Wordunnit - An indie game
Character & World Development
For this indie detective game, I explored themes of mystery, community, and personality through character and environment design. Working from an early concept, I developed a cast of suspects and witnesses alongside locations where their stories could naturally intersect. The goal was to create a flexible visual language that could support a wide variety of randomly generated mysteries while maintaining a cohesive and engaging world.
This was the first background I created, and it served as a strong jumping-off point for defining the look, feel, and visual identity of the world.
Early sketches and rough color studies
I explored a variety of locations to create a city that felt lived-in and supported the game's cozy-mystery tone. Each environment was designed to hint at the lives of the people who inhabit it while helping tell the story.
Exploring the UPA style
Early in development, we drew inspiration from mid-century animation, particularly UPA, to establish the visual direction of the project. The bold shapes, simplified forms, and graphic compositions informed the background designs and inspired a similarly graphic approach to the characters, emphasizing strong silhouettes and clear shape language to create a cohesive world.
Final Backgrounds
These completed environments establish the game's world while supporting the narrative through atmosphere, composition, and visual storytelling.
In Game Mockups
Characters /Props
As the visual language of the world developed, I extended the graphic UPA-inspired approach to the props and everyday objects that populated it. When designing the characters, I focused on strong silhouettes, clear shape language, and personal items that could communicate personality at a glance. Each character was designed to tell a story through their shape, posture, and possessions, creating a cast that felt distinct, memorable, and grounded in the world they inhabited.
