Video game experiences
Scroll down to see more details about my video game projects.
Minecraft Legends
UI/UX Designer
Party in my Dorm
UI/UX Designer
Kitty Journey
Concept art, UI art
Minecraft Legends
Game specifications
Genre: Action strategy game
Info: Available on PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Switch. Pikmin style RTS in Minecraft universe. Released in 2023
Engine: Bedrock (Minecraft), Coherent Gameface UI library
Business model: Retail, in app purchase
Genre: Action strategy game
Info: Available on PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Switch. Pikmin style RTS in Minecraft universe. Released in 2023
Engine: Bedrock (Minecraft), Coherent Gameface UI library
Business model: Retail, in app purchase
From December 2021 to October 2023, I've been UX designer for Minecraft Legends.
Major tasks and responsibilities:
- Mockup and prototype. Large and small features, such as Lost Legends & Myths, the upsell and offline flow, the Hero select screen or design better PVP communication tools.
- Advocate and design for accessibility. My predecessor in the project had started comprehensive work on accessibility which I extended further with design flow for TTS/Screen narration, better controls visualization and warnings when remapping controls. I also updated the layouts and implementation to better support text size increase and localization (including LTR languages, Arabic and Hebrew) and overall advocate for more customization while keeping in mind tech and budget constraints.
- Ensure cross-platform compatibility. Building on the UX established by the team, I further supported cross-platform features (keeping in mind TRC constraints from the different consoles), and ensured all compatibility edge cases were addressed.
- Integration. I debugged visual UI issues in engine, and implemented layouts with the UI engineers. While Minecraft Legends was developed in Bedrock (the C++ engine for Minecraft), our UI was built using modern HTML5 (Coherent Gameface). I used my knowledge of CSS to improve the game, and learn React. Overtime I became more confident and able to tackle larger code changes. My thorough understanding of the project made it easy to diagnose issues and support the rest of the team.
- UX writing. As an ESL, writing in English is not my strongest suit, but I took the responsibility of reviewing all the front end strings with a UX writer at Mojang for consistency and tone, and eventually wrote the vast majority of new UI strings. I ensured all UI strings were added early to our lang file for localization.
DLC content UX
My first assignment was to support all the DLC content. DLC consisted of Lost Legends, Myths and cosmetic skins. The first version of the marketplace had been designed but not yet implemented, and there were many questions to answer. How to manage and access the content? What about multiplayer dependencies?
It took several iterations, as answers from tech and 3rd party trickled in and took shape. The high and low fidelity mocks ups were created in Figma.
My work covered front end flows (presentation, acquisition, management) and in game (objectives, victory/defeat states, and specific HUD support).
Case study
Problem: In Minecraft Legend's public PVP games, players are teamed up with strangers but struggle to communicate their needs and intentions to their teammates, creating frustration. The lack of built in text or voice chat put the players joining strangers at a disadvantage against already formed teams of friends.
Party in my Dorm
Game specifications
Genre: College Roleplay Simulator
Infos: Mobile & Tablet, Casual MMO college sim. Social game released in 2010
Engine: XCode & Android Studio
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
From October 2017 to October 2021, I worked on the UI of the live ops game Party in my Dorm.Genre: College Roleplay Simulator
Infos: Mobile & Tablet, Casual MMO college sim. Social game released in 2010
Engine: XCode & Android Studio
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
Major tasks and responsibilities:
- UI: prototype/wireframe new features, design interfaces. Revamp old features to fit the newest graphic chart. Develop further the UI Bible as game UI evolves.
- UX: organize beta test/play tests and QA. Create and analyse surveys. Compile player feedback/interview with CMs for future improvements.
- Integration: I learnt to use XCode (Objective-C) and Android Studio (XML, Java) to be able to fix UI bugs and update some of the simpler UI without the help of an engineer. This gave me additional insights on UI integration on these platform, proving valuable when working with co-ops programmers and new employees.
- Marketing: ASO Art and Google Play experiments (App icons, feature banners, screenshots, loading screen)
Party in my Dorm was first released in December 2010, so the game has a large (and still growing!) active community. It has also greatly evolved over the years, and gone through several graphical transformations. The community is very supportive and willing to try out new things. I learnt a lot from iterating and discussing with players.
Examples of UI: Profile, Competition system, Timer speed up screen
In above example, the profile screen had been designed by the previous UI/UX Designer working on PIMD, but only implemented on Android Studio. I decided to learn to use XCode to update the profile on iOS and then proceeded to iterate changes on iOS and Android versions.
The third screenshot (on the left) is a smaller feature allowing players to speed up timer items (boxes or pet) using speed up items. The optimal quantity to use for a given speed up appears whenever the player presses Use 1.
Left: Various icons and buttons for PIMD
Kitty Journey
Game specifications
Genre: Casual puzzle game
Infos: Mobile, Single-player with multiplayer interaction
Engine: Unity
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
In my time in V11 Studio Game I worked on this new title, Kitty Journey, from preproduction to soft launch.Genre: Casual puzzle game
Infos: Mobile, Single-player with multiplayer interaction
Engine: Unity
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
Major tasks and responsibilities:
- Preproduction: concept art, art direction and documentation of the graphic style/art technical constraints- UI: Puzzle pieces, icons and frames- Marketing templates
For this game, we wanted to make the best use of our artists in house, who were all 3D oriented. We decided to model the different environments in 3D and render them individually. As time passes we build a data base of objects allowing us to accelerate the art production.The cat is traveling around the world, each screen is taking the player in a new location, strikingly different in color yet coherent overall.
UI of the game, compatible with tablet (left) and phone (right)
Kitty Journey targets casual players. We wanted the game to feel cute, fresh and be unisex (hence the blue and green UI).The landscapes are very rounded and soft, reminding of clay motion (childhood, imaginary world, toys, soft fur...)All the icons in the game are based on a rendered 3D shape, to give a sense of physicality.Right: evolution from concept to final version of the blocs for the puzzle
FarmVille 2
Game specifications
Genre: Casual Social Simulation game
Infos: Browser, Single-player with multiplayer interaction
Engine: Flare3D
Timing: Internship from July 2015 to January 2016 (6months)
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
From July2015 to January 2016, I have been employed as a Concept Artist Intern in Zynga (Bangalore). I was part of the art team of the hugely successful browser game FarmVille2.
Major tasks and responsibilities:
- Concept art of building for a Feature of the Week
- High concept illustrations for My Gourmet farm expansion and concept arts for new buildings
- 3D decoration- Internal communication illustration
Genre: Casual Social Simulation game
Infos: Browser, Single-player with multiplayer interaction
Engine: Flare3D
Timing: Internship from July 2015 to January 2016 (6months)
Business model: F2P, In game purchase
Since FarmVille 2 uses an isometric 3D board, a lot of assets include planars and not actual geometry. For this reason, the concept art needs to be rendered as precisely as possible, as the 3D artist creating the 3D model cuts elements directly from the concept to create the texture sheet.
Above: Concept art I made for the Club House feature, from rough research to final concept. 
The FV2 universe is set in the 50's Americana; all the assets have a bold, colorful and chunky art style. The unique art style is the major selling point of the game, and as part of the live operation team, it is crucial to maintain the artistic consistency.Right: concept for Feature Of The Week: The little log workshop
• Step 1: References collection. • Step 2: Preliminary sketches. • Step 3: Clean line of the chosen design. • Step 4: Color blocking. • Step 5: Detailing. • Step 6: Building stages. • Step 7: Icons, export and submission.
The feature is documented before hand by the designers, who have identified the needs and constraints of the asset to produce. The first step is to collect additional references and draw very rough thumbnails, often on paper. From there, I select a few interesting shapes and develop them in the FV2 template.
Those Who Wander
Game specifications
Genre: Stealth-Action, Rogue like
Infos: PC game, single player.
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Timing: Master 2 Diploma project (school year 2014-15)
Team of 9 students
Story: Guide a Caravan of Freaks on their prophesied journey through an eldritch 19th Century Eastern Europe. Venture into the hostile unknown, managing the caravan as the Oracle, and scavenging the supplies you so desperately need as a Freak-Hound pair sent on expeditions to surrounding villages.
Genre: Stealth-Action, Rogue like
Infos: PC game, single player.
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Timing: Master 2 Diploma project (school year 2014-15)
Team of 9 students
In this Stealth-Action and Management Rogue-like with an arcade twist, make your way through a world that wishes you dead as you carry the burden of your past decisions.
My role: Lead artist
- Universe definition with the game designers
- Concept art
- Environment modeling and texturing
- Character modeling and rigging
- Material creation in UE4
- Art documentation
The world of Those Who Wander is in a permanent darkness. The playable character is a three arms freak, helped with a dog. The main constraint for the prototype is the use of the line of sight of both the character and the dog, shown with a point light. This technique demands to control the lighting of the scene very precisely. Post processes are used for cell shading and final color tweaks.
The houses have been conceived to be modular, they are reused all over the level. This technique increase the frame rate and give the level designers more freedom.
About 300 assets have been implemented in the final prototype.
Bellow: Screenshot of the game
Bellow: concept art of the expedition area for the prototype
.ORG
Game specifications
Infos: Single player mobile racing game with experimental controls
Engine: Construct 2
Team of 5 students
Infos: Single player mobile racing game with experimental controls
Engine: Construct 2
Team of 5 students
Initializing connection…
The world has been digitized and no life remains. Take control of our last hope: a single organism designed to create life in this desolate world.
You must act quickly before the system adapts. Guide h0p3 to infiltrate the network and use it to create new life.
You must bring back organic in the digital world.
Good luck.
My role:
- Concept art
- Every 2D assets (evolving environment, mini games)
- Sprite animations
- Rotoscoping for trailer
Play the BETA on google play. // Visit the official page
The Team Classy Hobos: Antoine Fion, Valentin Teirlinck, Nicolas Rault, Anna Parmentier.
Gourmet Quest
Game specifications
Genre: Casual adventure game to discover gastronomy and tourism
Infos: Browser and tablet, single player.
Engine: Unity
Timing: Internship from June to august 2014 (3months)
Business model: Episodes retail and crowdfunding
From
the
5th
June
to
29th
august
I
worked
as
a
game
artist
in
the
production
of
the
game
Gourmet
Quest
in
the
young
company
XIWEN
games. Genre: Casual adventure game to discover gastronomy and tourism
Infos: Browser and tablet, single player.
Engine: Unity
Timing: Internship from June to august 2014 (3months)
Business model: Episodes retail and crowdfunding
XIWEN games is a French video game studio co-founded by 3 friends in 2011.
Gourmet Quest is a game about gastronomy, sold in episodes. The adventure mixes storytelling and mini-games ; your avatar investigates on the account of the GAG (Great Academy of Gastronomy) to fight the Insi - pids, the devil entity that threaten to destroy flavours. The first season takes place in France, the idea being to expand to other countries if the model works. In addition to the adventure mode, Gourmet Quest contains a quiz section, where you can challenge your friends on their gastronomic knowledge.
For the whole duration of my internship I worked on Gourmet Quest. My tasks were very various, from illustration, to video and 3D. I enjoyed shifting often from one task to another, it gave me opportunities to try new software and learn.
Bellow: transitions scene, composition, line art and colors
The
tasks
I
worked
on:- 2D Backgrounds for scenes, transitions, parallax and game objects
- Trailer and IG Video
- 3D scene and objects
The launch Trailer of Gourmet Quest I made during my internship.
For the launch of the browser version of the game with the episode 1 and 2, we needed a trailer. In no more than a minute, it had to present the base setting of the story and images of the game for selling purpose. I also made a 2minutes in game video to explain the story.
The avatar appears in various 3D environment, in which he can interact with NPCs and environment to pursue his quest. The third scenario, Montmartre’s Vineyard, contains multiple 3D scenes that needed to be designed and produced. Also some previously created scenes needed some additional objects. I made one Parisian cafe in Blender and lit it in Unity.In Gourmet Quest, most of the interactive scenes outside of the mini games are in 3D.
Because the game is created for browser and mobile market, a 3D environment needs to contain a maximum amount of 3000 triangles, which is very low.
I also created a set of objects for a point and click, and clothes textures for the avatar.
Volff I - First of his name
Game specifications
Gameplay: Multiplayer 4VS1 stealth game
Infos: PC game, 5 players in LAN, all public
Engine: Unity 4
Timing: 2 weeks school project, 2014
Team of 5 students
Gameplay: Multiplayer 4VS1 stealth game
Infos: PC game, 5 players in LAN, all public
Engine: Unity 4
Timing: 2 weeks school project, 2014
Team of 5 students
Story: A tale that combines the age-old fable of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” with the theme of Sword & Sorcery, ‘Volff I: First of his Name’ tells the story of a King on the night of one of his famous feasts. Attended by many, his parties are simply the definition of vanity. But none of his subjects know that the King prepares for a feast of his own. A feast for his true form, for he is a Werewolf. Fortunately, 4 Knights have arrived to put an end to his rampage.
My role
- Concept art
- Environment, model and texture
- Character model, rigg and animation
Process
The “sword and sorcery” constraint pushed me toward a fantasy universe. The patterns of the castle, kings and knights came with the “drama tale” constraint. We wanted to experiment 3D for that project, seeing those two weeks as an opportunity to learn.
After defining the game as a side scroller, we evaluated the amount of work to produce the assets and judged it possible. As I was the only artist it was obvious that we had to think of the backgrounds and the characters in an intelligent way in order to finish the game in time.
Soon came the idea of the puppet show. A tale is the space of the spectacle, the story telling should be felt in the background itself. We built the level as a theater scene, framed with curtains, with puppets evolving within it. All the objects of the background are flat, like a slice of cardboard. You can see the cardboard texture on the side.
Bellow: puppets concept art research.
Every NPCs and the knights use the same base mesh, only the texture change and extra objects are added for the knights. This allowed to give the same animations to every characters.
Where is my mine?!
Game specifications
Infos: 4 players PC game
Gameplay: Top down shooter
Engine: Construct 2
Timing: 64 hours game jam
Team of 7 students
"Where is my Mine ?!" is a top down multiplayer shooter created for the Nasscom BYOG 2013. You can download the game here : http://cpc.cx/8SlInfos: 4 players PC game
Gameplay: Top down shooter
Engine: Construct 2
Timing: 64 hours game jam
Team of 7 students
Team Ouagonnet is composed of 7 members, all students of DSK Supinfogame in Pune. "Where is my Mine ?!" is a top down multiplayer shooter where you embody a cursed miner in an abandoned mine. Gold lust is your credo and you will have to use your keys to unlock the fabulous treasures of the temples. But when your keys are not enough you will have to get more on the dead bodies of your other fellow miners. Armed with an arsenal of five weapons, your trusty pickaxe and tons of powerful abilities you will have to fight your way throughout the mine and become the richest at the end of the timer.
...and do not forget where you put your mines !
My contribution: Lead artist, I did the concept arts, defined the graphic style for the rest of the team, created the background, props and the logo of the game. I guided the character designer to do the animations.
We decided on the pixel art from the start. I mostly worked on photoshop with a pencil tool for the sharp edges effect.
Game Jams and short projects
I love a good jam. Game jams and contests are an occasion to experiment new technics, quickly iterate and rapidly prototype. I get to try things outside of work with peeps in and out of the industry. Mess around, and find out!
SNAK GMTK2023
The Snake hungers... Will you be its snak? 48 hours for the GMTK2023 Game Jam. I did UI art.
Play at: https://trombospace.itch.io/snak/
Stand up for Humankind GGGJ 2024
UI art and UI implementation
Save the earth with wit in this silly adventure. Drag and drop words to make phrases for the alien judges. But be careful, they only like certain words. Can you figure out what they like?
Save the earth with wit in this silly adventure. Drag and drop words to make phrases for the alien judges. But be careful, they only like certain words. Can you figure out what they like?
Play at: https://jottomadai.itch.io/stand-up-for-humankind
Swissnex Bangalore Game Jam 2014 - Market Mayhem3 days multicultural game jam on the theme "market"
Mobile game created on Unity 2D, the characters were drawn in separated pieces on Flash, then shuffled in Unity to make a more diversified crowd.
Global Game Jam 2015 - Aero Bomb Shock48hours jam with the theme "What do we do now?" Coordination 2VS2 flying superball game, PC game created on Construct2. Line art inspired by the work of Jean Giraud, I created concepts, assets, menus and sprites animations.
Killing Floor 2 map contest - Dead Shore Objective map contest. I created a trinket (Hermit Crab) and helped to populate the level with props (test, level art, lighting). Assets integrated in the UDK3 framework with 3 game designers. Won the 5th place in the Grindhouse Contest!
Chivalry map contest - InsurrectionI drew some rough concepts for the mood of the map and created a few assets required in addition to the assets of Chivalry. Assets integrated in the UDK3 framework by the game designers.
Global Game Jam 2015 - Aero Bomb Shock48hours jam with the theme "What do we do now?" Coordination 2VS2 flying superball game, PC game created on Construct2. Line art inspired by the work of Jean Giraud, I created concepts, assets, menus and sprites animations.
Killing Floor 2 map contest - Dead Shore Objective map contest. I created a trinket (Hermit Crab) and helped to populate the level with props (test, level art, lighting). Assets integrated in the UDK3 framework with 3 game designers. Won the 5th place in the Grindhouse Contest!
Chivalry map contest - InsurrectionI drew some rough concepts for the mood of the map and created a few assets required in addition to the assets of Chivalry. Assets integrated in the UDK3 framework by the game designers.