Zhang Yi Zhang.

I independently own game design, balancing, interaction design, character and prop direction, core development and platform adaptation. Jumps, trading, hazards and results form a complete run, with ongoing work on tutorials, sharing, background recovery and release validation.

A little chive becomes the player's avatar, turning a familiar market metaphor into a friendly pixel character. Tall green leaves, a rounded pale body and orange feet create a distinctive silhouette against the blue city and red-green platforms.

The pose study explores charging, jumping, landing and grappling. Leaf angles, body compression and changing expressions communicate force and emotion, giving the character a role in both action feedback and promotional storytelling.

Charge, jump, land: movement drives the market

Hold to charge, release to jump and adjust the distance through charge strength, with an option to cancel. Early trajectory assistance teaches the controls before becoming less explicit. Only a new platform advances the market; returning to the same platform does not repeat settlement. Stationary, moving and color-changing platforms progressively add timing and judgment challenges.

Trading and position size make landings strategic

Red platforms move the price up and green platforms move it down, with charge and platform multipliers shaping the movement. Players can allocate 10–90% of remaining cash to a purchase and place buy or sell cards on upcoming platforms. The price updates before the landing-triggered trade executes. Cash, holdings, fees and equity form a fictional ledger, connecting returns to decisions rather than a single abstract score.

Four tools address route safety, trading timing and forward momentum. Choosing when to use a pickup connects each action to the current situation.

Grapple · Change the route

Move safely to a chosen platform for an alternative to a risky jump.

Buy card · Plan an entry

Place a buy on a target platform and plan around its landing price.

Sell card · Plan an exit

Connect a planned sale with the route, making each landing a trading decision.

Bull · Shift the pace

A multi-platform rush and rising candles create a different rhythm from regular jumps.

Flying knives pressure the route, the hammer pig demands timing, and the swan and wind introduce spatial changes. The aim is to keep visual cues consistent with danger: observe the motion, anticipate an opening, then jump or use a tool.

Flying knife

A narrow silhouette makes its dangerous direction easy to read.

Hammer pig

Changes between wind-up and strike communicate a timing challenge.

Black swan

An unexpected market event becomes a recognizable character in the game world.

Wind field

A swirling texture distinguishes the area effect from the swan itself.

The chive, bull and black swan give the market theme a playful cast. Red and green platforms communicate direction, while grapples, trading cards and wind effects distinguish actions from threats. Silhouettes, color and motion states support quick recognition during play. The artwork below consists of transparent sprites and frames exported from the game assets.

One tool, distinct states

The grapple icon, pickup bubble and claw head support recognition, discovery and execution. Buy and sell cards also have dedicated pickup bubbles, connecting collectible objects to their actions.

Frame sequences make change readable

The bull has running and riding states; the pig, swan and wind use frame sequences to express motion. The static strips below show the exported frame order for comparing poses and silhouettes, rather than simulating in-game timing.

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Compare earlier and current exported artwork

Hammer pig

Black swan

Wind field

Tool tutorials explain when and how to act, connecting basic controls to strategy. A closing recap, returns and the equity curve review the run, while revival and sharing support another attempt.

Core rules, the fictional ledger, rendering and platform services are separated. Decimal arithmetic handles balances and fees, and configuration stays fixed during a run. Login and remote configuration run in the background, with cached or default values supporting entry. Iteration focuses on returning from shares, pause and resume after backgrounding, audio and ad failure states.

Current status

The WeChat game is live and continues to evolve. TapTap mini-game and Android adaptations remain at candidate-build and integration-validation stages. Current work centers on individual runs and local best records, with device checks for background recovery, network services and cross-device saves. Interface examples on this page come from local test versions.