A team of five independent game makers in Chongqing spent nearly two years developing a science fiction sandbox game. Within an hour of its release on Jan 21, it became the top seller on Steam, the world's largest online gaming platform.

The game — Dyson Sphere Program — has been well received, with 95 percent positive reviews on Steam. It sold more than 350,000 units from Jan 25 to 31.

"I made fun of my friends for getting addicted to Dyson Sphere Program, but then I bought it and now I'm so engrossed playing it that I won't even drink my coffee," said one netizen, @Lontar_On_Here, on Twitter. 

DSP is a sci-fi strategy and management factory simulation game that requires players to command a robot, starting from scratch, to cut down trees, collect and extract specific raw materials on various planets, build a cross-galaxy industrial empire and achieve the ultimate goal — the construction of a Dyson Sphere, a gigantic solar power station big enough to wrap up a whole star and absorb all its energy.

The popular game was developed by five indie game makers — a producer, a designer, an artist, a 3D modeler and a programmer (average age, 26) from Youthcat Studio in a 30-square-meter studio in Chongqing. They all admit to being sci-fi addicts.

The two lead developers, Zhou Xun and Li Jun, both born in Chongqing in 1990, graduated from local universities. They founded Youthcat Studio and started working on DSP in April 2019.

"As a symbol in a Type Ⅱ civilization, the Dyson Sphere has a fascinating story to tell. It must be cool as we make a game of the building process," Li said.