Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Sgougou Technology, a two-year-old game developer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong, is confident it will retain its winning record at 2017 Indieplay – a large independent game competition in China.

In 2015, the year the mobile games-dedicated company was founded, it developed its most popular game – Arabela.  

The game follows the journey of a girl named Arabela who must solve and unlock a series of puzzles at different difficulty levels.  

An exquisite plot, melancholy image style and soft background music were combined to take perfect effect. The game shone at that year's Indieplay, winning Best Independent Game in Sina's China Games Weight Rank.

Staff members at Sgougou Technology in Zhuhai talk about visual design. [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The hit was beyond question. According to Su Hang, one of the founders, the game has been downloaded millions of times.

The company, with registered capital of more than 6 million yuan ($898,446), has invested heavily in human resources. Now, a group of new members, young and enthusiastic, form a development team dedicated to writing, planning, art designing, operation and music production.

Unlike other game companies who outsource music to reduce costs, Sgougou recruits and develops its own music team, said a project inspector. Each game has customized background music, produced by domestic famous music composers.

It is believed that the success is due to the attractive artistic expression as well as the developers' concentration on every detail that could influence user experience.

Su Hang, one of the founders of Sgougou, is a Zhuhai native who gladly makes use of favorable government policies for his game startup. [Photo courtesy oeeee.com]

"We have experienced failures in other fields in other cities when starting businesses in early years," said Gu Junjie, the other founder from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. "Thankfully we are now in the right place at the right time."

Among the first batch of startups settling at the Kimka Creative Valley in Xiangzhou District, the company has enjoyed lots of discounts on decoration and rent, and has been greatly helped in investment attraction, according to Su.

A screenshot of the popular puzzle game Arabela developed by Sgougou Technology [Photo courtesy indieace.com]

"Thanks to the timely government services provided, concerted efforts have been made to make us stronger and grow faster."

Sgougou is preparing for the launch of its latest product – Egg Mon, which is expected to turn the first profit for the company.

According to a planning statement, the company will establish an R&D center in the United States in the hope of making a splash in the international games market.