KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — When TCG Card Shop Simulator, a new simulation video game, launched to impressive commercial success in September, few realised it was the work of a solo developer from Malaysia.

In fact, it was only after independent game developer Sia Ding Shen posted in-game screenshots featuring the Malaysian Ringgit (RM) on Reddit as a nod to his roots that players recognised the game was proudly ‘Buatan Malaysia’ (Made in Malaysia).

At the time of writing, the game holds an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ review status on Steam, with 97 per cent of the 20,826 reviews being favourable.

Speaking to Malay Mail about his game’s development journey, 33-year-old Sia recounted how he initially got into the hobby of collectible card games (CCGs), also known as trading card games, including titles like Magic: The Gathering and the Digimon Card Game, through his previous colleagues.

He later decided to take a break from the hobby as it got more expensive but maintained his love for collecting trading cards.

"The card collection itch is still there, so that’s why I created this game to scratch that itch for a very cheap price,” he said.

Developed by Sia’s Selangor-based OPNeon Games, TCG Card Shop Simulator was released on popular video game digital distribution service Steam on September 15.

The gameplay is simple — players roleplay as trading card game shop owners, selling booster packs to earn money and build their own card shop businesses.

In the game’s fictional universe, the CCG features fantasy creatures called Tetramons from the fictional game Tetramon Duel Master.

"As a kid, I loved to play video games and would spend more hours playing games than studying,” Sia, who goes by the moniker OPNeon on Reddit, told Malay Mail recently.

"I started to self-learn programming at the age of 15 as I was very interested in making my own games, but I never thought it could be something people did for a living.”

Since then, he began creating a few games independently but later found the in-game artwork fell short of his expectations, leading him to pursue digital animation at The One Academy to improve his art skills.

During his studies, Sia said he took a break from game development to focus on animation instead.

Upon graduating in 2012, Sia joined Malaysian game development studio Passion Republic, known for AAA — a classification used within the video gaming industry to signify high-budget, high-profile games — titles like Elden Ring, Diablo IV and The Last of Us Part II, as an animator.

About three years later, Sia shifted roles to become a technical artist tasked with rigging and scripting in the studio.

Following his role switch, Sia’s interest in game development was rekindled, and he began creating games again in his free time.

"I would spend time working on mobile games on my own. I kept the scope small as I wanted to finish them and aimed to create one game every year to keep the motivation going,” he said.

His first breakthrough came with Sumiken, a game inspired by sumi-e (ink wash) painting and critically acclaimed action-adventure game Okami, which was published on mobile in 2017.

"It was at this moment I decided to quit Passion Republic and shift focus to solo game development,” Sia said.

"Now with more time on hand, I decided to go into PC (personal computer) development as it’s what I always wanted to do,” he added.

"As a solo developer, I outsourced the game’s artwork to different freelance artists and purchased game assets like 3D models, icons, music and sound effects from the Unity Asset Store.”

"Everything else is done by myself,” he continued.

"The challenging part of game development is knowing what the players want and it’s really easy to spend a lot of time on some features you think the player wants but it’s actually not. That’s why I choose to launch the game as early access since I am able to gather feedback from players really quickly and add what they actually wanted.”

Despite its successful early access launch, the game faced criticism from players over the use of artificial intelligence-generated art for the in-game collectible cards.

Acknowledging the criticism, Sia said this feedback prompted him to update the artwork and work with recent artists to replace the affected images.

"I’ve already asked the recent artists I worked with to redo the artwork for those,” he said.

To a million and beyond

According to Sia, TCG Card Shop Simulator has sold more than a million copies worldwide since launch.

The game’s rapid popularity spike is partly due to exposure from Hololive Production, one of the world’s top VTuber agencies with affiliated talents in Japan, Indonesia and English-speaking countries, whose streamers began livestreaming it to their fanbases.

"I did not expect the game to be this popular, to be honest,” he said.

"Before the launch, I set my target at 100,000 copies sold within a year, and I would be very happy,” he continued.

"With the (game’s) current popularity, it’s already way past my target and I’m very happy and grateful for the players’ support and feedback.”

Looking ahead, Sia plans to update the game continuously over the next year until it’s fully complete.

When asked if he had any plans to expand the development team, Sia said he would continue working solo for now as he enjoys the flexibility and the ability to focus solely on game development.

"I will continue to work solo for now as I do enjoy the flexibility of it and I get to focus on game development fully,” he added.

An in-game roadmap on the main screen highlights the major features Sia plans to add.

TCG Card Shop Simulator is currently available only on Windows PC.