This is the original concept of how the gameplay looked like.

VS

How the actual gameplay looks like in the current stage:

As you can see, certain aspect from the original concept was kept, mainly how the main character looks like, the UI elements, and how the TV screen is used to let players know how much time is left.

Being a huge fan of MapleStory since young, I've decided to take  inspiration from MapleStory, as well as merging the sketchy aesthetics of children book illustrations to come up with the art style for this game.

All the background, character, as well as UI assets are hand drawn using iPad OS Procreate.

It was honestly quite interesting to have to swap between my coding side of brain and the artistic side of my brain while doing this project. I think I'm very lucky to be able to handle both side of the things because I get to take a break in between coding and focus on the art, at the same time I'm able to take a break from the art and do the coding for the things I've drawn.

Within a span of 2 weeks, I was able to finish all the background assets because all the artwork was done in modular format. I've drawn the background artwork as individual props and then piece them together in Photoshop, and that's why I was able to produce 5 maps within such a short period of time.

These are some of the modular assets I've drawn.

The assets were then pieced together in Photoshop, then light effects were added to make the lighting affect the background, which made the entire artwork more cohesive.

Next, I then moved on to the NPC artworks.

Character art was a bit of a challenge because of the time I had left before the next presentation milestone. It's also a challenge to think of many character designs so all the NPCs would look normal like a commuter we see in the train station everyday.

Anyway, when I'm done with the small version of the NPCs, I then move on to the artwork of how the NPCs would look like when having conversation. I kinda hid some reference to the culture in Singapore. For example, the Gym Bro NPC is wearing the OCS army singlet.

Though everything was quite chaotic during the period of developing this project, I'm glad I've decided to take this route of producing my own assets. Not only I get to practice on my drawing skills, I think I've also learnt a lot during this time.

Please give this game a try and let me know your thoughts in the comment section!