Week06~Week14/28.05.2025/27.07.2025
Yap Guang You/0363730
Banchelor of Design(Hons)in Creative Design/Art Direction
Fun Run Redesign
Content
Instruction
This project aims to revamp the visual identity of an existing game by redesigning its art direction, including character design, environments, and user interface, while preserving its original gameplay structure and logic.
Game Analyze
In this project, we are required to individually select an existing game and conduct a study on its core aspects, including gameplay style, art direction, music, and key design elements. The goal is to identify areas where the game could be improved visually while keeping its original mechanics intact.
I chose Stardew Valley because it’s an iconic game known for its chill and relaxing atmosphere. I’ve spent some time playing both its single-player and multiplayer modes, and through this experience, I’ve gathered several insights. I compiled all my findings into a visual board for reference and analysis.
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| Game Analyze 1 |
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| Game Analyze 2 |
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| Game Analyze 3 |
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| Game Analyze 4 |
After that, I organized all of these findings into a presentation slide. I also expanded on my analysis by reflecting on possible design directions for the upcoming visual redesign phase.
This includes potential improvements to the game's overall aesthetic, character design, user interface, and environmental elements—while still staying true to the original mood and identity of Stardew Valley.
This slide serves as a foundation for our next steps in the project.
Redesigned Game Selection
We had a brief team meeting where each member presented their game analysis. After sharing our individual insights, we had a quick discussion about the potential directions and themes for each selected game.
In the end, we decided to proceed with Iman's choice: a game called Fun Run 4—a competitive racing game featuring animal characters.
As a group, we agreed to shift the original nature-themed forest setting into a new direction that leans toward horror, with darker, slightly bloody visual elements to create a more intense and unexpected experience.
After that, we quickly made decisions on the game's new art style and genre. We did a rough mapping of our direction and identified our target audience—focusing on teenagers and young adults.
We decided to slightly shift the gameplay from a 2D platform racing game to a 2D platform escape game, while still preserving the core racing element from the original.
In our version, the player takes on the role of a child who has been kidnapped by a mysterious organization and is trying to escape while being chased by a villain—similar to the mechanics seen in games like Identity V or Dead by Daylight.
As for the visual direction, we chose a gothic Victorian-era aesthetic to match the horror tone. The overall imagery will be kept dark and atmospheric in order to enhance the feeling of tension and fear throughout the game.
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| Direction Maping |
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| Inspiration and Reference 1 |
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| Inspiration and Reference 2 |
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| Inspiration and Reference 3 |
Progression
We had a brief meeting to discuss task assignments within the team. Adora and I were assigned to handle the character design for the game.
I began by sketching the initial concepts based on the art style we were inspired by. The first step was to design both a boy and a girl character, which we would later expand into a broader cast. We aimed to maintain a gothic Victorian aesthetic, with a particular emphasis on the Victorian and organized feel.
Given the background story—where the characters are children who have been kidnapped by an organization—we intentionally avoided overly fancy outfits. Instead, the designs focus on making the characters appear as vulnerable, poor little kids, subtly hinting at their tragic situation through worn clothing and somber tones.
After completing the initial sketches, we presented our ideas during the first checkpoint meeting to gather feedback and align our direction with the rest of the team.
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| Sketches 1 |
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| Sketches 2 |
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| Sketches 3 |
Based on the feedback we received during the checkpoint meeting, we were advised to make several changes to our character designs. These included adjusting the art style and proportions to better align with our chosen visual inspiration.
Additionally, we were encouraged to give the characters more distinct personalities and characteristics, so they feel more memorable and expressive. This will help strengthen the emotional connection between the players and the characters, especially given the dark and narrative-driven tone of the game.
After reviewing the feedback, I decided to follow the character proportions that Adora was using in her designs. This decision was based on the suggestion from our lecturer, who mentioned that her chosen proportions better suit the tone and direction of our project.
Aligning our styles also helps maintain consistency across the character designs.
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| The Inspiration Proportions |
I also personally explored an alternative set of proportions—slightly more cute and cartoon-like. My intention was to experiment with a different visual approach that could potentially bring a unique contrast to the overall tone of the game, making the horror elements feel even more unsettling through the juxtaposition of innocence and fear.
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| Proportions Exploration |
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| Sketches 4 |
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| Sketches 5 |
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| Sketches 6 |
After completing the body proportion exploration, I moved on to sketch more character details. I gave the character some expressions and explored their movements and actions. This helped to flesh out the character further and give them more personality.
Then we had our final checkpoint meeting. The feedback we received was quite encouraging—they could start to see a clearer style forming. However, they mentioned that the character lineup still felt a bit lacking. We needed more characters, especially a villain character to balance the story dynamic.
At that point, I had designed two characters. I decided to create a third character, who would serve as the main villain. However, Adora had lost contact with us for several weeks, so the task of expanding the character roster fell more heavily on me. To meet the requirement, I decided to add one more hero-type character and an additional villain.
During the discussion, our lecturer suggested an interesting idea: instead of revealing the playable characters’ faces, why not give them animal masks, while letting the villains show their real faces? We really liked this concept. The contrast could make the masked heroes more visually iconic and mysterious. I decided to adopt this direction and keep the idea in mind moving forward.
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| Character 1 |
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| Character 2 |
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| Character 3 |
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| Character 4 |
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| Character 5 |
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| Character 4 Expressions |
Then we had our final meeting before the presentation to make sure everything was completed and ready. Since Adora was still missing at this point, we decided to keep her character in the background, just in case she returned—we didn't want to fully exclude her yet.
During the discussion, we also talked about how to further enhance the characters. One of the ideas was to give each of them a unique costume design or signature accessory, something that could visually reflect their personality or background. I found this idea quite inspiring, so I moved on to develop those costume and accessory elements for the characters.
For the female character, I experimented with adding a ribboned hat to give her a more distinct and delicate silhouette. As for the male character, I focused on enhancing his mask design, exploring different shapes and patterns to make it more expressive and symbolic.
Regarding their special costumes, since the characters are meant to have been kidnapped by an organization, I took inspiration from hospital gowns. This concept not only adds a sense of mystery and vulnerability but also allows all characters to wear similar outfits, which helps unify their appearance and saves time on costume variation design.
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| Character 1 Accessory |
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| Character 2 Accessory |
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| Character 3 Accessory |
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| Special Costume |
Final Presentation
We had our final presentation online. The main feedback we received was that our justification needed to be clearer and more well-explained. One issue pointed out was the lack of visual guidance — some of our design decisions were not effectively supported by visual elements, which made it harder for others to fully understand our concept. Aside from that, everything else was generally well-received. However, there’s still room for improvement, especially in how we communicate our ideas through both explanation and visual storytelling.
Adora joined us at the end of the final presentation, but we had no idea what she had prepared beforehand. After the meeting, I had a personal discussion with her to figure out how we could move forward. She mentioned that she had designed four characters. I reminded her to adjust the colour palette to a brighter tone, as we discussed in a previous meeting — this would help our characters stand out more clearly against the dark background.
She also came up with an idea to explore a new set of proportions for the characters. I agreed with her suggestion and proceeded to create a new proportion style with a slightly more animatic look. However, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to refine the original proportion set. As a result, Adora will be using the new proportions for her submission.
The lecturer mentioned that our original proportions were still acceptable for submission, even though there was clearly room for improvement. So while we couldn’t polish everything, the changes we made were a good step toward enhancing the visual consistency and appeal of the characters.
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| New Proportions |
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| Character 1 in New Proportions |
Reflection
This project required a significant amount of communication, and I believe I managed it quite well — with the exception of my coordination with Adora. I take full responsibility for not maintaining better contact with her. Since we were the ones handling character design, this lack of communication created difficulties for the group. Having one person take on the work meant for two, within such a short production timeline, while also managing other module assignments, was truly challenging.
That said, I believe I still deserve some credit. Even though the final outcome didn’t fully meet my personal expectations, I did manage to complete my tasks and even went beyond the original planning — such as designing special costumes and creating two additional characters.
Through this process, I also became more aware of my own limitations. For example, I realised I was only familiar with certain body proportions and initially struggled to adapt to a new one. I also found it difficult to draw highly dynamic poses like running, jumping, or sliding — especially using a proportion style I had just started exploring. I take responsibility for not realising earlier that I lacked this particular skill set, but I see this as a wake-up call — an opportunity to grow and learn.
I’m thankful to the other group members who gave their all and supported each other throughout the project. Special thanks to our lecturer, Mr. Fitri, who provided valuable guidance from a professional perspective. His feedback helped us refine our art direction and understand what makes a design look professional. This has been a tough but meaningful experience, and I truly learned a lot from it.
