Placeholder. A cohort of Southeast Asian sun care brands are using an indie-video-game-style crowdfunding and Discord/Telegram co-design model — with technical stretch goals like 'zero white cast' — to develop climate-specific formulas from the molecule up, rejecting adapted Western or Korean formulas entirely.
What we've found so far: Brands like AURA Skin Lab explicitly reject 'legacy imports' (Western/Korean formulas) as poorly suited to 80%+ humidity, instead crowdfunding development with community-voted technical milestones.
Open research: Interview a founder directly on how the crowdfunding/co-design process actually works mechanically; compare timelines and cost to traditional R&D cycles.