Last Tuesday, the Chinese single-player game *Loulan: Cursed Sands* made a stunning debut on Bilibili’s “Youxiankan” platform. Its rare ancient Western Regions setting and smooth, innovative combat mechanics left a deep impression on many players. To date, the game’s first promotional video has garnered over 2.3 million views and more than 85,000 likes on Bilibili.
Interestingly, many players were surprised to discover that the game’s developer is Liangyu—the pixel art powerhouse behind *Knights of the Spirit* and *Soul of the Warrior*—and they’ve been “complaining” that the exquisite visuals and stylish combat in *Loulan* have left them feeling a bit “out of place.”
In fact, *Loulan: The Cursed Sands* was developed by Liangyu’s new studio in Shanghai. Its lead, Huai Hongwen, has a background in gameplay programming and spent over a decade working at renowned international studios such as 343 Industries and Santa Monica Studios, where he contributed to the development of several high-profile AAA titles, including *Halo 5*, *Halo: Infinite*, *God of War*, and *God of War: Ragnarök*.
Although the studio currently has only 16 members, it is packed with talent. In addition to veteran developers from FS Studio and PlatinumGames, the team also includes a group of developers from domestic studios such as Yingjiao and Giant Interactive, making for a lineup with an impressive track record. According to Huai Hongwen, development of *Loulan: Cursed Sands* has now moved beyond the early stages.
Taking this opportunity, our team sat down with this industry veteran, who candidly shared that his decision to give up a lucrative position overseas and return to China to work on games was actually quite simple: he wanted to collaborate with a group of like-minded colleagues to create an original domestic IP. Guided by a “gameplay-first” development philosophy, they aim to create something truly unique this time around.
01
If you only want to work on domestic IPs, then come back
Teahouse: You spent many years "gaining experience" at a major overseas game studio, didn't you?
Hui Hongwen: Yes, both I and the core members of my team have been in the gaming industry for a long time—nearly a decade and a half. Previously, we were mainly involved in developing console games and large-scale single-player titles,I started out as a gameplay programmer. While working on *Halo 5* and *Halo: Infinite* at 343 Industries, I handled a wide range of responsibilities, including engine networking and the tool pipeline. Later, I joined Sony and worked on *God of War* and its sequel, *God of War: Ragnarök*, where I began focusing on gameplay design and hybrid roles, such as fine-tuning gameplay feel and balancing game mechanics.
Teahouse: I understand that your development team currently consists of 16 people, and it’s truly a team of hidden talents, including game developers from FromSoftware and PlatinumGames.
Hui Hongwen: That’s right. Our team currently consists of 16 people, almost all of whom are developers. The team’s composition is somewhat unique; we often joke that we’re developers from three generations—the older, middle, and younger generations—which essentially refers to game developers born in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
The post-2000s generation are considered newcomers to the industry; some joined us straight out of art school after graduation. After a few years of working together, we’ve gradually mentored them into seasoned professionals.The largest group consists of those born in the 1990s, who form the backbone of our team. Most come from major domestic game studios, such as Yingjiao and Giant, while others have joined us from independent game development teams behind titles like *Shadow Torch City* and *Dark Night Long Dream*, bringing with them a wealth of development experience. As for those born in the 1980s, there’s no need to elaborate—they’ve spent years honing their skills at major overseas studios and are true “veterans” of the industry.
Teahouse: I’m a bit curious—how did you originally put together a development team that spans three generations—senior, middle-aged, and young?
Hui Hongwen: That’s actually quite interesting. At first, the core team consisted of only four or five people. I was in the U.S. at the time, while the other members were in Japan. We met through a WeChat group chat, but we’d never met in person. We were all born in the 1980s and got along well, so we suggested working together on a game.
But since we were all so busy at the time and simply didn’t have the time to work on it, we could only discuss it frequently, and the development project was put on hold for the time being. It wasn’t until around 2021 that I felt the time was right, so I suggested we meet in person. After everyone returned to China, we met up at the Bund in Shanghai, and after chatting for a while, we felt the project had real potential.
As it happened, I knew Li Zeyang, the CEO of Shenzhen Liangwu Games, so I suggested to him that we collaborate on a single-player game project.He immediately gave the green light and asked where I wanted to set up the team. I eventually chose Shanghai—partly because I had lived there for a while and found it convenient in every way, and partly because most of the core team members were from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region, so I felt the talent pool was richer there. After that, the game "Loulan" was officially greenlit for development.
Teahouse: You’ve spent many years working at major tech companies overseas. Why did you suddenly decide to return to China to pursue your career?
Hui Hongwen: It’s actually quite simple. Over the years I’ve spent making games, they’ve all been based on well-known overseas IPs. But what I really want to create are original IPs developed by Chinese developers—that’s my strongest motivation.
Although I’d worked on several projects—all of which were games based on Japanese and American IPs—and even when we returned in 2021, *Black Myth* hadn’t even been announced yet, and no one at the time knew whether a domestic AAA game could actually be made, I had just one simple conviction: I wanted to create a domestic IP. That’s why I came back.
Teahouse: You’ve been working on AAA games up until now, but it looks like Loulan is a 2A-scale project.
Hui Hongwen: Strictly speaking, we might not even qualify as a 2A game; titles like *The Master* are typical examples of 2A games, right? We’re probably a bit smaller than a 2A game, so why did we choose to develop a game of this scale? For one thing, I feel that even though our team members have extensive development experience, we’re essentially starting from scratch. Objectively speaking, it would be highly unreasonable to jump straight into a 3A project right off the bat.
On the other hand, during development, we noticed that more and more domestic 2D and 3D games are emerging, but most of them opt for high-poly graphics and a 3D perspective. This has only strengthened our belief that top-down combat allows players to distinguish our game from the rest at first glance, offering a fresh and unique visual experience. Since we aren’t directly competing with them, this differentiation has actually become our strength.
02
Gameplay first—I want to try something different
Teahouse: How long has Loulan been in development, and what is the current status?
Hui Hongwen: I can’t really disclose that at this time. All I can say is that Loulan is no longer in the early stages of development, and the demo currently available only offers about an hour of gameplay. We have other sand-based abilities and monster designs planned for later, and overall, development has progressed quite a bit.
Teahouse: Currently, Loulan’s first PV has nearly 2.4 million views on Bilibili. What do you think is the biggest draw for players?
Hui Hongwen: So far, Loulan has been performing quite well both domestically and internationally. We’re very fortunate—for instance, our first PV has already surpassed 600,000 views on the official PlayStation YouTube channel.I think there are two key factors that attract players. First, players feel that our game has a solid, retro vibe—it might evoke the feel of classic old-school games. Second, we’ve infused this retro style with a sense of freshness, which is the “flavor” we’ve been striving for. You could think of it as taking a well-established gameplay framework and adding our own creative touches to it.
For example, whether in terms of gameplay or visual presentation, many players feel it resembles a remastered version of *Diablo II* or *Prince of Persia*. These elements in gameplay and visuals evoke memories of many classic old games, while at the same time, the combat and mechanics offer plenty of fresh and unique features. In fact, this is precisely the balance we aim to strike between nostalgia and innovation.
Teahouse: Why did you choose the theme of Loulan? It seems like a pretty niche topic.
Hui Hongwen: Choosing the Loulan theme was likely a result of a combination of favorable timing, location, and circumstances. I lived in Urumqi, Xinjiang, for a couple of years when I was a child, and even back then I was fascinated by the Silk Road and the legends of ancient Western Regions. My teammates, who are around my age, also harbored similar fantasies to some extent. Since there aren’t many people working on this theme at the moment, we felt it was an excellent starting point.
However, if we wanted to fully capture the grandeur of the Silk Road, a AAA game would undoubtedly be the better choice. But we clearly lack the scale and resources required for such a project, so we needed a more manageable starting point. We began to consider: if we were to use the mythical and fantastical theme of the Silk Road as the game’s setting, what specific theme would best suit our team’s style? Ultimately, our choice naturally fell on Loulan.
Since Loulan was a small kingdom shrouded in mystery and romance, it was the perfect setting for a fantasy-inspired reimagining. The pavilions and buildings depicted there are particularly well-suited to our game’s top-down perspective, which allows us to zoom out and showcase miniature landscapes and models. After careful consideration, we decided to make Loulan the theme of the game.
Teahouse: I noticed a very distinctive gameplay feature in the game—the ability to switch between two characters—which reminded me a bit of *Prince of Persia: Warriors of the Sand*. Why did you choose this as a core design element? What kind of surprises do you hope to offer players?
Hui Hongwen: To be honest, our team members are all fans of classic games like *Prince of Persia*, but the male protagonist of *Loulan* wasn’t designed with *Prince of Persia* in mind. As a small team, our core philosophy is “Gameplay First,” so gameplay is undoubtedly the top priority in our development process. So what direction did we take with the gameplay design? We built all of the gameplay around the protagonist’s dual forms.
Initially, we drew inspiration from three elements of ancient Loulan to shape our male lead’s design.
First, there are the beauties of Loulan. As seen in the PV, a beautiful female lead appears, and the overall plot revolves around the love story between the male and female leads.
Second, there’s the ancient mummy from Loulan, which is very famous and has become a key feature of one of the protagonist’s forms. However, if we had relied solely on the ancient mummy as the only element, players might have immediately assumed it was a Souls-like game, so we added another element as well.
Third, there’s the sand and wind—the most iconic geographical feature of the ancient Western Regions. Combining sand and wind with ancient corpses formed the initial concept for the male lead’s dual forms, but the challenge lay in how to blend these two elements in a way that felt interesting yet not jarring. We struggled with this for quite some time and even designed over a dozen versions of the male lead, but none of them quite hit the mark.
One day, while I was out to dinner with a friend, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration: what if the sandstorm were a physical form, enveloping the skeletal remains within? If these two elements could merge and separate at will, the resulting ability and mechanics for seamless transitions would be incredibly interesting.I spent about half an hour creating a prototype, then discussed it with my teammates. We felt that the special combat mechanics and standout features were both prominent and aligned with our design philosophy, so we ultimately settled on this approach. But to be honest, it was truly a very long process of exploration.
Teahouse: I noticed that in the gameplay trailer, the use of camera angles and perspective shifts showcased some truly epic level designs and boss battles—much like those in the original God of War—which is quite rare in domestic 2.5D top-down games.
Hui Hongwen: Since this isn’t a game that allows for free camera movement, we really need to rely on cinematographic storytelling and visual presentation to offer players a unique sensory experience. It might feel somewhat similar to the original God of War, but I must point out that we’re a team of 16 people, so it’s unlikely we can compare to a blockbuster like God of War.
Dynamic camera elements are crucial both for adapting to the flow of gameplay and for presenting specific level perspectives and narrative moments. As a result, in certain level mechanics or puzzle-solving sequences, we’ve designed specific camera angles to showcase unique visual moments.
Another point is that when facing the same boss or enemies, the camera will shift based on different angles and attack patterns. This not only gives players a sense of dynamism but also better showcases the combat itself. Let me explain: for example, in games like *Sekiro* and *Dark Souls*, the camera is mostly free-roaming, but when facing a boss, players are typically locked into a fixed perspective—this is the standard approach currently prevalent in the industry.However, we may lean more toward the free-roaming perspective seen in classic action games. One advantage of this approach is that it creates a cinematic, comic-book-style framing effect—something that’s difficult to achieve with a free-roaming camera. We’ve put a lot of thought into the camera work, and these dynamic camera shifts will become one of the defining features of this game.
Teahouse: The combat is supposed to be the highlight of the game. What do you envision the final combat experience will look like?
Hui Hongwen: First, as mentioned earlier, one of Loulan’s most distinctive features is its top-down camera perspective. For example, in certain combat scenes, the camera is intentionally zoomed out to create a unique combat experience.Players won’t just focus on the enemies right in front of them; instead, they can use the global perspective to gain insight into the entire battlefield, observe different terrains, and spot more enemy formations. What we aim to achieve is a one-versus-many combat experience through the interplay between enemies and terrain—this is likely what sets us apart from other games.
We’ve also incorporated some counter-mechanics. Simply put, in most games, melee combat relies heavily on players’ reflexes and stamina management—for example, when an enemy swings at you, you can either dodge or parry. Loulan features similar combat design, but we’ve also added some interesting counter-mechanics. For instance, when you’re controlling the power of sandstorms, you’ll need to use certain mechanics to counter specific enemy moves.
From this perspective, our design philosophy actually resembles that of classic Zelda games or older titles, offering a combat experience characterized by one-against-many melee battles combined with strategic gameplay mechanics. We’ve received a lot of feedback from players saying this level is too difficult and seems impossible to beat, but once they figure out the solution, they can clear it with ease.
It feels as though we’ve designed a specific approach to solving these battles; as players delve deeper into the experience, they gradually grasp the patterns and rules, allowing them to effectively counter opponents by combining various mechanics. This is likely the effect we ultimately want to achieve.
03
With the confidence gained through experience, I chose a path where I excel
Teahouse: Many players have voiced their complaints after watching the trailer, noting that Liangyu has traditionally made pixel art games, so they’re a bit “unaccustomed” to the studio suddenly releasing a single-player game with such polished graphics.
Hui Hongwen: They’re probably referring to Shenzhen Liangwu Studio, which specializes in pixel art games—that’s what they do best and where their products really shine. We’re actually another Liangwu team based in Shanghai, and our first project was *Loulan*, which was built on our team’s accumulated technical expertise and experience. So this “transition” has been a natural process for us.
Teahouse: So, would you say that your past experience with overseas development has been a great help on this current project?
Hui Hongwen: That’s right. One of our specialties is action games and realistic melee combat. Without our previous development experience, it would likely have been difficult to successfully pursue this path. To be honest, this genre isn’t as easy to develop as one might imagine.
Another point, as mentioned earlier, is that we are a game studio centered around gameplay. Of course, narrative and art are also important to us, but what we value most is whether we can organically integrate all these elements with gameplay at the core. Therefore, whether it comes to gameplay mechanics or combat, our "gameplay-first" development philosophy has had a profound influence on us.
Teahouse: So, in your opinion, what do domestic single-player games currently lack compared to top-tier overseas titles?
Hui Hongwen: This is purely my personal opinion, and I wouldn’t go so far as to say there are shortcomings. Currently, the domestic single-player game industry is growing very rapidly, but certain aspects may still require sustained accumulation and refinement—such as creativity, gameplay, and design. I believe these elements are difficult to achieve overnight. For example, if you were making an FPS game for the first time, you couldn’t possibly create a product on par with *Call of Duty* right off the bat, could you?
On the other hand, if a company can survive this market competition and continue to iterate and improve in this direction, then given how vibrant the domestic gaming market is today, there will be even more opportunities to achieve greater success. However, I believe that no one can bypass the process of initial accumulation.
Teahouse: I’ve noticed that many domestic developers are currently focusing more on the AAA game segment. Do you think this will become a future trend for domestic single-player games? In your opinion, what advantages do AAA games offer?
Hui Hongwen: I believe that whether it’s indie games, 2D titles, or 3D titles, each has its own challenges and strengths; ultimately, it comes down to the development team’s own choices and positioning.
For example, the advantage of indie games is that they have shorter development cycles, can succeed based on creativity and gameplay, and generally have lower production costs. As a result, if a game becomes a massive hit, the return on investment can be quite substantial. However, the problem is that with such a vast number of indie games on the market, it can be difficult for any single title to stand out, since everyone is competing on creativity and gameplay—essentially, you have to fight your way through the crowd.
AAA games represent the other extreme: they are top-tier in terms of visuals and production quality, and since there are relatively fewer of them, competition among them isn’t as cutthroat as it is in the indie scene. However, the problem is that players’ expectations are constantly rising, and what they seek above all is whether a game is fun to play.The high costs associated with AAA titles mean the risks are enormous, making it quite difficult to innovate on established gameplay mechanics. However, simply relying on past successes may lead to player dissatisfaction, ultimately resulting in the title being overtaken by innovative games featuring fresh ideas.
Similarly, 2A games also face this dilemma. On the one hand, their relatively high production barriers help them withstand the competition from indie games, and their flexible development models make it easier to incorporate interesting ideas, which to some extent compensates for the shortcomings of 3A production. On the other hand, however, 2A games are caught between indie games and 3A titles, which can lead to an awkward situation where they fall short of 3A games in terms of production quality and of indie games in terms of creativity, ultimately failing to satisfy players on either end of the spectrum.
Therefore, I personally don’t think developers should deliberately choose a particular field based on obvious advantages or disadvantages; instead, they should focus more on their available resources and the areas where their team excels.
原创文章，作者：游茶妹儿，禁止转载：https://youxichaguan.com/en/archives/194626
