Check it Out!
Furward is a a fancy version of Chrome's no-wifi dino game with a mission to convey the whimsical charms of China. It is currently deployed on itch.io.
01 ABOUT
My summers in China…
Although Furward is simple, it's a project I hold extremely near to my heart. It’s a combination of the four things I’ve loved since childhood: cats, games, art, and summer trips to China
DAY MODE
The “day” game mode is inspired by my mom’s home province, Fujian, China. With vivid colours and whimsical tidbits such as the dragon in the lake, missing cat posters, and playful sprites, I wanted to capture the vibrancy and playfulness I experienced the last time I went to Fujian.
NIGHT MODE
The “night” game map is inspired by my dad's home city, Shanghai. Keeping up with the playful nature of the countryside, I added a dragon hiding in the water, playful political posters to vote a cat politician into office, and a grandma who wants to go back to the countryside.
The pandemic was HARD
The pandemic was an exceptionally challenging period for everyone across the globe. For a significant number of Chinese Americans, it came with a unique and painful set of struggles. For me, one of the most distressing aspects was the widespread surge in anti-Asian sentiment and the onslaught of negative rhetoric about China—whether in political discussions or casual conversations. Many people, frustrated by the pandemic's impact, projected blame onto China, often oversimplifying complex geopolitical and health-related issues into harmful stereotypes. Simultaneously, the inability to travel and visit loved ones in China heightened a sense of separation, added another layer of pain.
This was not just a singular or isolated experience—it was a widespread reality for countless individuals who felt the weight of their heritage being misrepresented or weaponized in the face of global frustration. The pandemic forced many to navigate a delicate balance between defending their heritage and addressing concerns, often from people with limited understanding of the culture, history, or context. Many were prompted to strike a balance between addressing concerns while defending their heritage.
My response to the pandemic was to create Furward! Through this game, I wanted to create a world that showcases the magic and deep-rooted culture of China. I firmly believe that personal connections are key to fostering understanding across the world. I wanted people to experience the whimsical charm of China that I experienced during my childhood trips. Thus, my mission can be summed up as follows:
How might we help around the world form a personal connection to China?
02 iDEATION
Telling a personal story
My initial concept development was highly non-linear. It involved collecting photo references and sketching in my notebook until an idea started to take shape. I experimented with several elements, including the amount of "magicality", characters, and environments. It was easy to get carried away and lost in the ideation process—if I hadn’t made a conscious effort to stop, I could have kept doodling endlessly. After multiple iterations and personal reflection, one thing became clear—I wanted to highlight the countryside, drawing deep inspiration from my home province, Fujian. My personal most magical memories of China were seeing the Chinese countryside during golden hour - the period right before sunset.
Environment
I decided to digitally illustrate my first environment sketch as a direct graphic representation of the Chinese countryside. However, I found the illustration to be somewhat plain. While it was an accurate portrayal of the real Chinese countryside, it didn’t capture the magical essence I wanted to convey. (Upon Isamel's request, I illustrated a flying pickle as a placeholder obstacle)
I also realized that representing the platform in two dimensions would make the design clearer and more visually effective.
One of my concept sketches depicted the cat on the rooftops of Chinese shops. While it was a cute idea, I felt the perspective was too close to the cat, limiting the view of the broader environment.
The environment I ultimately settled on featured a bridge as the platform, with a small town in the background and a lake inspired by Xihu, a famous lake in Hangzhou.
03 STYLE & ITERNATION
How might we tell an effective story with simple game mechanics?
Incorporating a touch of whimsy…
04 aNIMATION
Animating the lost cat
My first iteration of a cat’s walk was pretty wonky. I only realized that the left back leg’s walking cycle was too big for the rest of the cat after I completed the animation.
After refining, and then eventually deciding to change the character’s fur patterns, the cat began to walk more normally.
After illustrating the cat’s walk, I was ready to become more ambitious with the crawl . I abstracted the crawl so overenhance the “pudginess” of the cat, which I felt added a playful touch.
Unlike the original no internet dinosaur, the cat is a long sprite. Thus, we had to further space apart the obstacles to ensure the cat had enough space to land.
Putting it all together
Since Furward's game concept is simple, the art style becomes the most prominent medium of storytelling.
Creating the final map included hours of compiling inspiration images, desperately trying to remember how I felt when I went to China, and experimentation with rendering. Along the way, my art style changed, and so did the colours. In total, the background took around a month to fully complete!
From start to finish, the entire process of illustrating, experimenting, and rendering the map took around a month. The map is a single long illustration that can be repeated.
In total, Furward has 3 main layers. The further back the layer the more slowly it cycles through in relation to the other layers. The sky layer cycles the slowest, while the platform is the quickest.
05 EXPANSION
Night mode
Luckily, I still had ideas for Furward in my sketchbook! I chose to illustrate the city, drawing heavy inspiration from Shanghai, my dad's hometown. To create a sense of unity between the worlds, I designed the night mode to complement the day mode, using complementary colors for both.
Illustrating the night mode was much faster since I had already established the style and color scheme. Additionally, I had gained more experience in being decisive and sketching thumbnails.
Easter eggs to create cohesion
I allowed myself to take a few more creative liberties with the night mode. To make the game feel more cohesive, I included subtle details in the night mode that allude back to day mode!
06 REFLECTION & NEXT STEPS
Some next steps
Since this was our first time creating a game, we agreed to keep it pretty simple as a 2D platformer as our MVP. However, we have many plans of expanding Furward and fine tuning the game!
After releasing Furward and play testing multiple times, I felt that the obstacles blend into the background a little bit too well. Making them glow may be a good idea for making them more obvious to the player, but some players reported that htey liked the extra challenge.
I also felt that much of the foreground and background appear flat at times. Incorporating small animations such as swaying leaves, ripling water, twinkling stars and moving characters may bring Furward more to life.
The immediate next step me and Isamel would like to include is a scoring system and a way for players to share their scores with their audience.
What I've learned…
Done is better than perfect
The first few weeks of creating Furward passed really slowly. As my first large scale project, it was very easy to get lost in the rendering and making sure everything was pixel-perfect (I ended up vectorizing it later). Many hours were spent on miniscule details that had an insignificant impact on the game, and it made the entire process very tedious. Obsessing over small details was the main reason why the drawing process to complete the day map took two months. The "night" mode was significiantly faster, as I realized that I should be focusing on the bigger picture.
Be decisive
As a person who suffers from choice paralysis when it comes to the smallest things like hand soap scents, I knew that I could not afford to be indecisive when making this game, because it would drag out the process for too long. Rather than obsessing over finding the right colors for my maps, it was easier to just begin colouring and then worry later.
