“Japanese players will stick with you” – Why the Canadian studio behind Neverway is targeting Japan

Neverway was revealed during the Triple-i Initiative back in April, before receiving a new trailer during the recent Indie World showcase last month. There’s an unnerving dread in its highly detailed, limited-palette pixel style that’s difficult to look away from.

It’s tempting to say it reflects the dread in the industry at large, where funding is ever harder to come by and the layoffs seem relentless. Perhaps most importantly, there are the ever-present worries of how to make your game stand out among the thousands released each year.

A strong concept and immediately eye-catching identity can help, and that’s one thing Neverway certainly delivers.

But how did developer Coldblood Inc. manage to secure funding in today’s competitive landscape? And how are they aiming to connect with audiences?

In a wide-ranging interview following Neverway’s console announcement, the team behind the game reveals how they set their sights on Japan to capitalize on an audience that may approach Neverway from a different viewpoint.

Creating Neverway

Neverway opens on its protagonist, Fiona, lying in a bathtub, her life feeling meaningless in a room she’s never even left in a long time. Her AWOL lifestyle has led to her being fired from work, she dumps her partner because she can barely deal with her worry for her wellbeing, and she’s experiencing horrifying visions and nightmares of something dangerous. A new life on a new island community seems like something different, if nothing else.

The result is an adventure blending horror and lifestyle RPG with stunning pixel art, inspired by its developers’ love of titles like Harvest Moon and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Neverway’s director, former Celeste pixel artist Pedro Medeiros, explains that the game took a lot of different directions to reach its final iteration.

“The idea did not come fully formed at all,” says Medeiros.

“When we started, it was more like ‘let’s test the engine, let’s do a little Vampire Survivor clone or something’. But we kept experimenting with things and eventually got to the place of something combining farming, horror, and action.”

Initial brainstorming and experimentation began when both he and Isadora Sophia – who is handling Neverway’s coding and story while serving as co-director – were working for Extremely OK Games, the project slowly expanding to its full form as time went on.

They brought on more members to the team as they sought to expand the scope and playability of the game, which was also influenced by pitching the game for funding to various publishers.

Securing funding

Finding investment wasn’t an easy task for Coldblood.

In the current climate, publishers are cautious about acquiring new titles, and there’s more competition from talented small creators than ever before. One of the challenges, then, was securing funding without sacrificing the game’s core identity in the process.

“We bounced around for a while trying to get funding, it was a weird time to do it, admittedly,” says Medeiros. “It was different for me because when we were doing things at Extremely OK Games, we didn’t have a publisher.

“Also, we didn’t seek this in the early stages, but more than a year into the project, when we already had a playable prototype. It was still hard for me, as there are points where you wonder if you should change certain things. I could imagine if we were in a different situation, I would say we really need the money, so maybe we should try changing some things. But then the game starts to become optimized for the publisher – we were lucky in that sense.”

Compared to pre-COVID and with the world far more in flux due to the current political climate (particularly in the US), the economy and the tech industry, it’s simply far more difficult to get the money needed for producing new games.

“We got nos from some companies while others were interested, so by the end it was a case of picking who offered the best deal for us,” says Coldblood’s COO and community manager Heidy Motta.

“Nine years ago, I felt we had more opportunities. It’s like the industry fell away – people are very cautious”

Heidy Motta

“Nine years ago, I felt we had more opportunities. But when we were pitching a year or so ago, it was completely different. It’s like the industry fell away – people are very cautious.”

The publisher Coldblood went with was Outersloth, the new publishing label from Among Us developer Innersloth.

Neverway is part of an opening slate of new titles funded through its indie game fund, admittedly through a more hands-off arrangement. For Neverway, however, this proved beneficial to how the team set to work on shaping the game.

As Isadora Sophia puts it: “What I appreciate is that there’s a lot of trust.”

“We do monthly reports for Outersloth, but I personally enjoy doing them because it’s more of a diary of everything we did in the month.

“[Outersloth] are very hands off, but if we want to ask something about whether a certain thing is normal, we have opinions. We have Sam [Alexander], there’s Victoria [Tran], and there’s also a Slack group with all the other indie studios and that’s a very positive environment to ask questions and to be around.”

Focusing on the Japanese market

Following Neverway’s initial reveal and after showcasing further new footage at Summer Game Fest, the team chose to give the game its first public playable showcase at Bitsummit in Tokyo, Japan.

The demo consisted of the game’s introduction, taking players from protagonist Fiona’s struggles in the city to the island, and teasing the horrors underneath the surface.

Why choose Japan, though? Events like PAX are more central for a team spread primarily across North and South America as well as Europe, and the Japanese indie scene is smaller by comparison.

There are benefits to this, however, as the team found. Not only did it allow them to showcase Neverway in a country many wished to visit anyhow, getting a new perspective allowed them to see things even a Western audience may not necessarily pick up on.

“We really like Japanese games, and I’d never been to Japan, but it was also a good excuse for testing,” Medeiros notes. “We were also thinking we shouldn’t do a lot of physical events, and therefore if we did, which should we go to? That ended up being Bitsummit.”

Japan is also a distinct market with different expectations. Beyond getting testing feedback from an audience who may approach things from another perspective, the team wanted to capitalize on an event that has far-reaching implications beyond the show floor.

“[Bitsummit] isn’t as big as Tokyo Game Show and it was more of the audience we were looking for, but we also wanted to understand how things work in Japan,” he explains. “How can we reach the press?”

Embracing your audience

Japan’s gaming media landscape is not as influencer-driven as the West. This isn’t to say influencers and streamers aren’t a big thing in Japan – momentum from influencers is how we got the global hit Exit 8, after all.

But outside of esports and online titles, the continued role of magazines and websites in reporting on and highlighting new releases at events is still arguably the most important part of a game’s success.

Neverway, thanks to its showcase at Bitsummit, received previews and interviews from Famitsu and 4Gamer, among others, that boosted the game’s profile ahead of its inclusion in the Indie World direct. It was also given a tailored-to-Japan unique trailer and localization support for the demo from 8-4.

“I could observe that Japan, culturally, likes it if you give them proper attention,” Motta notes. “People get very passionate about things, so if you put lots of attention and love into it and present it for them, they seem to pay more attention to you.”

“If you present a Japanese audience with a good, well-crafted product, they will pay attention to you. We want our fan base and community to be with us for the long-term, and Japanese players will stick with you and value your work. This is what we need as developers, whereas in the West it’s different and a bit more tricky.”

Indeed, even feedback, the team noted, felt more specific and came from a place of support – something they credit to the effort made with its demo and showing those players matter.

Even beyond the game languages planned for inclusion at the time, marketing materials were localized into additional languages, so the team can reconsider plans if there’s interest.

“If you present a Japanese audience with a good, well-crafted product, they will pay attention to you”

Showing attention to a region, especially one as receptive as Japan where its most passionate players will seek out experiences and attend physical events, can make a difference.

Having learned from their experience, Motta advises developers to “check which countries which regions are wishlisting your game, which communities are talking about your game, give them attention, and then decide.”

With a successful showcase that allowed a usually remote team to meet, a chance to connect in a way tailored for a specific market, the Neverway team are now hard at work on the hardest task: ensuring the game can make it to market next year.

With an unnerving yet fascinating visual style and substance that blends genres and human growth, it’s certainly something worth waiting for.