Interview with Greg from Soft Crunch Games about Foxy Dumplings

Imagine a triple-decker food truck, a greenhouse on wheels, the scent of fresh dumplings, and a philosophy centered on slowing down. That is the heart of Foxy Dumplings. This cozy cooking game blends elements of Dave the Diver and Cooking Mama with a heartwarming story about recovery, travel, and helping others. But what does it actually take to build such a relaxing experience?

I spoke with Greg, CEO and Tech Director at Soft Crunch Games. We discussed the personal inspirations behind the project, striking the right balance between 'slow gaming' and engagement, and how community feedback led to a brand-new game mechanic in a single evening.

Greg, to start off for readers who haven't added Foxy Dumplings to their wishlist yet: how would you describe the game and the atmosphere you want to create?

Foxy Dumplings is a combination of Dave the Diver, Cooking Mama, and The Bear TV series. It's about learning to let go, taking care of yourself, and healing through helping others.

The perfect quote would be a sentence from one of the characters in the game, the grandmother of our protagonist: "You don't have to burn out to shine."

Foxy Dumplings follows the story of Lisa travelling in her triple-decker food truck. What was the main source of inspiration behind combining a food truck with a greenhouse and living space on wheels?

Our personal passion for cooking and growing plants. I love to cook, and my partner and Art Director loves plants. At our place, the largest spaces are the kitchen and the garden space with a greenhouse in it. We just had to make our game personal; it's the only way for us. The concept of using a food truck to pack it all in was also inspired by the movie Chef.

You strongly emphasize the philosophy of 'slow gaming' and creating a soothing ritual rather than stressful cooking mechanics. How do you strike the right balance between relaxing gameplay and keeping players engaged?

Through a bunch of optional systems. You can experience the whole story without engaging in many of the extra activities; you can automate watering plants, cooking preparation, etc. There is a lot of freedom in finding your own way.

We also do not punish the player, but rather reward a bit less. Of course, we thought about scenarios where players could go bankrupt or try to soft-lock themselves through certain actions, but remember—Lisa has a brother and a loving grandmother...

On the other hand, people who love to min-max, level up, earn points and stars, and master making many types of dumplings will have plenty to do here. Not to mention the whole creative mode as well.

In the game, players travel across 12 different cities and experiment with dumpling recipes from all over the world. How did you choose these specific recipes, and are there any dishes the team became personally obsessed with?

Like I mentioned before, I love to cook. This is also personal—my own grandma taught me how to make dumplings, which is also the beginning of the story in the game. I researched around 40 recipes from all around the world, cooked over half of them myself to learn how to make them, and then chose 12 that seemed diverse enough and made sense for game progression.

In the base game, we have Polish pierogi, Croatian knedle, Korean mandu, Japanese gyoza, and many others. We love Asian cuisine, so right after Polish pierogi, gyoza takes second place in our beauty contest. However, through this research, we discovered Chor Muang from Thailand, which basically inspired a whole new mechanic for us.

Through 'Foxtagram', players can share their dishes, unlock stickers, and build their reputation. What role does this fictional social platform play in overall story progression?

First of all, we wanted to give players a mode where they can get creative and just play around to create something beautiful. People are already sending us true dumpling art pieces! Aside from that, it's a perfect spot for easter eggs (look really closely at the names of the other restaurants!).

Storywise, it functions as a diary that shows how Lisa grows through her adventure, even though our protagonist is actually really against social media—which serves as a great setup for funny dialogues in the game.

Soft Crunch Games highlights that the game is crafted entirely by hand without AI, focusing on a warm and cozy aesthetic. What were the biggest artistic decisions when designing the cities and characters?

Since we are a really small team and we're making this game in a reasonably short time, we made several decisions to stay on schedule. First of all, Aleksandra, our Art Director, planned and created an extensive "Art Bible" that detailed every piece of artistic direction, colors, inspirations, and everything else you see in the game.

The art is inspired by things we love: cartoons, anime (especially Studio Ghibli), games (especially Vanillaware), and on the other hand: real countries, cultures, and places. That's why Amberfield is inspired by the Polish countryside and cities, featuring beavers as some of the most important characters in this area. We don’t want to spoil other locations and inspirations, but we researched distinctive features (and animals) from each region.

With clear frameworks for ideas and references, we were able to handle this part of production pretty well. Thanks to that, Aksinnia's levels are small wonders, characters made by Aleksandra are distinctive and lovely, and UI elements made by Piotr and Dawid are coherent and easily guide people through the game.

I should also mention that aside from the art reflecting specific regions, the music made by Patryk Scelina references instruments and themes specific to each given country. For instance, Amberfield is inspired by Poland, so you can hear a mix of Chopin's piano pieces and Shin’ichirō Watanabe-style lo-fi anime jazz (simply because we like it).

With the demo playable on devices like the Steam Deck and featured at Gamescom 2026, what key insights from community feedback have influenced the game's development the most?

We have a really lovely community that plays through every new update, so each time we receive dozens of feedback forms that help us fix bugs or adjust certain elements.

The biggest influence from the community was the Mastery System. Initially, we decided to let people automate dumpling preparation, but automated dumplings were lower quality to reward people who preferred making them manually.

However, a bunch of players suggested that after some time, automatic preparation should produce better dumplings to reflect Lisa's progress.

So within a single evening, the team came up with a story from Lisa's grandma: "Some people say that you have to spend 10,000 hours doing something to be a Master. To get there with dumplings, you need to make 1,000 of them."

That's the origin of the Mastery System; you'll discover the rest in the game!

Foxy Dumplings will be released this year on the following platforms: PC (Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam Deck), PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch 2, Android, and iOS.