imcharlie.co

From the graveyard · 2014 · Android

Fuchiball.

A little beach world. A fuchi to keep in the air. One more record to beat.

Back in 2014, I built Fuchiball with Andrés Suárez and Kevin Pérez at Fluxus Media. We were multimedia engineering students at Universidad Autónoma de Occidente in Cali, turning an idea into our own Android game.

Fuchiball’s illustrated beach: turquoise water, palm trees, golden sand, and green mountains
The game’s beach, inspired by São Conrado in Rio de Janeiro.

Keep it up.

The idea was simple: help Kicke keep the fuchi airborne. Every kick adds to your score. Let it fall onto the sand or escape through the sides, and the run is over.

There were no levels. Just your last record, your friends’ scores, and another try. You could restart quickly, and gesture-based tricks earned bonus points. Wind, where you hit the ball, and its uneven weave made the next bounce harder to predict.

Original Fuchiball start-screen mockup, with Kicke on the beach under the wooden game logo
The original start-screen animation.

A small game with a personality.

Kicke is an outgoing kid who loves the sun, the sea, and playing fuchi. His story starts with wanting to show his father just how good he can be.

The characters and setting gave that tiny interaction a whole world to live in.

More kicks, more fun.

A little help. A little trouble.

Powers and hazards changed how the fuchi behaved, just when you thought you had it under control.

  • Globo

    Makes the fuchi bigger and easier to control.

  • Pulpo

    Spills ink across the screen, hiding the action for a few seconds.

  • Coco

    Adds a heavy coconut shell that takes repeated hits to break.

  • Erizo

    Shrinks the fuchi, making every hit a little trickier.

It started in a sketchbook.

The wooden lettering, bright scenery, and expressive characters all grew out of early drawings. Even the buttons belonged to the beach.

Early pencil sketch of the Fuchi Ball logo in a spiral-bound sketchbook
Finding the shape of the logo.
Pencil studies of Kicke’s face, outfit, and proportions
Getting to know Kicke.

Five months, three friends.

We developed the game over about five months, with guidance from our professor Andrés Felipe Gallego. It was available for free on Google Play by July 2014.

Fuchiball brought together the things we were learning: illustration, animation, interaction, and building something people could actually play.

Watch the original promotional video on YouTube ↗

A few things that survived.

Original artwork by Andrés Suárez / Fluxus Media. This page brings together the game’s surviving artwork and contemporary coverage.