inZOI: Behind Cahaya – Developers Stories @ gamescom 2025

One of the biggest additions to inZOI this time is vehicles.

Feel free to use them to travel around the city.

We've especially put a lot of effort into developing boats, so take one out to sea for a relaxing time fishing or snorkeling.

In Dowon and Bliss Bay, we mainly used narrow angles and detailed shots.

But in Cahaya, we focused on wide angles to convey a greater sense of openness and freshness.

Going beyond city life, we wanted to offer players a taste of life on a Southeast Asian tropical resort.

In Bliss Bay, the sea was something you could only look at.

But in Cahaya, you can swim, sail, and explore mysterious islands.

Our team is always looking for features that we think players will enjoy.

We also keep an eye on channels like Discord, screening and suggesting ideas that feel like great additions for the next update before moving into production.

We saw the Family Collection (Collection Log) as the core feature.

Building upon this, we added activities like farming, mining, and fishing that felt naturally compatible.

In the Early Access version, the in-game economy wasn't very smooth.

We've now built a stronger foundation for an economy that can also work across different areas.

We've even added elements like market prices, which let players earn money in-game without even having a job.

In the Early Access version, some players felt that the emotional expressions didn't seem very human.

To improve upon these areas, we've added more animations for conversations.

For example, for rejections, there's a new animation just for gentle refusals.

We also refined movement animations, adjusting details like speed to make them feel more natural.

When we first launched inZOI, we created two cities: Dowon, inspired by Korea, and Bliss Bay.

The Zois living there are always busy, hard-working like Koreans and never taking breaks.

So when we planned Cahaya, our focus was on creating a place where players could live a more relaxed life, like being on vacation.

That's why on Cahaya, there are no jobs.

Instead, you can enjoy a life of freedom by farming, mining, fishing, and selling the fruits of your efforts.

Our Cinematic Team has placed many different spots across the sea, so enjoy discovering their beauty.

Each time you dive into the water, you'll encounter different fish.

You might discover a turtle, a dolphin, or even a shark— and because it changes every time, we hope you enjoy the surprise of these moments.

This time we created a turtle race.

At first, the idea of robot turtles running didn't really click in my head, so I was a little skeptical.

But once I actually saw the turtles racing and competing, it turned out to be cute and comical.

We've added the ability to ride motorcycles and electric scooters.

Trying them out myself was a lot of fun.

You can also take boats out to sea and perform many different activities onboard.

We hope you enjoy these features!

There's also a deserted island, where you can experience survival in ways you can't in other places.

You'll find hidden elements like making fire, peeing on a campfire, and treasure hunts.

Increase your Snorkeling level, and you'll be able to venture further out into sea and collect new items. You can then sell those items at shops, which adds another layer of fun.

Some objects will break if you crash into them while driving around.

This adds some fun details to the game, and breaking things is really enjoyable.

Look closely at characters trying to dodge potential accidents, and you'll notice their animations have become a lot more entertaining.

Feel free to crash into things on purpose.

Crash your vehicle at higher speeds, and there's a good chance that someone might die.

If you die, it's game over, but if someone else dies...

Well, you'll just have to see for yourself what happens next.

In real life, we don't get many days off, right?

I felt the same about the cities I created — they were way too busy.

So in Cahaya, I wanted players to enjoy life at a more leisurely pace.

If you run out of money, you can always take out a loan.

Even if you borrow too much, all you'll get are warning letters. No debt collectors will actually show up! (That's a secret!

) So feel free to borrow as many times as you'd like.

With that money, you can take a boat to the resort, spend it all, try the lucky draw, go bowling, and just enjoy life in Cahaya.

We've designed our core systems to be robust and compatible across different cities.

For example, Cahaya features boats.

This means that if we create a European city like Venice in the future, the same boat system can be applied there.

Our plan is to keep adding unique features that help each city grow evenly, while making sure that previously released cities are also updated with those features.

For instance, since Cahaya introduced fishing to the game, players can now enjoy fishing in the two existing cities as well.

This kind of expansion is why we developed Cahaya as both an island and a resort.

Going forward, we aim to bring even more everyday activities to life in inZOI.

We'll keep adding updates, so we hope you have lots of fun with the game.

This was the first time that I and our team have taken on this genre.

I still feel there's still plenty of room to improve.

When we first launched in Early Access, I was honestly surprised myself at how incomplete some parts were.

But thankfully, players have been sharing their own feedback while engaging with us on Discord.

This feedback really helps us a lot, and we hope to continue hearing from you.

I hope your time in Cahaya gives you time to relax and find joy in life itself.

Thank you.