Studio

SpicyTea is a woman-owned independent narrative game studio based in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 2023. We craft story-driven games that move across languages and cultures, made by an international team that doesn't believe a good story needs a passport. Our titles range from warm ensemble romance to cold, intimate psychological drama, but they share one thing: characters you can't stop thinking about.

Founder

Lida Xu is the founder and lead developer of SpicyTea. Born and trained in China, she studied advertising and visual communication at Guangdong University of Finance & Economics before earning her MFA in Animation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Her path to games ran through nearly every storytelling medium first: poster and packaging design, self-published comics sold at conventions, live-action film, and animation. Games are where it all converges, the one form that asks for visual design, sequential storytelling, moving image, and interaction at once.

She founded SpicyTea in 2023 with a deliberately practical ambition: to make narrative games good enough to sustain the studio that makes them, so the next story, and the one after that, can get made. The studio's titles are built on that belief: that romance and mystery deserve real craft, and that characters, done right, are worth coming back for.

See Lida's full creative portfolio at lidaxu.com.

Team

  • Lida Xu - Director & Art

  • Luna C. - Music

  • Megan - Localization

Milestones

  • 2023 Oct - SpicyTea LLC was founded in Atlanta

  • 2024 Aug - Steamworks partnership established

  • 2024 Nov - Petting Lover enters development

  • 2025 Jun - Petting Lover V1.0 demo released for Otome Jam 2025 [Link]

  • 2026 Jan - Petting Lover Steam page launches [Link]

  • 2026 Mar - GDC 2026 (Early-Stage | Startup pass)

  • 2026 Apr - Petting Lover Kickstarter campaign launches [Link]

  • 2026 Apr - Petting Lover V1.35 Demo Release on Steam [Link]

  • 2026 May - Petting Lover Kickstarter campaign funded [Link]