Cozy Game Loftia Pledged For $150K, Now Exceeds $1.2M on Kickstarter

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Today’s Highlights:

• Cozy Game Loftia Pledged For $150K, Now Exceeds 1.2M on Kickstarter🎮

Cozy Game Loftia Pledged For $150K, Now Exceeds $1.2M on Kickstarter

With the world increasingly being ridden with worry and anxiety, more and more people try to search for their safe spaces, whether alone or with companions, like friends, partners, or pets. One of the most common media people choose to consume for this is video games, and developers in the gaming industry are growing aware of this.

An increasing amount of game developers have created even more cozy games aimed to help people relax and enjoy their slow days, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Stardew Valley, and Coffee Talk, for example. Some also prefer competitive MMOs or massively multiplayer online games, though, which are online video games that allow large numbers of players to play together on the same server.

Qloud Games, a Sydney-based independent game studio founded by couple Martina Qin and Michael Su, merges the best of both worlds by creating Loftia, a cozy Solarpunk* MMO that hinges on tight-knit communities and the significance of cooperative efforts to reach sustainability.

*Solarpunk: A literary and artistic movement that envisions and works toward actualizing a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community.

Journey to Loftia

The quest to find Loftia started when Mic and Martina fell in love with cozy games during the pandemic, the time when comfort was needed most. Their shared interest and adoration in comforting video games led to a leap of quitting their 9-5 jobs by 2022 and developing their own game that, after multiple brainstorming sessions of name ideas from WOLOMV (World of League of Minecraft Valley) to Cloudscape, became Loftia.

Initially desired to simply be a cozy game for themselves and beloved friends, Loftia quickly shifted into the perfect game the pair wanted to build for people who shared similar views and interests as they did. The pair launched a Kickstarter campaign in August 2023 with an initial goal of $150,000. In just 24 hours, Loftia became 200% funded, with the campaign quickly escalating, eventually leading to over $1M collected from over 16 thousand backers.

Achieving Sustainability

As the world is on the mend due to climate change and global warming, sustainability is a goal many individuals and industries are increasingly trying to achieve. Bringing reality into this imaginary world, Loftia’s gameplay centers on achieving sustainability by promoting environmental consciousness and harnessing the actions that follow.

Inspired by cozy games like Stardew Valley, which quickly became the pair’s favorite game to play during quarantine, Loftia’s gameplay involves farming, fishing, and foraging. However, the team, inspired by Solarpunk media like Wall-E, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke, pushes the boundaries of these relaxing activities further, to cement the theme of sustainability.

Players have a chance to discover new-age farming by growing over 50 types of fruits, veggies, and flowers using different techniques like hydroponics and polyculture. The materials players collect through foraging can be recycled into planters or furniture.

Not forgetting the importance of renewable energy, players living in Loftia City are able to collect energy from sustainable energy sources like flying fish wind turbines, solar panels, and hydro energy stations powered by flowing rivers. They can also utilize bioluminescent ivy to light up the city without much use of electricity. The gameplay also requires players to reduce their carbon footprint by diligently doing the 3Rs in order to keep Loftia afloat.

To fully understand sustainable energy and incorporate these elements accurately in the game, Mic and Martina spent months conducting research on environmental sustainability. The pair also visited wind and solar farms in regional New South Wales last April.

These mechanics may sound familiar to Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing players, and while said games do offer multiplayer options, they tend to be centered on their single-player mode, with limited multiplayer capabilities and restrictions in activities that can be enjoyed together. This is where Loftia differs from typical cozy games, and where the MMO aspect of it comes in.

Tight-Knit Community

While Loftia City inhabitants are definitely not hindered from relaxing on their own, as one does, the core of Loftia is truly socialization and community building. Contrasting typical MMOs that tend to be action-fueled, competitive, and at (many) times stress-inducing, Loftia deeply embeds the concept of found family and the development of tight-knit communities for the betterment of the world.

Loftia allows players to co-own and decorate their living quarters with friends, with one apartment consisting of up to 4 players. Players can also cook, farm, fish, forage, and conduct virtual group study sessions by visiting the Study Cafe, together. In an attempt to create a better world not just for humans but also for wildlife, players can also rescue hundreds of animals native to Loftia, with the option of either adopting them or placing them in sanctuaries.

To allow players to bond even further with friends, players will be given chances to go through group quests and adventures, resulting in rewards to be shared. Player economy will also be available, where players can visit each other’s stores to purchase items. If players happen to have time to play on their own without online friends, there are plenty of local NPCs to befriend and bond with as well.

Not forgetting the beloved animals we spent most of our time with during quarantine, Loftia City inhabitants have the opportunity to raise and bond with pets, which at the moment include dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, mini highland cows, red pandas, and foxes. Just like most cozy games, players are given the freedom of self-expression through their physical appearances and clothing, with no set gender in character customization.

In Development

With the collected funds, the team behind Loftia, which includes Mic and Martina, as well as the eager and ambitious game developers, community handlers, and support staff from all around the world, plans to further develop and finish Loftia for closed alpha testing in December 2024 and Early Access in late 2025.

Upon digital release, Loftia will be available on Steam, PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch, with plans of being accessible on mobile (iOS and Android). The cozy MMO will possibly run fine on the Steam Deck as well, though it is not an officially supported platform. With community building being the core of Loftia, the team aims to make crossplay possible.

Loftia is a pay-to-play game with microtransactions solely for cosmetics, free of any pay-to-win gameplay mechanics. Aiming to make Loftia as accessible as it can be to as many people as possible, Loftia will be supported in US and UK English, simplified Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian, Portuguese, German, Korean, and Italian.

To stay updated on Loftia’s progress, join the team’s Discord.

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