Hong Kong’s protests move up a level with release of smartphone game

How do you defend yourself against scores of tear gas wielding police while manning the barricades at Hong Kong’s protest camps? If you’re playing Yellow Umbrella, you unleash the wrath of Chinese deity Guan Yu. The game about defending yourself as a protester against tear gas wielding police, has been downloaded more than 40,000 times from Google Play’s store since its release on Monday. It puts players on a protester barricade as it is charged by lines of police officers, triad thugs, angry locals and even the city’s leader Leung Chun-ying dressed as a wolf.

I wanted to make a game not only for fun but also to show our support to the students and to let others know that they are very peaceful in asking for real elections.

Fung Kam-keung, creator of “Yellow Umbrella”

Incense sticks, stacks of money and durian fruit can all be placed in front of the attackers to slow them down in a tower defence format similar to the wildly popular “Plants vs. Zombies.” And when things get really tough, protesters can call down Guan Yu—a popular Chinese deity prayed to for protection. The game was developed in just five days, and so far reviews are positive. The game itself is filled with cultural references inspired by nearly a month of mass rallies and roadblocks calling for Beijing to rescind its insistence that Hong Kong’s next leader be vetted by a loyalist committee ahead of elections in 2017.

Technology Hong Kong