I made this project as an assignment to get the internship on Coolgames.

It is much easier to build up an idea of having a character as a base. From it I can define style, storytelling and color palette. So, I started to sketch the main character of the game, a witch. Taking into account the target audience of the game, I thought of a child, who ends up being more charismatic for such group of people. I sketched first freely on paper, coming up with this idea:

Then, I started to make the digital version, but I did not like the result very much, because I wanted her to have more baby-like proportions. So, I started a second attempt:

This time I liked the proportions, but I did not like the face. So mixed the two proposals:

After that, I played with the colors, making several proposals within what I consider appropriate. Then I asked several people what were their favorite. Among the people who were part of the target audience, the second one of the first row was preferred.

This character was also inspired by another character that I have created in the first quarter of 2017. It is interesting to see the evolution in terms of technique.

I began to elaborate the scenario using the witch I already had as a reference. Considering the color palette, the nocturnal environment was the chosen one, although it is a cliche. It is because I consider it to be easier to understand/comfort the target audience. I made three color proposals:

Also, I made a version with and without detail in the house. I thought of a scenario based more on silhouettes and few colors so that it would not steal the attention or even fight with the elements that would come in front.

The idea is about a witch who is doing her potions with the things she has collected in the forest where she lives. I chose small and common fruits, but with interesting shapes commonly found in these places. To break the idea of just having vegetables, I also inserted a ladybug and a feather, but discarded the second because it has a bad silhouette and the pumpkin because it has a very different size from the others.

After finishing them, I found that the visibility of some details of the assets were bad and that they were very serious for a style of the game. So, I have refined the designs, trying to make them more childish, chubby. I am still not totally happy with the elements, but they are on the right path. Also, they still need some polishment.

I wanted something mystical and at the same time, cute. So I inspired myself on the steam that goes out of a pan when we are cooking. The first time started to looks like too much Arabian, which is not a match with the style of the game. So, I stopped and started the second version.

A vertical version would be nice as well, to use on the game icon and adds for example. I chose this version because it fits nicer in the game screen.

Because I had, at this time, no experience on this subject, by far it was the hardest part for me. So I surrounded myself with elements that could guide me on characterizing the boxes and the elements of the game.

For the grid, as the game already tells, the player is helping the witch to do the potion. Looking at this, it is natural to put the boiler below and make the steam as support of the grid. I made the steam more opaque than I would like to improve the visibility of the elements.

To the top, I put a broken plank of wood and a pumpkin to show the level of the player. Life is represented by the heart and the total score points is on the right, next to the menu button.

Besides the score on the top representing the total achievement in the game so far, the bottom bar represents the progress for the current level. As the player progresses, it will increase and by reaching the empty potion flask, they will fill up with.

By the end of the match, if the player managed to fill at least one flask, the player will see the success screen with the respective number of filled flasks and the total score so far.

If the player fails to fill at least one flask, the player fails and they remain empty.