When creating modular assets, it helps to think of them as having a beginning, middle, and end. The ability to immediately compare color, size, and silhouette with other objects substantially reduces the guesswork. Being able to work within one file for nearly every asset in an environment is extremely useful. Any game artist will tell you that your art assets being consistent is just as important as your assets being aesthetically pleasing. This makes it easy to create multiple assets on one page and then create sprites from it. It allows you to export images from an easily adjustable custom frame without having to crop the whole image. It’s incredibly useful and functions differently to most other visual software. The Frame Tool is one of the most useful tools within Hexels, and one that may go somewhat unnoticed. There is high potential in this process and it was a cornerstone for me throughout this whole project. This approach can also be more forgiving when making mistakes.

Use Hexels’ Glow Multiplier slider on a low opacity layer to create lighting with a subtle glow.

Use a combination of low opacity and colored overlays to create a glass effect.

Overlay a detail layer to create a weathered look.

Add shadows using a low opacity black value to help ground the asset.

Start by blocking out the overall silhouette.

A classic art style created with modern tools can be a potent combination.įor this style, I suggest using Pixel Layers. With Hexels’ layers and blending options, you can do so much with so little. With some slight randomized scaling, those 6 bushes started to feel like a forest.īeing a solo developer, I had to try and optimize my time by taking a similar approach with other assets in the game. Then with some in-game sprite mirroring, those 3 bushes became 6. Despite the humble start, using layers, blend modes, and a with a little reworking, I turned one bush into 3. Yeah, so it’s a bush…is probably what you’re thinking.

Below is one of the first and more definitive pieces of art I created that helped drive the environmental style of Moonrise Fall. The ease and organic workflow of Hexels lead me to create concept art for the game as well. Even though the information hadn’t really changed in the journal, it’s presence in the game had. Up to that point, the journal felt rather dry like a textbook or user manual. Including these doodles really made the journal come to life in a way it wasn’t before. In this instance, I just wanted something that felt natural and casual, like someone lazily doodling in a notebook. You can adjust the pen settings in a variety of ways and produce a lot of different styles. I set up my pixel brush to work similarly to a real-life pen and just started drawing. Using a drawing tablet, I manipulated the pen pressure settings to adjust the size and flow until it felt natural. While they certainly come across as pixel graphics, they have an organic feel rarely found within the medium. Here’s a collection of hand-drawn doodles to help spruce up the pages of the in-game journal. So in spite of what may be considered a retro medium, the art felt fresh and new. I believe I was quite successful in translating my personal style into a pixel format. Hexels’ tablet drawing support was a nice feature that helped give the art that hand-drawn feel. I wanted to embrace the squares while still delivering something unique. With Moonrise Fall, I wasn’t really interested in creating a nostalgic pixel experience, but one that felt like my own. In this article, I will discuss my process and share some tips that may help you out as well.

Over the last few years of development on Moonrise Fall, I spent a lot of time with Hexels to create all of the required art and integrated it into Game Maker Studio. Armed with a clue-filled journal, a camera, and a lantern, he must unravel the mysteries of the forest by photographing the strange creatures that reside there. Moonrise Fall is an atmospheric exploration puzzle game about a boy who finds himself lost in a supernatural forest after losing both parents in a car crash. I recently started my own studio, Made From Strings, in 2018 while developing Moonrise Fall. I studied art and design at the Art Institute of Tampa and have been involved with game development for 10 years. My name is Christopher Mathes and I am an artist, musician, developer, and the creator of Moonrise Fall.

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