Interview with Jerry Yu Ching, Creator of Angel Warrior

Jerry: Thank you so much for having me on Faith Gamer. My lifelong dream was to work for Disney animated films. I grew up watching Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and all the other classics, completely amazed by how they brought these lovable characters to life. Growing up in the Philippines, it was a really far-fetched dream. Nonetheless, while in high school, I dared to write Disney to get some advice and they recommended a school in Los Angeles called CalArts. By God’s grace, I was able to get in and started my journey into animation. It was one of the happiest times in my life being surrounded by my own ‘people’ who were as enthusiastic, if not more, about animation.

Jerry: As you can imagine, I was on cloud nine when I was finally able to get into Disney Features. My first movie was Mulan which I didn’t think much of at first, but now realize how fortunate I was as a Chinese to have worked on the first Chinese Disney animated film. One thing I do remember fondly was being around a lot of Christians in the studio and being actually open about it. We would meet occasionally during lunch for Bible study and it was great to hear and learn about the faith of the other amazing artists. Thankfully, my career path also led me to work at the Christian Broadcasting Network, where I got to direct on the beloved Superbook series. I had so much fun working on the project and being in an environment that truly glorified God. In hindsight, Superbook is probably the only thing that I’ve worked on that might stand the test of God’s fire. I’m so grateful that He led me to work on it.

Jerry: Ironically, I am not a big gamer now. But as a child, my obsession was with my precious Atari console. At the time, it was difficult to buy the console in the Philippines. But I was fortunate enough that my mother took a trip to the US and brought back this massive box inside her luggage…a prize for her favorite son! (At least I thought I was the favorite) From that time on, it became my mission to collect and play as many games as I could… a stack of cartridges piled against the wall.

Jerry: Super Mario Brothers, as for many others, is probably the most impactful and memorable to me. The purity of its idea and play was just genius. And for obvious reasons, I looked to its recent and simpler descendant, Flappy Bird, as my inspiration for Angel Warrior. With zero knowledge in coding, I thought it would be the perfect model, whilst adding features, for my first attempt at a game. One last indelible memory of a game for me was a simple desktop game called Karateka. I am not sure if it was popular here in the states but the sheer drama and effectively clear fighting animation had me and my friends obsessed with it for a good period of time.

Jerry: Angel Warrior is a simple one-tap game of the archangel Michael fighting demons and saving souls. I wanted it to have an epic, dangerous feel. Perhaps it’s an offshoot of my day job making dramatic movies. To be honest, I think I fell a bit short of my goals but it’s still actually really fun to play casually.

Jerry: I had the audacity to post the game for comments on indie game forums in reddit and got absolutely destroyed. Mentioning my years in Disney created an expectation of full animation which my game does not fulfill. My use of AI was also not welcome. Thankfully, the support from Christian circles has been most gratifying and gives me hope. Our full update of the game, complete with church sign ups and scriptures for every stage of the game, has just come out the same day I am writing these answers. So I cannot give a figure yet for the actual numbers of the game.

Jerry: The full update with ads just came out as of this writing so the ad revenue sharing is officially in effect. However, I am still reaching out to churches in small batches and have had no sign-ups yet. I thought it would be a fun way for the parishioners to raise funds and maybe have a little competition amongst themselves. The original plan was to share only part of the AdMob revenue but somehow, I felt led to give all of it to the churches. “Feed my sheep...” somehow kept whispering from scripture. I appreciate any referrals that your readers may send to their churches.

Jerry: I started out the main mechanics of the game with Claude. We initially used basic geometry to see how the character would ‘fly’ and move among the obstacles. I then went ahead and got the final images from Grok and Bing image creators so we could get the final hit states of the characters. Later on, to add complexity to the game, we used Grok again for the animated souls rising in the air. The AI was absolutely amazing in coding the game at blazing speed but I realized that my role was equally important as I had to test the game and be the ‘eyes’ for the AI. I discovered that the AI doesn’t see the way a human would see things and actually misses a lot of obvious things. Thorough testing was therefore essential. But I cannot emphasize enough how great of an equalizer AI is for a person with no game creation and coding experience.

Jerry: I would advise to take it slower in the beginning, however exciting it may be to hit the ground running. A more thorough thought process and planning stage helps to focus on what you actually want to achieve. From my own experience with Angel Warrior, I thought I was clear in my intentions of portraying St. Michael and his great prowess in defeating the dark side but in my great excitement to start the game, I may have veered more to the fantasy side rather than being fully biblical. So it’s a really good idea to have it very clear in your mind as to your goals for the game because the mechanics of making and testing it can cloud your first spark.

Jerry: I always presumed that I had a strong faith when I embarked upon this animation adventure in the US. However, looking back now, I realize how weak my faith was and how I often relied on my own strength and wisdom. Thankfully, He is a good and patient God who has given me the opportunity to serve Him in the animation and now, gaming industry. I am truly grateful that I still have the desire to serve Him because it would be horrible otherwise. My mind keeps going back to Proverbs 3:6 which says “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths”.

Jerry: If Angel Warrior sees some form of success, I am definitely going to try bringing it onto Android. It would also be great to reach the churches in other countries. In the meantime, we have plans for new levels in the game to keep it fresh, including seasonal levels for Christmas, Easter and the like. In-app purchases are also planned.

Jerry: The best place is https://angelwarriorgame.com/church where the church details are clearly explained. For day-to-day updates, follow @AngelWarriorApp on X, or angelwarriorgame on Instagram and TikTok. I think I’ve yapped enough:). I hope your readers enjoy the game!