A group of Gen Zers used flyers, all-nighters, and scholarship money to get this bird game off the ground at ChinaJoy

From August 1 to 4, SilverJay Studio will bring its indie game Song of Maca to ChinaJoy 2025.

If you put on headphones late at night and step into the world of Song of Maca, you'll hear birdsong dissolve into melody, forests and valleys surge and breathe, time slows to a crawl, and reality gets shut outside the door.

This is an adventure-puzzle game centered on birds, where song itself becomes your means of interaction. No dopamine rush from leveling up and defeating monsters — instead, a journey that unfolds slowly. You become a small bird, listening to the bard Maca's chants. He wears a red cap and flowing robes, and through one epic song, he leads you across the "Bird Kingdom," telling its stories and secrets.

Behind the game is a young team brought together by sheer love for what they do.

In 2021, an 18-year-old Alex Liupincun came alone to New York to study game design at NYU. Walking down Jay Street by the college every day, he'd often look up at the traffic lights and see flocks of small birds gathered there, chattering away, as if in conversation, as if in song. He started to wonder: maybe these birds have a world of their own? And maybe we are the NPCs passing through it.

Much of what came later started on that street — meeting his first co-founder, starting SilverJay Studio. They plastered flyers across campus and gathered a group of equally obsessed kindred spirits, people who cared deeply about birds and games. They met every week, often pulling all-nighters, all to make the game "more bird-like." In Alex's view, "being able to build worlds through code is something truly magical, almost beyond reason."

But ideals wavered too. On a rainy night in 2023, more than 700 days of work and over 100 meetings' worth of polish was completely scrapped. They sat together, aired emotions that had been suppressed for too long, and asked each other again: what kind of game do we actually want to make? That conversation became a reset button.

By May 2025, many in the team were approaching graduation. At that moment when everyone might scatter, they met ZhenFund. A startup scholarship pulled the young studio back together. Starting over is never easy, but their original intention never changed: make a game that belongs to the birds.

With ChinaJoy 2025 approaching, we invited Alex Liupincun, founder of SilverJay Studio, to talk about: why birds? What's the appeal of "slow games"? How does a young team build itself, persist, and rebuild — and how will they keep moving forward?

Song of Maca & SilverJay Studio01:11 Song of Maca is an adventure-puzzle game centered on birds, where song becomes your means of interaction 02:16 Why birds as protagonists? Passion, resonance, and a gap in the market 03:01 Hoping to build a pure natural kingdom, a worldbuilding vision that belongs only to birds 04:05 The appeal of slow games: offering a protective space like an "eggshell," separating people from reality 05:02 Why SilverJay Studio? A romantic tribute to New York's "Bird Street" 05:25 The entire game is Maca singing one magnificent song

Making a game that truly belongs to the birds07:40 What beautiful moments can players feel in the game? 08:36 The vision behind the music: using birdsong as the core interaction mechanic 09:43 Abandoning combat systems to convey complex emotions and inner resonance to players 11:08 Compared to 3D environments, 2D worlds offer more freedom for artistic expression 11:53 What remained constant was the desire to create a world about birds 12:18 From birding field guides to game characters, bringing bird enthusiasts a more authentic experience 14:00 Capturing inspiration on the journey: perhaps in the birds' world, humans are the NPCs

How an ideal team builds, persists, and rebuilds itself16:47 Assembling the first game team by putting up posters and flyers 17:26 Most student teams run on passion alone — how do you maintain stability? 18:44 Every member drawn as a bird, existing together in Maca's world 20:18 Scrapping 700+ days and 100+ meetings of work — how SilverJay Studio started over 22:17 The original blind spot: overlooking the connection between theme and gameplay mechanics

10 RPG universes in a corner-store notebook23:18 First console, first game, first desire to create 24:10 The starting point of game creation: 10 RPG universes in a corner-store notebook 25:58 From drawing to programming, the greatest thrill comes from creating something 26:46 The double-edged sword of teamwork: breaking personal limitations while making interpersonal communication a test 28:34 How to hire? What matters most is sincerity and genuine passion

Wanting more people to feel the magic of games29:41 A common developer pitfall: overestimating players' adaptability 31:26 What they want to give players: a fantastical experience like traveling to the bird kingdom 32:35 After the game is finished? Continuous polishing, preparing new works, and IP development 33:42 Building worlds through code is something truly magical, almost beyond reason

Creativity comes from "not wanting a life you can see straight through"34:26 The identity and mindset shift from full-stack developer to team manager 35:22 As a developer leading a team, how do you spend your day? 36:43 How to understand Gen Z's "Buddhist" attitude or "lying flat"? Pursuing freedom, innovation, doing something that belongs to oneself 37:55 Creativity comes from rebelliousness, from not wanting a life you can see straight through 39:41 At a critical juncture, what help did ZhenFund give the founder? 41:09 From August 1 to 4, welcome to experience Song of Maca at ChinaJoy — you might just meet your bird

Maca is a bard in a red hat and lavish dress. In every scene, he uses song to tell you the world's stories. The entire game is Maca singing one magnificent song.

Melody is the protagonist of Song of Maca. Players take on the role of this small bird, exploring regions through unique abilities like singing and flight, interacting with other birds, and gradually uncovering the stories and secrets of this land.

Executive Producers: Xin, Cindy

Post-Production: Yanaego, newAction

This Is For Real is a general business podcast produced by ZhenFund, where the ZhenFund investment team shares the latest hot topics and industry insights with leaders across various fields.

Founded in 2011, ZhenFund is one of China's earliest angel investment institutions. Since its inception, ZhenFund has been actively seeking out the most outstanding entrepreneurial teams and era-defining investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, chips and semiconductors, robotics and hardware, healthcare, enterprise services, new energy, cross-border expansion, consumer lifestyle, and other sectors.

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