When I first came across Zhou Yi Chen (周一忱)’s game dedicated to his grandmother, I was struck by how a video game—of all things—could so powerfully convey the depth of human emotion. This isn’t your typical action-packed or puzzle-solving game; it’s a gentle, heartfelt journey through memory, designed to commemorate Zhou’s late grandmother.

The game takes players into a beautifully crafted world that is inspired by Zhou’s time caring for his grandmother. Players interact with objects to trigger scenes and dialogue, sharing simple yet profound moments of love and care: eating and chatting with her, taking her for a walk in a wheelchair, helping her bathe, putting her to bed, and more.

As the game reaches its poignant conclusion, the grandmother softly says, “Thank you for taking care of me during this time. It is time to say goodbye.” The player, holding her hand, replies, “I will miss you forever, grandma,” before watching her ascend gracefully to the heavens.

What sets I Will Miss You Forever apart is its honesty and emotional depth. It doesn’t shy away from the grief that comes with loss but also offers space for hope, comfort, and reflection. Zhou shared, “Half a year ago, my grandma accidentally fell down at home and was injured and unable to move. In order to accompany and take care of her, I moved to my grandma’s house and lived with her. This year’s Double Ninth Festival, my grandma left us peacefully. In the past six months, we have woven many memories together. To commemorate this time, I made this game to remember my grandma and cherish the last time we spent together.”

This game is a reminder of how art, in all its forms, can help us process the most personal of experiences. I feel incredibly honored that Yi Chen graciously agreed to share more about his creative journey and this deeply personal project in our interview. It’s not every day you encounter someone who blends art, technology, and human emotion so seamlessly.

If you’d like to explore Yi Chen’s work, you can follow his creative updates on Instagram @ZhouYiChen.

What inspired you to create a video game to commemorate your grandmother instead of using a more traditional medium like writing or painting?

My art creation based on video games can be traced back to the end of 2019, when I was studying in New York. At that time, the school was closed due to the epidemic, and all courses became online classes. I couldn't go out or go to the studio. Due to my major, I still had to keep creating art. But because the apartment I lived in was very small at the time and I didn't have any painting tools, I couldn't paint. This forced me to rethink how to create art in limited physical space and without traditional art creation tools, so I started looking for new creation tools. One evening, a voice suddenly told me in my mind: Use games as an art medium to create. This is a cross-disciplinary challenge for me, because the tools I used before were relatively traditional creation media. Then, I began to learn game-related software and drawing tools. At that time, I came into contact with open source game engines and drawing software, GB Studio and Aseprite, respectively. Since then, I have begun to try to create and study games as art media. So, until now, I have been creating game-related art, and have created more than 100 game art works.

As for why I use games to record my life with my grandma, it is because I feel that I cannot use paintings to summarize my feelings for my grandma and the time I spent with her. I also cannot record by handwriting, I think I am good at using games to express my emotions, and I think video games are more interactive, relaxing and interesting than the first two.

How did your grandmother’s personality and life experiences shape the narrative and design of the game?

My grandma is very kind and strong. Whenever I see her, she always has a smile on her face. It seems that she doesn't feel the pain in her body, but I know she is always enduring it. She can endure everything silently, even if she encounters injustice or unhappiness. She is unwilling to infect others with bad emotions.

In July 2024, I thought about making a game to record my daily life with my grandma. At that time, I had completed 80% of the game content, but I always felt that something was missing, so I didn't continue the project. In October of this year, after my grandma passed away, I suddenly thought that what this project had always lacked was actually the longing for my grandma. So I put in photos of my grandma's daily life. Then I was doing the finishing work, so that I felt that the work was complete. In the creation of this game, I did not set any levels or rewards. This game is not for entertainment and recreation, but for remembering my grandma and recording the time I spent with her. So I designed it completely in accordance with the actual life experience at the time, such as pushing grandma out for a walk in a wheelchair, helping grandma take a bath, eating with her, helping her to sleep by the bed, etc....

Could you share one key memory of your grandmother that was particularly influential in the game's creation?

It should be when I found that my grandma's spirit and body were not as good as they were a few months ago. Her eyesight began to deteriorate. She became tired and always wanted to sleep. Her memory began to deteriorate, and sometimes she even forgot who I was. She didn't want to eat. I felt something was wrong at the time, and a kind of anxiety, fear and urgency rose from my heart. So, I planned to record my life with my grandma.

There are too many important memories, and I feel that every moment I was with her is meaningful. We laughed together and quarreled. So every time I think my grandma, my mood is very complicated, but I feel fortunate that I accompanied her for the last nearly half a year. So these complex emotions are intertwined with many memories, and under this circumstance, I created this work.

What were some of the challenges you faced during the development process, both emotionally and technically?

There were indeed some difficulties in the process of making this work. For example, due to the limitation of the image resolution of the GAMEBOY system, the photo of grandma needs to be converted into pixel art. If you want the photo of grandma to be very clear and recognizable, you need a lot of irregular pixels, which will cause the system to crash and fail to process these irregular images, thus presenting a garbled picture. However, if the resolution of the picture is reduced according to the requirements of the system, the presented picture will be a very abstract pixel block, so that grandma's appearance is not clear and recognizable. This requires finding a balance between regularity and irregularity. In the process of overcoming this technical problem, I tried to fill the background with a uniform color or a regular pixel map, leaving more image analysis space for grandma's face. When processing grandma's face, the irregular pixels of the shadow part and wrinkle part of the face should also be arranged into regular color blocks or maps. In this way, it can be ensured that grandma's appearance can be presented and preserved in the limited image analysis point space.

How do you hope players connect with the game, and what emotions or experiences do you want them to take away from it?

At the beginning, I didn't think too much about it. I just wanted to commemorate my grandma and the last time I spent with her. This work is a very personal one. However, I found that this seemingly very personal emotion is universal. It can evoke people's feelings for someone or something. So I hope they can get the energy of love from it.

What has the response been like from people, particularly those who may relate to the themes of caregiving and loss?

I have received a lot of feedback, comments and private messages. They all remembered their loved ones through this work. And they will treat those who need care better.

How has creating this game changed your perspective on your relationship with your grandmother and her legacy?

This work has helped me to alleviate my longing for my grandma. Art creation is like a reservoir of emotions for me. I can release them, but the emotions and longing will always be stored there.

Are you planning any future projects that continue to explore deeply personal or cultural themes?

Of course, this is what I have always done. I want to use games to express people's personal emotions, thoughts, as well as historical events and culture.

Victoria Ekstrom is a consultant gastroenterologist at Singapore General Hospital and co-lead for narratives in medicine at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical Humanities Institute. With a passion for storytelling and its intersection with healthcare, she explores how narratives can deepen connections, improve patient outcomes, and inspire reflection in medical practice.