How one man built Xbox Series X standout Bright Memory: Infinite

Solo developer Zeng Xiancheng from China’s FYQD Studio tells us he spends 27 days a month working on his game

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Bright Memory: Infinite is expected to complete development by the end of this year. (Picture: FYQD Studio)

Published: 8:00am, 18 May 2020Updated: 8:00am, 18 May 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Bright Memory: Infinite isn’t a blockbuster yet. The game hasn’t even been completed. But Microsoft already has high hopes.

The dazzling first-person shooter, featuring agents investigating supernatural phenomena in the year 2036, was the first game Microsoft chose to show at its much-awaited Xbox Series X teaser showcase this month. A 40-minute demo of the game, first released last year, currently has a positive rating in 90% of the more than 3,000 reviews on the international game store Steam, with gamers raving about the “amazing” graphics and “fast-paced” gameplay.

Yet what impressed people the most was that Bright Memory is said to be the work of just one person.

“If this is the quality to expect in the final game, or possibly better, then it might just be one of the highest quality indie one-man projects ever seen around,” reads one of the top reviews.

The man behind that project is Zeng Xiancheng, the founder of FYQD Studio and its only full-time developer. Over the past year, the 23-year-old high school dropout has been building virtual cities and time-traveling warriors out of his own apartment in Liuzhou, a small city in southwestern China. These days, he spends most of his time holed up in his room trying to power through the completion of Bright Memory: Infinite.