PIXELS ROYALE
Pixels Royale is a pixel art battle royale card game released on Kickstarter by my own board-game company named Wagga Studio LLC.
This game consisted of personalized pixel art cards, a popular genre that has gained popularity in this decade "retro gaming revolution." The concept of this design embraces the spirit of nostalgia and dives deep into the 16bit video-game era.
I designed every element of the game, from the rules to the look and feel of the cards, every single pixel art, and I edited the promo video. Although this was a personal project, I utilized all my skills to present to the world as professional as it gets.
01 / Logo Design
01/a Concept
01/b Execution
01/c Color Palette
01/d Final Logo
Inspired by the logo design of video game boxes from the 80's era, I arrived at this design for Pixels Royale. Created on a 150px grid using Adobe Illustrator, the logo is scalable to any size. The choice of vivid colors evokes the adventurous nature of battling with cards, and the forced perspective adds dynamism and action, making the total lockup dynamic and enticing.
I also considered the different uses this brand mark would take, print and digital, color, or monochromatic. The style and story of the logo are not lost independently of where it lives.
Strong, bold custom typography, clean, and stylized layout makes this logo easy to read and can be recognized across the room in the middle of a shelf with other toys and games stacked next to it.
02 / The Game
02/a Pixel Art Inspiration
I took inspiration from the pixel art of the late 80's video games. What once was a technological limitation, today is considered a type of art. Working with pixel art help me achieve that retro look and feel I was looking to meet and gave me the flexibility to create custom illustrations from scratch or pictures.
It was vital to have both working together in the game. Part of the attractiveness of the Kickstarter campaign was to create custom cards for the backers. They would choose anything they wanted to turn into pixel art. Using my iPad Pro, a program called Pixaki and Adobe Illustrator, I managed to create a full array of cards to exemplify the quality of illustrations they would find in the game deck.
02/b Pixel Art
02/c Anatomy of the Cards
The design of the card was a challenging one. After several prototypes, I achieved the right balance between showcasing the illustration and displaying the attributes large enough to be read with ease.
The addition of the QR code also decreased the statistics' physical space in the card, making it more challenging to fit all the information necessary for the gameplay. The final form of the card is attractive, has bold colors that pop right out of the card. It's easy to read and navigate through all attribute points and continues to showcase the retro style of the entire experience.
The cards were printed at poker-sized cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches) on a 280msg grey cored paper with linen finish. That amount of care to the material gave these cards a "trading-card" quality to them. It feels great to hold them and play with them. One could easily put them on hard shell sleeves and use them as collectible items.
02/d The Full Game
03 / Social Media & Promo
03/a Viral Instagram Post
Before launch, I illustrated a few pixel art images containing famous people or popular TV shows to create a buzz and direct eyeballs to my project. The TV show Scrubs inspired one of them. When I posted on my Instagram account, I tagged Zach Braff and Donald Faison. Within minutes, Zach Braff reposted my picture in his account, which generated over 85.000 likes and 835 comments. That post alone was responsible for a lot of engagement on my page. I ended up selling some prints. I doubled the number of followers I had and helped me promote my art and, ultimately, my game.
I continued to create "celebrity content," Later on, my favorite soccer club in Brazil Palmeiras also reposted a picture of a player I had done, generating over 50.000 likes and close to 500 comments. I also noticed a significant increase in engagement with my account, number of followers, and questions about the launch of my game.
03/b Social Media Campaign Examples
03/d Promo Video
03/e Merchandise Samples
