Below is a selection of artwork I have created for the game as mockups – please create and use your own artwork of the scenes, interface and characters if you can – as well as some guidance for each.

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Game Logos

I suggest using the logo with a cloud background for situations where there is a more cluttered/noisy background, else you can use the second logo or choose between them freely.

Despite my previous comment about creating your own artwork, I would like it if these logos could make it through to the final game. This is very much the exception and not the rule, though.

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Main Character

The key aspects of the main character are all inspired by my own stuggles with ASD and communication challenges that are faced as a result. The blockhead design represents the difficulties with facial expression and showing emotion that I and many others with ASD struggle with. It can also be representative of masking. This is the most important and iconic part of the character design, this should be obvious but please do not alter this.

The swirling pattern on the inside is also relevant as it represents all the pent-up emotions and feelings that people with ASD struggle to express, in relation to the blockhead design.

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NPC Characters

The most notable thing about the NPC characters is that all of their faces are scribbled out and animated. This is of course intentional, and represents the difficulties I and other people with ASD have with reading others’ emotions and feelings. This is integral to the game’s visual identity and meaning. Draw faces behind the scribbles if you wish, but I ask that you please keep this aspect intact.

This does present the challenge though that it can become difficult to tell the characters apart at a glance. I didn’t lean into this much while I created these drawings, but I would encourage you to lean more into a visual identity around shape when drawing them.

The boy (Tyler) should have a visual identity around triangle shapes, the second girl (Olivia) around circles, and the third (Sarah) around squares and quadrilaterals. This is reflective of their personalities and should be able to make them more recognisable and distinct as characters.

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User Interface

The game’s UI should feature this selection of warm, bubbly and swirling colours to create a nostalgic-feeling and comforting tone. Backdrops should be ideally quite restrained as to not distract from the main UI elements, but don’t be afraid to push it further than what I have achieved here, as it was made on a very limited time constraint.

Use a combination of pinks, oranges, yellows and greens. NPCs are usually represented by the colour green – in a way representing ideas like “correctness” and “natural”* — and the puzzle UI should typically be pink, as the colour will naturally attract more attention from the player.

*Note: this is why the MC’s head is shown as a greenish tint: it is to furthermore represent the idea of “masking” and forcing yourself to be “correct”.