Jianghu: Sword & Zither

A Wuxia roguelite mobile game where instead of using a sword, the player wields an ancient instrument, freely controlling their strokes and speed to experience real musical expression in combat.

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Inspiration

As a child, I watched Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle (2004), and one of my favorite scenes was when the Spectral Harpists, two mysterious men in hats and sunglasses, played a long guqin to fight their enemies. Each graceful gesture produced a musical note and, at the same time, a deadly attack.

I've played numerous action games and rhythm games, but I had never come across anything that truly mixed the best of both worlds. So I decided to make it myself.

The idea was to create a game where the player's gestures would both produce musical notes and control attacks, without restricting what or when they could play. The challenge was to make the gameplay feel responsive while ensuring that the music produced by the player's actions remained harmonious.

What it does

Jianghu: Sword & Zither is a roguelite mobile game where, instead of wielding a conventional weapon, the player uses an ancient musical instrument and qi (internal energy) to fight waves of enemies and powerful bosses.

Rather than having music simply play in the background, the player's actions directly create the music. Different gestures correspond to different attacks and musical notes, making the guqin both the player's weapon and their instrument.

How we built it

I built the game primarily using Claude Code for implementation, with Gemini helping generate some of the game's visual assets.

The game was designed specifically for mobile, with gesture-based controls that allow the player to tap, swipe, sweep, and hold to perform different actions. One of the more interesting technical challenges was making these gestures feel like natural musical expressions while also functioning as responsive combat controls.

Challenges we ran into

One of the most painful parts of development was actually getting through the app review and publishing process.

For Google Play, it took a lot of effort to find enough testers and maintain the required number of testers for 14 days before the game could be released.

For iOS, I discovered that my MacBook Air did not meet Apple's new hardware and Xcode requirements introduced this year. I ultimately had to purchase a new device, which caused some delays but allowed me to complete the iOS build and submission process.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud that I built something that is fairly niche but has a genuinely unique core mechanic. When playing the game, it feels like you are actually playing a zither while fighting enemies at the same time, rather than playing an action game with music in the background or a rhythm game with combat layered on top. That was the experience I wanted to create when I first had the idea, and I'm happy that the final game captures it.

What we learned

Building an app is one thing; publishing it and marketing is an entirely different beast. I'm comfortable with the development side, but this project taught me that getting a game in front of players is a completely different challenge. I'm still learning the ropes of app distribution, marketing, and finding an audience for a niche game.

What's next for Jianghu: Sword & Zither

Depending on feedback from the player base, I'd like to explore adding a story or campaign mode, or introducing another playable character with a completely different instrument and playstyle. Ultimately, I'd like to see how far I can take the idea of using music itself as a combat mechanic.

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