Concept, UI/UX: Burnt Out Capital (Android)
"Burnt Out Capital" is a 2D workplace management simulator developed in Unity for Android phones, and is available on the Google Play Store (https://bit.ly/3tT8ZaJ). The game aims to showcase how impossible demands & bad decisions allow crunch to sneak into a game development cycle with the human cost of complying to those terrible choices.
The origin story of this game is a unique one: "Wicked Wok", the prototypal predecessor to "Burnt Out Capital", was a game developed under 48 hours in the Games Bagus Workshop (https://gamesbagus.my/), a workshop promoting the production of socially conscious games. It was then awarded 3rd place, which entitled the winning team to 3 months' worth of funding by the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia to further develop the game for exhibition at Level Up KL 2022.
I was not part of the initial team makeup of "Wicked Wok"; I was a participant of the Games Bagus workshop, and was specifically scouted for this project after the team saw my work for "praSANGKA" (https://vazsun.itch.io/prasangka), a text adventure game in which I was an artist and designer, completed at the same workshop. Due to my role as a solitary artist on the team, I became art director and lead artist under mentorship of various marketing and social issues experts.
"Burnt Out Capital: Underpaid Edition" Game Trailer.
Concept art for candle sprites, representing employees of a game development company. We latched onto the visual metaphor of a candle immediately; it was also a good indicator for HP as low-health employees would gradually melt below the screen.
Graphical user interace (GUI) art asset layout sheet for the active game level. This game is a workplace management simulator, so you manage your employees' health and working status while dealing with obstacles (game-affecting choices) from your boss.
Graphical user interace (GUI) art asset layout sheet for the active game level. This game was designed for Android phones. The UI design required lots of checking in with the programmers and designers to check safe cutoff zones for every phone screen.
UI layout concept art for the active game level. This artistic process required rigorous negotiations and check-ins with every update to the game mechanics from the design and tech teams.
UI asset layout for game main menu.
Concept art for game main menu. This was the first concept for the main menu and was approved instantly.
Alternate concepts for game main menu. I tried more minimalistic approach with emphasis on reused assets, but my project lead had already fell in love with the first one.
UI asset layout for project brief screen. This is the "brief" the player reads before every level starts, designed to inform the player on upcoming obstacles to plan their gameplay around, and also humanising game developers in the narrative.
Every single illustration for the project brief screen implemented in the game. Every level has a specific illustration designed for it.
UI asset layout for the first section of the performance review screen.
UI asset layout for the last section of the performance review screen.
Concept art process for the project brief screen.
Concept art process for the first section of the performance review screen.
Concept art process for the last section of the performance review screen.
Promotional material illustrated for the game at Level Up KL 2022.