Splasher is a platform action video game that is of particular importance to me. Indeed, I started working on it in October 2013 and the game was released on PC in February 2017 and I am the only visual artist of the project.
Apart from the time spent, it is the project that has taught me the most and in the most varied fields to date.
Below you will find a good overview of my work on Splasher :
Introduction
With Romain Claude (the other half of the Splashteam) we started from the gameplay of the game to develop a universe.
From this universe I tried to define the graphic style, in agreement with Romain. We went through many steps before finding the colorful style of Splasher.
Artistic direction
The hero is the character I spent the most time on, with very different directions.
The important thing was that it was very legible because it would be very small on screen most of the time. Also, his limbs shouldn't be too thin, so that his movements would remain legible in any situation.
I also created the design of a whole bunch of potato robots and the Doctor, who are the opponents of the hero.
Character Design
The main challenge of the Splasher sets was related to the use of paint. Indeed, the hero can throw red and yellow paint and it had to be visible to the player very clearly, even from the corner of the eye. The choice of colour palettes for the environments was therefore crucial.
On a game as fast as Splasher, nothing had to disturb the legibility of the action, a balance had to be found between the richness of the scenery and the legibility of the game plan.
Level Art
The animation on Splasher is mainly done frame by frame, the old-fashioned way.
But I also used Unity's animation editor to give more amplitude to the movements and for many objects that I wanted to make more alive.
Animation
On Splasher, the illustrations I made were mainly of 2 types:
Atmosphere illustration, to give Romain a glimpse of the game and decide on a direction to take.
Promotional illustration, accompanying certain key stages in the life of the game (festivals, competitions, game launch...).
Illustration
I realized from start to finish the few cutscenes that are scattered throughout the game.
These cutscenes can be small animated sequences specially created for these moments or animations made with existing elements in the game.
All these animations were created with Unity's animation editor.
Cutscene
Many logos / icons and other interface elements have been developed for Splasher.
These were both logos present in the game universe as well as interface elements or even icons and banners for the online shops on which the game will be found.
