First of all, we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in our SunnySide survey.

We received 1,394 responses, which is honestly incredible. The amount of feedback, honesty, encouragement, criticism, and care you all put into your answers has been extremely helpful for us as we figure out where SunnySide goes from here.

In our previous post, we talked about the fact that SunnySide is finally back in our hands. We now fully have the rights to the game, and we’re able to work on it ourselves, directly, without the complications and limitations that existed before.

This post is going to be about two things:

1. What we learned from the survey.

2. What you can expect moving forward

And the short version is this:

We are rebuilding SunnySide.

Not from nothing. Not throwing away its heart, characters, music, world, or identity. But we are rebuilding the game’s foundations so that we can finally make it into the game we always wanted it to be.

SunnySide is in a slightly unusual situation.

The original game was built in Unreal Engine 4.27, which is now very old by modern standards. Since then, Unreal Engine has received years of improvements, optimizations, new tools, and better workflows. On top of that, the version of the engine used for SunnySide also had source code edits made to support console development.

As many of you know, the console ports were handled by a different company and were not supervised by us as closely as they should have been. Now that SunnySide is back with us, we no longer have that overhead or those constraints. Our focus can be very simple:

Make the game fun. Keep its identity. Improve performance.

And yes, we hear you loud and clear: Optimization is one of the biggest priorities.

Over the past two months, we tried to convert SunnySide from Unreal Engine 4.27 to Unreal Engine 5.7. We explored it seriously, tested it, and spent a lot of time trying to make it work.

In the end, we reached the conclusion that it simply was not the right path.

Even if we managed to force the old project into the new engine, we would still be left with a messy collection of old systems, old decisions, old bugs, and technical debt. It would not give us the clean foundation SunnySide needs.

So we made the harder decision: We are starting again from a new foundation.

That does not mean everything is being thrown away. We will be keeping the characters, much of the writing, the music, the sound, the atmosphere, and the essence of SunnySide. But this gives us the chance to take a second look at almost every system in the game.

Farming. Inventory. UI. Time Managment.. Performance. Progression. Social systems. Mining. Exploration. The way the game feels moment to moment. All of it can be rebuilt with the knowledge we have now, and with the huge amount of feedback you have given us.

One major change is that we are now much more comfortable working in C++.

The original version of SunnySide relied heavily on Blueprint systems. Blueprints are fantastic, and we still love using them, but some of the heavier systems in SunnySide were simply not built in the most efficient way. Inventory handling, cleanup logic, repeated background checks, and other large systems could become slow and difficult to maintain.

For this new version, many of those core systems are being rebuilt in C++.

That means better performance, cleaner systems, more flexibility, and fewer situations where one slow piece of code drags the whole game down.

We have already created a prototype with several systems running in C++, including:

• A new inventory system

• A new day and night system

• A redesigned clock

• Early UI systems

• Foundational gameplay systems

We are not ready to show all of this just yet, but we will share more when it is in a good place.

This is a very big step for us. We are excited about it, but we are also very aware of the scale of what we are taking on. We are still a very small team, smaller than we were before, but we care deeply about SunnySide, and we want to bring out its full potential.

All we ask for is time.

We know how much many of you love the core of SunnySide. It genuinely saddens us to see how often that core experience gets buried under unfinished systems, bugs, performance issues, or mechanics that never quite landed the way they should have.

This new version of SunnySide is something we are currently referring to as SunnySide 2.0.

Our goal is to release it as a free update to the existing game on Steam.

If, for technical or platform reasons, this has to become a separate Steam app instead, then current owners of SunnySide will be granted access to it.(However we don’t currently foresee this happening)

The bottom line is simple: If you own SunnySide, you will always own SunnySide (as long as we have a say in it, anyway)

Whether you want to call it a 2.0 update, a remake, or a second iteration, we do not want existing players to ever feel left behind.

We will also keep the original version of SunnySide available on a legacy branch on Steam. That means if you prefer the original version, or if you simply want to revisit it, you will still be able to access it. We also encourage everyone who wants to play it now to go ahead and do so. Nothing that we do with SunnySide 2.0 will impact your current games, so please continue to have fun!

Because this new version is being rebuilt from the ground up in terms of code and systems, old save files will not be compatible between the 1.0 and 2.0 branches. We know that is not ideal, and we will do what we can to support the legacy version as much as possible, but the new version will effectively be a new game under the hood.

The survey gave us a huge amount of useful information, and we want to go through some of the biggest themes that came up.

We will not be able to address every single response in this post, but we have read through them carefully, and they are already helping shape the direction of SunnySide 2.0.

The caves were one of the clearest points of agreement in the survey.

A lot of you felt that the caves, combat system, and the story connected to the Ancients did not quite fit with the rest of SunnySide. Many of you described the combat as repetitive, confusing, buggy, or simply not enjoyable enough to justify how much space it took up in the game.

There was also a strong feeling that the caves pulled attention away from the parts of SunnySide that people connected with most: farming, relationships, the town, the atmosphere, and the day-to-day life sim experience.

At the same time, the feedback was also very clear on one important point: You do not want mining to disappear.

Many of you still want a way to gather stone, ores, gems, and other resources. Some players also enjoyed the caves as a unique part of the game, especially as an alternative way to make money or progress outside of farming. So our direction is not simply “remove the caves and move on.” Instead, we are rethinking what the caves should be.

In the survey, 77.8% of players agreed with removing the caves in their current form.

Based on that, our current plan is:

• Remove the battles from the caves

• Remove the enemies from the caves

• Remove the current cave storylines

• Remove the main Ancient storyline connected to the caves

• Keep mining as part of SunnySide

• Rebuild the caves into a more focused mining experience

We are currently exploring a version of the caves as a procedurally generated, dynamic mining area where you can visit, gather minerals and gems, and return again after the cave resets on a set interval.

We also want mining itself to feel better. Rather than only being a basic pickaxe interaction, we want to look at tool upgrades, different mining tools, and a more tactile, satisfying resource-gathering loop.

As for the Ancients, we still love many of those designs and ideas. We are looking into creative ways to bring parts of them back into SunnySide in a way that better fits the game, but we will share more on that when we are ready.

If you have more ideas or opinions about this new direction, we’d love to hear from you in the comments here or on our Discord[discord.gg]!

Another major theme in the survey was that many of you want relationships to feel deeper, more natural, and more rewarding.

A lot of players felt that relationships currently reach a point where they simply stop progressing in a meaningful way. Many of you asked for stronger “endgame” relationship content, including commitment, marriage, partners moving in, children, or other ways for relationships to feel like they continue after reaching a high bond level.

We also heard a lot of feedback about NPCs needing to feel more aware of the world around them.

You want characters to remember things. To react to your progress. To comment on what is happening in town. To acknowledge your farm, your relationships, your choices, and recent events.

You also want NPCs to interact more with each other, not just with the player. Friend groups, group hangouts, casual conversations, visits, texts, notes, and characters initiating contact with you were all common suggestions.

This is something we strongly agree with. In fact, a lot of these systems were originally planned for SunnySide but were cut for various reasons, most of which were related to word count issues. SunnySide was originally meant to be a 500k word game, but when we were forced to cut the word count in half, a lot of the supporting social systems went out the window as well.

For SunnySide 2.0, we want the social side of the game to feel less like a checklist and more like a living part of the world. That means looking at dialogue variety, friendship progression, hangouts, NPC schedules, social groups, and how characters behave outside of direct conversations.

We also received a lot of feedback about the romance and gender attraction system.

Many players found it frustrating that certain romance options could be locked off based on choices made during character creation, especially when those restrictions were not always clear upfront. We understand that this could lead to players feeling like they had to research romance options before playing, or even restart if they realized later that the character they liked was unavailable.

This is something we are going to take a serious look at.

We are not ready to confirm the exact changes to the system yet, but we hear the feedback clearly: relationships should feel more flexible, less punishing, and easier to understand.

Hangouts were another common topic. Many of you liked the idea of spending time with characters, but felt the activities could become repetitive or awkward, especially when NPCs invited the player to places or activities they disliked (This was a bug that we were just never able to fix). We want to make hangouts feel more natural, with better context, more variety, and more personality from both the NPC and the player character.
We also want the friendships in SunnySide to take center stage like they were always meant to. The truth is: SunnySide was never meant to be a “Dating Sim”. Very much like the Persona series that inspired our game, the goal was always to focus on the people of the town and all of the different types of relationships that existed. We wanted you all, the players, to feel like you were a part of that community, and we’re sad that this focus was taken away from you. We plan to fix that.

The survey also made it very clear that while many of you love the look and atmosphere of SunnySide, the world can often feel too empty. This came up a lot.

Many areas were described as beautiful, but lacking enough to do. Places like the beach, outer farms, campgrounds, hot springs, bathhouse, abandoned school, research lab, and the roads leading out toward the bus stop and city were all mentioned as locations that look interesting but do not currently offer enough activity, interaction, or reward.

The size of the map also came up often. Some of you felt that SunnySide’s world is simply too spread out for the amount of content and population currently inside it, which can make travel feel slow and unrewarding.

At the same time, there were specific moments where SunnySide did feel alive.

The Farmers Market and festivals were mentioned again and again as moments where the town felt more active. Seeing NPCs and background characters gathered together helped the world feel busier and more believable.

But even there, many of you felt those events could go further. More unique interactions, more things to buy, more NPC conversations, more activities, and more reasons to participate would make those moments feel much stronger.

This is a big part of what we want to improve.

For SunnySide 2.0, we want to look at the world not just as a large map, but as a place that needs rhythm, purpose, and life.

That means looking at things like:

• Scaling down the map

• More meaningful NPC schedules

• NPCs using more of the town’s spaces

• Characters interacting with each other more often

• More reasons to visit underused locations

• More activity in places like the city, beach, hot springs, and market areas

• More rewarding exploration

• Small discoveries, secrets, resources, or encounters that make wandering feel worthwhile

We also heard the feedback about Higashi, the city area.

Many of you felt that Higashi had the appearance of being busy, especially with background characters, but still lacked meaningful things to actually do. We want to look at ways to make the city feel more useful and connected to the rest of the game, whether through shops, customization, NPC visits, activities, or other reasons to spend time there.

We know that a lot of you are incredibly excited about SunnySide finally getting the updates that it deserves, but we also want to make sure that we do a better job of managing expectations this time. Previously, we didn’t have much agency around how we communicated with our fans, and that’s also something that we desperately want to fix. We’ve always promised you transparency, and we always tried to give you that within the limitations that were placed on us. But now that those limitations are gone, it’s time to share more. So much more. 

Firstly, we had made a good amount of progress on the first steps toward rebuilding the game. UI, Farming, harvesting… lots of animation updates and we were starting on the new map (yes, we have to rebuild the map) and we were excited to start sharing more information and… well… Siavash’s SSD died. Full failure. It won’t take too long to rebuild, but that’s the main reason that nothing has been shared yet. We don’t want to make false promises. We do want you to see some of what was accomplished though, so here are some photos!

Secondly, we want you to know why SunnySide felt so unfinished upon release. The truth is: we always wanted SunnySide to be an Early Access game. We wanted to make changes and additions based on feedback from fans because we wanted you all to have a farming sim that you could truly love because you had been a part of making it. We fought for years to push SunnySide into Early Access, but we were denied. 

To be clear: We don’t blame Merge Games for the issues that we faced. They were also struggling with their relationship with their parent company, and all of the issues always came down to money flow. Instead, we blame the corporate machine that has poisoned Indie Gaming over the last 5-10 years. Corporate greed is the main reason that we were pushed into so many corners, and over time we’ll provide more insight into how and why various pieces of SunnySide were cut or changed or modified the way that they were. 

We want to answer your questions more honestly, but we also don’t want our answers to sound like excuses. The truth is, we made some bad decisions, too, and we’ll own up to that. All we ask for is a little grace, a little empathy, and maybe a really big mug to pour that delicious tea into. 

Something else we feel that everyone needs to know: No one is working at Aftabi Games full time anymore. After SunnySide released and it was made very clear that we weren’t going to be recouping the publisher’s investment any time soon, we were all forced to find other ways to pay the bills. Sydney got a job at a small law firm, Siavash is developing games with other studios, Ren went off to college (and just graduated, actually!),Kaori and Allan are… well doing other work that I actually can’t tell you about…  and Matt is a music teacher now! (No one knows how Ken survives, he’s an enigma). 

Yes, we are making money on the sales from SunnySide and Vending Dokan now, but it’s just enough to pay the studio’s bills (and the legal debt incurred from trying to wrestle back the publishing rights) and not much more. 

The importance of that information is this: updating SunnySide is going to take time. We don’t know how long. But we plan to earn your trust back through proof and actions, not just words. 

SunnySide has always had a strong core.

A beautiful town. A modern farming life. A great cast of characters. A unique atmosphere. A soundtrack we are still incredibly proud of. A world that so many of you connected with, even through the bugs and rough edges. That is the part we want to protect.

But we also need to be honest about what did not work. Some systems were unfinished. Some were too ambitious for the time and resources we had. Some added complexity without making the game more fun. And some simply made the game harder to maintain, optimize, and improve.

SunnySide 2.0 is our chance to rebuild around what worked, remove or rethink what did not, and create a much stronger version of the game.

This will take time. Like a lot of time. Like possibly a couple of years. But we’re going to do our best to  share progress along the way and make sure that your voices are heard this time around.

Thank you again to everyone who filled out the survey, left a review, sent us feedback, supported the game, or simply believed in what SunnySide could be.

We are very happy to be back working on SunnySide and we are going to do our best to make it shine.

- Aftabi Games 💛

We want to share an important update about the present and future of SunnySide.

As of now, Aftabi Games is the official publisher of SunnySide!!! After a long and difficult process behind the scenes, full control of the game is finally back where it belongs: with the original development team.

This also means we now have full access to the game’s data, metrics, pricing, and development pipeline for the first time in a very long time.

You may have already noticed that SunnySide’s price has changed.

Now that we’re able to review sales data and regional pricing properly, we believe $19.99 USD (with appropriate international conversions) is a much better price, not only for the game but for the community as well. This price reflects where SunnySide is today, and where we want to take it next.

Over the coming months, we’ll be working on a series of substantial updates aimed at pushing SunnySide toward what we consider a true 2.0 version of the game.

We want to be very clear about something upfront: We are not going to be overly cautious with changes.

SunnySide has often been described as a game with a lot of potential. That word shows up again and again in reviews, and while we appreciate the sentiment, we also believe potential can become a trap if it’s never fully realized.

Our goal now is simple: To turn potential into something deeper, more engaging, and more fun to play.

That may mean:

• reworking or replacing core systems

• significantly deepening mechanics that currently feel surface-level

• removing features that don’t fit the game or hold it back

Some updates will be bigger than others, and some changes may be bold, but every decision will be made with the long-term health of the game in mind.

Whenever we’re considering a major change to a core system, we’ll be asking for your input.

We’re already doing that right now.

👉 https://forms.gle/h2gaLxQE4Zftm4CHA

This first survey focuses on a significant decision we’re currently evaluating: The potential removal of the caves, including mining, combat, and rewriting Sparky’s story so that it no longer relies on cave progression. This would also mean rewriting the entire main storyline of the game.

All of the context is explained in the survey itself, and we genuinely want your voice to help guide this decision. So if you care about the future direction of SunnySide, please take a moment to check it out.

Our very first development task is a big one.

SunnySide is currently running on Unreal Engine 4.27, which is now quite old. One of the major constraints in the past was that the game needed to stay on that version due to external console porting requirements.

That limitation is now gone.

We are beginning the process of upgrading SunnySide to the latest Unreal Engine (5.7). This will:

• improve performance and stability

• unlock modern engine features and tools

• make future development faster and more flexible

This is not a small or trivial task. SunnySide is a large game, and some older systems will need to be reworked to function properly on newer engine versions. We’re going to take our time and do this carefully because this upgrade is the foundation for everything that comes next.

Because the upcoming changes will significantly alter core parts of the game, we’ll be creating a “Legacy” SunnySide branch on Steam.

This will allow existing players as well as anyone who purchases the game in the future to continue playing the current version of SunnySide exactly as it exists today (bugs, quirks, and all)

If you prefer the original experience, you’ll always have access to it.

Now that SunnySide is fully under our control, and finally able to properly support itself, we have the freedom to make the changes the game truly needs.

That means:

• trimming systems that feel disconnected or frustrating

• deeply expanding mechanics players genuinely enjoy

• focusing the experience instead of bloating it

If something needs to be removed, we’ll remove it.
If something deserves more depth, we’ll give it the time and care it needs.

The game and community come first.
It has to be fun, engaging, and cohesive, and most importantly: you all deserve a game you'll love.

SunnySide has already been removed from the PlayStation Store.

If you previously purchased the game on PlayStation, you should still be able to download and play it without issues. At the moment, however, we are unable to update or support the PlayStation version.

This isn’t a decision we took lightly, but the reality is that our studio is currently very small, and we do not have access to console porting hardware or the resources required to maintain console builds properly.

SunnySide will also be removed from the Xbox Store.

To be completely transparent: the Xbox version is not in a state that we’re proud of, and we are not able to meaningfully update or improve it going forward. Leaving it available for purchase without the ability to support or fix it would not be fair to players.

As with PlayStation, existing owners should still be able to access the game, but no further updates will be made to the Xbox version at this time.

No, but consoles are not our focus right now.

Our immediate priority is to stabilize, improve, and evolve SunnySide on PC, where we have full control of development. Once the game reaches a strong, stable place, and if our studio reaches a healthier financial position, we absolutely want to explore console ports again in the future.

If and when that happens, it will be:

• done with our direct supervision

• built on a solid, updated foundation

• supported with ongoing updates

We’re not closing the door, we’re making sure we don’t rush back through it unprepared.

You’re always welcome to share feedback and questions here on the Steam forums, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on discussions.

That said, we’re currently most active on Discord, where we can respond faster, chat more casually, and keep conversations flowing more naturally.

👉 http://discord.gg/sunnyside

If you have questions, concerns, ideas, or just want to hang out and talk SunnySide, we’d love to see you there!!

On a personal note, this outcome wasn’t guaranteed, and we still can’t quite believe it happened. Massive thanks to our legal team for making this possible!

2026 marks a fresh start for SunnySide, and we’re incredibly excited (and honestly a little terrified) to finally build the game the way it deserves.

Thank you all for your patience, your support, and for sticking with us.

Please don’t forget to check out the survey if you want to help shape what comes next.

– The Aftabi Games Team

• Cooked Sticky Rice
  
• Okayu
  
• Flatbread Dough
  
• Pie Dough
  
• Bitter Mash
  
• Hoppy Mash
  
• Malty Mash
  
• Sweet Mash

• Cave Level Performance: We focused on improving performance in all cave areas, with Lush Caves receiving an extra aesthetic overhaul alongside optimizations.
  
• Overworld: General optimization pass across various areas to improve stability and performance.

• We saw a lot of requests for this, many of you wanted a way to dismiss Sparky while exploring, and now you can! Just open your inventory and press the Dismiss Sparky button.
  
• Don’t worry, he’ll still appear when needed for cutscenes, cave navigation, and fights.

• More reliable: They now handle their needs much more efficiently.
  
• Better optimized: This should reduce weird behaviors and glitches.
  
• Happier animals overall!: Works for both pets and farm animals.

• Recipe detection is now more lenient: You don’t have to be as exact with ingredients and can put more than needed in the mixing circle.
  
• You can cook multiple servings at once: Just add multiple sets of ingredients!
  
• Be careful: If you use extra ingredients, they won’t be refunded if not used up!

• Your thoughts on SunnySide’s current features
  
• What you’d like to see improved or added
  
• How you feel about updates and localization
  
• General feedback to help us make SunnySide better