Return to Ravenhearst was the first casual game of it's kind. It combined classic point and click adventure gameplay with the hidden object gameplay mechanic. As Art Director, I directed and developed the MCF brand that, along with other talented artist teams at BFG, was able to revolutionize casual games by introducing higher quality visuals and more compelling narratives,helping to propel the industry into a period of unprecedented innovation and growth. This allowed casual gaming to compete with console games for customers with its groundbreaking game content and unique game play. During this time, the MCF team shipped several critically acclaimed titles which continually made best seller lists and went on to influence an entire newgeneration of young game developers in the casual game genre.
Here is a series of ideas, sketches, concepts plus finish artwork that I created.
The overall art direction was a blend of art nouveau, steampunk and victorian.
This is the final box art painting
The logo design
This was an overall look and feel concept painting of the environment in relationship to the house.
Concept flow chart showing the first few paintings and the environment relationships. This was a guide for the team to get a feel of colors and space
This is the storyboard for the intro cutscene which ends on the main menu. The cutscene tells a twisted story about Emma and Charles Ravenhearst.
The opening scene after the first cutscene. The player has to find a way into the gate.
Rough sketches as I was exploring the opening scenes and approach to Ravenhearst Manor.
Final ingame painting of the approach to the house Ravenhearst Manor. The player could explore the well, the statue and find clues.
Concept sketch of front porch including animations and gameplay. This was my favorite game to work on.
This is the final painting. I do a 3d blockout and render basic lighting with no textures. Then do a painting on top. This a common technique used by matte painters.
All of the animations were created in aftereffects.
If you notice as the player navigates through each scene, I tilt the camera as if the player is a racecar on a race track. So to turn right the horizon line tilts to the right and the same to the left. It creates more of a tense unsettled feeling which works great with a spooky game.
Rough sketches for the garden area. I wanted to create the feel of a secret garden to make it more interesting.
Final garden painting.
This is one of the puzzle designs. I designed and created this puzzle using zbrush and photoshop. The player had to find the sun and moon pieces to activate the puzzle. Then put all the icon chips in the right order. Once in the right order the player pulled the lever.
Rough sketches for Rose's Beauty shop.
This was a central chamber sketch for a series of door puzzles. Each door leads to a special area.
The living room with many secrets. The player navigates to the kitchen area. The peocock puzzle is above the fireplace.
Rough sketch for Rose's cell containment area.
Final painting and ingame art. I also created FX for all the lights and doors.
This painting was designed to be an old trolly car turned into a gondala. Basically we needed to give the player a way to get down to the ocean beach area.
Rough concept of the interior of the cable car.
One of the door puzzles I designed and created in Zbrush. The player had to find a series of hearts hidden in the world to turn this puzzle on.
This is a series of rough sketches and a final art showing the main villian of the story and his life chamber. He uses this chamber to sustain his dying life. This is very steampunk, victorian and art nouveau themed game. We used a live action actor photographed on a green screen stage. I made videos with aftereffect and composited in the final game.
Here is a rough concept of Rose's final resting place.
Final painting
Concept for a creepy garden maze.
Concept for the beach area
Concept for the beach stair that lead up to the cottage
Rough sketch for the cottage
Rough sketches for the childrens area.
Final painting
Rough sketch for the underground general store.
Final painting
Final painting for Rose beauty shop entrance
Final painting for the childrens area and playground.
The final game puzzle to shut off Charles life chamber.
Rough sketches for Rose's bedroom
Final painting of schoolhouse
Rough sketch of statue base puzzle.
Rough concept sketchs of environment areas for the game. These are pages out of my sketch book where i do rough ideas, notes and gameplay ideas. Not all of these ideas made it into the game.
