The Killing Stone

Crafted a UI fitting an intricate deck-builder with complex mechanics, a rich narrative, both medieval and occult-horror aesthetics.

Senior UI / 2D Artist

• Defined the style for all game UI.
• Led visual exploration and defined style target for 3D environment and character artists.
• Collaborated with designers in defining the player's experience from UX flow to polished interface.

• Advanced blueprint expertise to implement all UI systems in Unreal 5 alongside engineers.
• Principal concept artist for human and monstrous hero characters referencing medieval history and otherworldly horror.

The Card Battler

The card battler had several traditional deck-builder systems and mechanics as well as new ones such as the "reserves" concept that was unique to TKS. I helped visualize the battler experience with UX flows and rough mocks to wrap our heads around the phases involved in each turn, as well as wireframed various approaches for our card battler HUD which was a mix of 3D tactile elements and floating 2D UI created in UMG. 

The card battle.

Entering a card battle from the dive map.

Our cards went through a lengthy concepting process as the card battler's broad mechanics began to take shape, and we explored the idea of more dynamic cards that could unfurl in 3D space like small scrolls. This direction wasn't feasible in the long run, but it was a lot of fun to explore.

I built our card 2D widgets in tandem with our art director Stephen Alexander as he created the 3D cards based off of my work.

When handling outsourcing for our card art, I created editor utility widgets that generated each card based off Design's data tables. This allowed us to easily evaluate not just each illustration in context of the card and confirm it was properly hooked up, but that each illustration maintained the quality bar alongside the entire scope of work.

The final card UI in UMG, in an editor widget.

An editor widget populating each card by looping through rows of a data table.

The Ritual Map

Outside of the card battler, a second HUD was required for navigating between rooms during what we called a single ritual "dive." In keeping with our theme of outwitting the Devil at their own game with souls on the line, I styled our dive map off of a weathered and impossibly long contract, adorned in alchemical glyphs and illegible notes in the margins.

A rough aesthetic pass of the early ritual map with UI elements placed.

Speaking to Malthe to start a ritual, and entering the dive map.

Each of these rooms had their own UI and UX needs. I again used UX flows and wireframes to simplify complex operations into a user-focused experience that was as accessible as possible. 
Once each room had its wireframe approved, I'd bring it to life with UMG and Unreal's material graph, empowering players to feel like they were sealing forbidden pacts and honing their deck into something formidable and unique.

Concepts

I'm extremely proud of the characters I had the honor of designing in TKS. More examples of my concept work can be viewed in my portfolio, but here are a few of my favorites.