I've found the first must-try cat game of 2024: a boba bar management sim where you serve bubble tea to other cats

I didn't realize how badly I needed to be a cat that serves boba to other cats until I saw this adorable Kickstarter campaign.

Boba Bar: Bubble Tea Tycoon is a time management sim that has you rising up the ranks to become the largest bubble tea tycoon in town. You start with a humble bubble tea stand and work your way up to a fully-fledged Boba business. The upcoming indie is being developed by solo developer Kwaussie Studios and has recently launched on Kickstarter - with just under a month left to gather its goal.

In the game, players will need to craft the most sought-after bubble tea in town as they discover new flavors, acquire advanced equipment, and keep their customers happy. Like in all good tycoon games, it'll be the player's job to keep income coming in and make the best decisions to keep your bubble tea business afloat. This sounds stressful but when you realize that you're literally a cat in a kawaii pixel art world, it feels much more magical.

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According to Boba Bar's Kickstarter page, the idea for the game came to its developer when they were reminiscing about the classic business sim Lemonade Tycoon from 2003 and realized there wasn't anything else like it. "I was in between jobs and had some free time, so I went to visit my local Bubble Tea dessert store," Kwaussie aka Matt explains, "and It occurred to me on my way home that I should make the game myself, and that the game should be based on creating bubble tea."

So far, Boba Bar's Kickstarter page still has a little further to go to reach its AU$5,000 goal. If it does manage to gain the funds though, fans of this adorable title can help to get it towards its stretch goals that include a full soundtrack, improved artwork, different modes, and continued support of the game in the future.

You can also try out an early version of Boba Bar: Bubble Tea Tycoon via its demo on Steam. The game is still in the early stages of development right now and is likely to see "significant updates" over the next few months. That being said, there's still a lot of fun to be had in the small taster - even in the demo I couldn't get over the gorgeous artwork and adorable kitties. Just be prepared to answer to a lot of demanding cats.

Find out what other hidden gems we've got to look forward to with our upcoming indie games list.

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.