Home Design Makeover
I joined Home Design after launch. The team was struggling with interior design and it was my responsibility to get the game back on track: I contributed concepts, researched and provided themes, and set up standards and style guides for interior design. I also put together a team of freelance interior designers to contribute concepts and introduce a fresh point of view.
The revised approach to creating rooms: moodboards, 2D and 3D mocks, and the final in-game room
Some examples of 2D & 3D mock-ups and final in-game rooms:
Dream Garden Makeover
With two successful home design themed games, Storm8 decided to make a garden design game. We used the same formula as the home design games: players played puzzles to get credits to design and renovate outdoor spaces. Besides the garden theme, the key difference was that we had an episodic narrative driving the game.
I was responsible for leading the team, scheduling, themes, reviewing outsourcing, and contributing concepts. Garden was completed on a very tight schedule - from pre-pro to launch in 5 months. We tested the limits of the schedule trying to innovate and push the visuals. Unfortunately, despite excellent retention, A failed UA campaign doomed the game.
The three images below represent the main elements of the game: the puzzle gameboard, the gardens, and the narrative.
Gardens
Some of the gardens I created concepts for with the rough and final:
Garden was Storm8’s first attempt at a game with an episodic narrative. When we created the cast of characters we went with a stylized look so that we could have a range of expressions for the dialogue scenes.
Characters
In contrast to our interior design games, we tried to give the game a whimsical feel - with carved wood in the UI, lots of soft greens, and an aspirational watercolour.
Look & Feel
Intro Cinematic
To help introduce the story we created a short animated cinematic. It started with a simple story board I created:
Credit:
Character Design:
Alex - Miles Dulay
Maggie - Khang Nyugen
Jordan - Khang Nyugen
Watercolour: Miles Dulay
Animation: Doug Pham, Kat Wadell
Logo: Cheryll Delrosario
I worked on a collaboration between the Property Brothers and Habitat for Humanity. It was unlike other HD and TPB rooms becuase the people and places were real. It was a great project because I was able to design the building, the characters, and write the script. Best of all, proceeds went to Habitat for Humanity.
