Netspeak Games: Turning cozy consumers into co-creators

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When Netspeak Games was founded in 2021, the developer did not know what kind of game it was going to create.

"We knew we wanted to make something multiplayer. We knew we wanted it to be cross-platform, and we also knew we wanted to use Unreal Engine," CEO Callum Cooper-Brighting told GamesIndustry.biz "They were the 'constraints' we gave ourselves."

But even with those constraints in place, the studio didn't arrive at a "cozy game" like its debut Sunshine Days purely by instinct.

"After months of market research and interviews from my sofa, we settled on mobile first, casual 'feeling' but leaning towards mid-core," he says.

"Our ambition became to create a safe corner of the internet where people can come together and find things they have in common, interests they share while celebrating their differences. A place that is highly accessible offers meaningful gameplay and can help bring people together."

The CEO acknowledges that Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Dreams inspired the user options within Sunshine Days.

"[These games] prove that when you create a relaxing, accessible, wholesome world that welcomes players and values their time, then that creates a context where players want to express themselves. Give players the smallest bit of control and watch them run with it! We knew early on that our community was incredibly creative and dedicated," he adds.

The executive says the most challenging part of game development has been adapting the game to create a more welcoming experience for players.

"The most compelling challenges are always about onboarding and setting expectations with our audience about the world we have created"

Cooper-Brighting explains, "The most compelling challenges are always about onboarding and setting expectations with our audience about the world we have created. Early on, we would drop players into the social spaces immediately, just like in the MMOs we grew up playing. But we quickly learned that an experience like that can be overwhelming and easily move from relaxing to stressful.

"Nowadays, we slowly introduce the game's multiplayer aspects over time. So players can set their own pace - and most importantly, their first interaction with another person is always a positive experience."

While Netspeak Games is focused on providing a positive user experience, it still aims to increase Sunshine Days’ user base and set itself apart from other cozy titles. One of those efforts is eventually releasing Sunshine Days on PC. The other is the introduction of a creation mode within the PC version. The current PC-exclusive feature allows players to customize homes and share them with each other.

"We wanted to find a way to give them more control - a way to better express themselves - and PC was just the natural choice. We don't want to split the community, so it was a priority for the PC and mobile players to play together so that everyone can benefit from the tools…" he adds, "Eventually, we would love to consider bringing the creator features to other platforms, even beyond mobile at some point. We are simply starting with PC - as a small team running an MMO, we have to be careful about scope."

The introduction of the creator mode on PC also serves as another test for the studio.

"We're hoping to change the balance so players spend more and more time in spaces they made"

"At the moment, the game is predominantly made of spaces that we built for players, but in the next twelve months, we're hoping to change the balance so players spend more and more time in spaces they made," Cooper-Brighting says. "Creator mode is a key part of how we're going to accomplish this. Every time we've shipped a feature enabling even a small amount of player creativity, we see players take it and run a mile. We're leaning into that."

The Netspeak Games CEO adds that while a PC version of Sunshine Days will likely grow its user base, it will not become the studio's primary platform of focus. He emphasizes that Netspeak is a mobile-first game developer. A console release is also something that the studio would consider in the future.

"Our wider vision for Sunshine Days is really about building a world players want to spend time in," he explains. "And part of that involves giving the players tools to do some of that building themselves. Our own content roadmap and release schedule is always seeking to deliver on this promise, but over the last few years of development, we've realized how important it is to view the players as collaborators rather than consumers."

Just as the company did market research before settling on making a cozy game in the first place, Cooper-Brighting says Netspeak isn't playing it by ear when it comes to content updates and the development roadmap, either.

"We have a close relationship with our community via our Discord and continue to perform research and other similar efforts to understand what our players are looking for"

"We have a close relationship with our community via our Discord and continue to perform research and other similar efforts to understand what our players are looking for," Cooper-Brighting says. "Our content roadmap is well-defined, delivering both core game content and a calendar of live events. You only need to look at our update history to see just how much content the team has delivered."

The cozy market is rather busy these days; in June, the Wholesome Games Direct showcased more than 70 titles. While competition is stiff and standing out is challenging, Netspeak’s CEO says the studio is not worried. It's more concerned with maintaining and growing its player base.

"As a business, we focus on players, not other games"

He explains, "There's definitely been an expansion of the market where multiplayer games aren't always about combat and competition, and we take the proliferation of different genres of games to mean that the market appetite is incredibly strong…As a business, we focus on players, not other games. As players, we're nothing but excited to have so many options to choose from."

When asked about the future of cozy games, Cooper-Brighting says the scene will have longevity and continue growing.

"The market for games is highly diverse and continues to expand. We believe the most important shift in games at the moment is a shift in how we think about the needs of players and a growing recognition that safe, accessible, cozy experiences serve a genuine set of audience needs."

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