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.
It all began with rough sketches.
Gardens
Below are some of the steps that went into creating the Coastal Garden:
colour concept drawing
maya mock-up
Unity final
Some of the gardens I created concepts for:
Cottage Garden - sketch & final
Greenhouse Garden - mock & final
Abandoned Garden - colour rougn & final
Maggie’s Front Garden - layout & 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
The 3 main characters were Alex, Maggie, and Jordan. Some characters we got right away, others evolved. Alex was the main character and went through many subtle iterations. Maggie, we got on the first pass, but Jordan changed with every version
Alex
Maggie
Jordan
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
To help introduce the story we created a short animated cinematic. It started with a simple story board I created:
Intro Cinematic
Credit:
Characters: Alex - Miles Dulay
other characters - Khang Nyugen
Watercolour: Miles Dulay
Animation: Doug Pham, Kat Wadell
Logo: Cheryll Delrosario
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.
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.
