Lucky Yu (Interview)

 

1. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAME THAT YOU PLAYED THAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH GAMING?

Great question! I think Pokemon Red on the Gameboy really opened me up to how playing video games can impact your life. A bit of context, I'm originally from China and immigrated to the U.S. when I was five years old. I remember at the time, language and cultural barriers made it difficult to connect to my peers, however games like Pokemon became a way that I formed friendships and grounded myself in a new world. Through games like Pokemon, it made me fall in love with the idea that games can communicate across cultures and link people to shared experiences that foster lasting friendships. 

2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT?

When I was in college, our school's game design program was just starting to take shape. I took a few classes in it and started to realize games could be a future possibility for creativity and work opportunities. I originally went to school for filmmaking but decided to focus on games for my last year of study. 

One of the hardest things about games is learning how to code. I'd say most of my technical skills are from watching youtube videos and playing around with code directly in-engine. For anyone who's interested in game development, I'd highly recommend joining online and offline game jams. The format of game jams allows newcomers to try their hands at game making, meet more experienced developers, and with the rigid deadline of jams, be pushed to finish a project on time. 

3. ARE YOU A CURRENT SOLO DEV OR DO YOU HAVE A TEAM PUT TOGETHER? IS SO HOW DID YOUR TEAM COME TOGETHER?

It really depends on the idea and what I'm trying to get out of it. If the idea is more experimental or personal in nature, I tend to make the entire thing by myself.  For Lucky Yu, one of the main things is to try and capture a very traditional Chinese art style with thousands of years of history. In my initial prototypes, I realized I lacked the painting skills to truly capture the aesthetic. I was lucky enough that my mom is a trained artist and was happy to help in making the game feel alive!

Some of my other projects are more collaborative in nature. I tend to enjoy working with people who don't have much game-making experience, however, are really talented in their own fields (writing, art, music, etc.) Through merging creative mediums, games can really start to feel unique, especially coming from talented people who haven't made games before.

4.WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NAME LUCKY YU?

This came from talking with my creative partner. I had a rough fishing prototype and was thinking about names that could fit. In China, fish are considered to be a sign of luck and “Yu” 鱼 is the Chinese character for fish. I liked the idea of mixing an English word and a Chinese word together for the title and when you put the two words together, it sounds a lot like "Lucky you”. 

5. GIVE US THE BACK STORY BEHIND THE SETTING FOR LUCKY YU?

With traditional Chinese black ink paintings, the emphasis is on landscapes with a focus on nature. You’ll see a lot of abstract mountains, water, and plants with negative space becoming a key aspect of letting your imagination fill in the gaps. A common visual motif of these paintings can include someone fishing or a boat on the water. For this project, I tried to emphasize the fishing element and add in gameplay to create something that looks traditional, but can feel quite interactive for the viewer. 

6. WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST OF THIS GAME?

For now, it's just an unnamed protagonist. Just a little person on a boat fishing. However, I do have some ideas about expanding the experience into a richer game with a story carrying the experience. 

7.TELL US ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND DECIDING TO MAKE THIS GAME?

“Lucky Yu” started as a commissioned game by Playcrafting NYC's Graffiti Games Festival. Every year, the festival will select underrepresented game developers to create new projects centered on a common theme. For this year's theme, it was "A Cultural Voyage". The idea of mixing a traditional Chinese art style plus a minimalist gaming experience came from this theme. I'd highly recommend checking out playcrafting and the Play NYC festival to see what next year's festival will hold! 

8.WHAT TYPE OF GAMEPLAY MACHINCS CAN WE EXPECT IN THE GAME?

I think one of the hardest things moving forward mechanically is balancing too little and too much. Much like the traditional Chinese art style it is inspired by, less is more. However, getting to that does mean adding more mechanics and slowly simplifying them until it becomes as clean of a game as possible. I'm currently experimenting with a few core mechanics to enhance the base gameplay, but it’s still in the experimental phase of development. 

9. THE ART STYLE IS AMAZING TELL US ABOUT THE DESIGN STYLE OF THIS GAME?

Thank you! So much of the visual identity is really just my mom's artistic skills in painting. Because we are inspired by Chinese traditional paintings, many of the rules of the art style have been established throughout time and history. The basic technique and materials have not changed too much, but the style comes alive through how the artist channels their own energy to create a new image. For me, one of the most difficult things is to take an art style that’s static in nature and make it feel alive with movement and gameplay. 

Our process of getting the image into the game is quite organic. Everything in the game is hand painted with black ink onto rice paper and then digitally scanned into a computer. There's a pass to clean up and crop out the images. Once imported into the game, I then consider how to animate the pieces, code the logic, and how they fit to create a cohesive whole. The challenge of mixing the old and new has been really interesting to explore!

10. WHAT ENGINE ARE YOU USING FOR THIS GAME AND WHY?

For this project, I'm using Unity. Generally, for my small projects, I like to use Unity as it's a very flexible game engine to build anything you'd like! Some of the original prototyping ideas were also built in Twine. Other than interactive fiction, Twine is a really flexible tool to help design and prototype ideas quickly!

11. ARE THERE PLANS FOR DLC FOR THIS GAME IN THE FUTURE?

For now the main push is more fish. I still have a lot of unused fish that my mom painted waiting to be integrated into the game. There are also more visual elements we want to try out, but we are currently experimenting with how they will look and feel in-game! 

12. WHY SHOULD THE GAMERS WOULD WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME DAY 1?

I really hope the game provides a chill and relaxing experience. Something that you can play to unwind after a long day of work or when you need a break from reality. My goal is to make it simple enough that everyone can pick it up easily, with enough challenge that makes it rewarding to play. 

13. WHEN WILL THIS GAME RELEASE AND WHAT PLATFORMS WILL IT BE ON?

The demo is currently available online for Mac and PCs. I hope to eventually get it onto mobile as the chill vibe will be great for long trips or short breaks! Portable consoles like the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck would be great, but that’s a future goal. 

14. WHERE CAN THEY FIND YOU ON SOCIA MEDIA?

Here’s all the socials! If you're interested in following the development of this game, the best would be on Twitter or Itch.io for the latest announcements. 

Twitter: @mikerenyi

Itch.io: mikeyren.itch.io

Website: www.mikeyren.com