeking $80,000 in funding. The campaign was voluntarily cancelled on January 3, 2024, well short of its goal. The cancellation happened only five days after launch.
The developer explained the decision in a statement to backers: "we've received a wealth of suggestions and feedback. This has made us realize that there were parts where we could have been better prepared." The cancellation was framed as a proactive decision to regroup rather than push forward with an underprepared campaign.
Despite the campaign's cancellation, the studio honored its commitments to backers. All backers who pledged $16 or more received free Steam keys for the game. This decision to distribute keys despite the campaign not reaching its goal was noted positively by the small backer community and established early goodwill.
The Kickstarter outcome did not halt development. The studio continued working on the game through other funding sources, and the project's progress since the campaign suggests that Kickstarter was intended as supplementary funding rather than the primary development budget.
Development progress
At the time of the Kickstarter launch in December 2023, the game was described as approximately 60% complete. Subsequent updates have placed completion at around 70%. The development history article covers the timeline in more detail, but the general trajectory shows steady progress over the five-year development period.
The studio has maintained a regular communication cadence with its community. Monthly Steam developer diary posts provide updates on new features, art assets, and gameplay systems. These diaries have served as the primary source of detailed information about the game's mechanics and content, and they demonstrate ongoing active development.
In a May 2025 Steam developer diary, the studio indicated plans to launch offline demo trials in Q4 2025, writing: "If all goes well, they plan to launch offline demo trials in Q4 this year." This would give players their first hands-on experience with the game outside of trade show demos. Whether this timeline holds is not yet clear.
Community growth
The Bustling World accumulated over 150,000 wishlists within 20 days of its Steam store page going live. More than 60% of these wishlists came from outside China, indicating significant international interest in the project. This international attention was somewhat unexpected for a Chinese indie game focused on ancient Chinese culture and history.
The rapid wishlist accumulation suggests that the game's concept, combining sandbox simulation with an ancient Chinese setting and detailed life simulation, resonates with a global audience. The international interest has influenced development decisions, including translation priorities and the studio's approach to cultural explanation within the game.
GDC 2025 and international presence
The Game Developers Conference 2025 marked Firewo Games' first overseas appearance. GDC, held annually in San Francisco, is the largest professional gathering for game developers worldwide. The studio's decision to attend represents a step toward building international industry relationships and increasing visibility among Western press and publishers.
In February 2025, the studio also conducted a major Bilibili livestream showing gameplay features and development progress. Bilibili is China's primary platform for gaming content, and the livestream reached the studio's domestic audience with updated information about the game's systems and visual quality.
Publishing partnerships
Thermite Games is one of The Bustling World's publishers. Based in Beijing and founded in 2020, Thermite Games focuses on global game publishing, helping Chinese studios reach international markets. Their role includes marketing, distribution, and localization support for territories outside China.
Lightning Games, founded in 2015 and based in Shenzhen, handles Western market distribution specifically. The dual-publisher arrangement splits responsibilities by market, with Thermite handling broader global publishing and Lightning concentrating on Western territories where Chinese games face particular marketing and cultural translation challenges.
The publishing arrangement suggests that Firewo Games is focused on development while delegating marketing and distribution to specialists. For a studio of 50 people, this division of labor makes practical sense. Building international distribution channels requires expertise and relationships that are separate from game development skills.
Platforms and localization
The Bustling World is listed on both Steam and the Epic Games Store for PC. No console versions have been announced. The game supports seven languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, French, and German. This language roster reflects the game's target markets and the international interest indicated by the Steam wishlist demographics.
The breadth of language support for an indie title of this size is notable. Localization for seven languages requires translation of all in-game text, UI elements, and potentially voice acting or subtitles for any spoken dialogue. The investment in localization aligns with the over-60% international wishlist figure and the dual-publisher strategy aimed at Western and Asian markets.
Studio culture
Several aspects of Firewo Games' approach distinguish it from typical game studios. The commitment to hand-rendered art over AI-generated assets reflects a philosophy that values artistic craftsmanship. The decision to honor Kickstarter backer commitments despite the campaign's cancellation shows a community-first approach. The regular development diaries indicate transparency about the project's progress.
The studio's location in Chengdu, rather than one of China's tier-one game development cities, is also notable. While Chengdu has a growing game industry presence, it is not where you would expect to find a studio building one of the most ambitious Chinese indie games currently in development. The world and setting of The Bustling World, with its deep roots in Chinese history and culture, may reflect the founders' personal connection to Chinese cultural heritage and their desire to share it with a global audience.
Game name and branding
The game's Chinese name translates roughly to "beacon fires and cooking smoke," a poetic name that captures the game's dual nature: it is both a game about warfare and power (beacon fires) and a game about domestic life and daily sustenance (cooking smoke). The English title, The Bustling World, takes a different approach, stressing the living, active nature of the game's sandbox.
The studio name, Firewo Games, shares the "beacon fire" character with the game title, tying the studio's identity to its flagship project. This naming connection is common among small studios whose identity is closely linked to a single major project.