Realm Defense
As the art director at Babeltime Inc. I work with a small team to make the top rated tower defense game Realm Defense. I have managed production of 6 worlds, over 300 levels, 100+ animated characters, UI, and marketing. Managing business needs and the needs of production I have worked to create a self sustainable pipeline that meets our needs.
The game was created in Unity.
Marketing
In early 2020 I created new marketing materials to start the year off. The 2020 Marketing re-boot improved downloads by nearly 20%. Previously some of our marketing was done offsite. By bringing marketing in-house we had a better connection to the game and understanding of the audience. I used a mix of reference from a wide variety of media to try and have the images stand out in the crowded mobile market.
With most of the tools in place we had a tight deadline of just a couple weeks to bring 10 levels to final presentation for project approval. A mix of daily paintovers, constant critique, and tech art help we got the levels to a much improved place.
Our goal was to make each level composition have the player focus on the middle of the map. We adjusted asset sizes and values on the edges to point towards the middle. Environment art started to hint at what game design was doing. Using assets to show what kind of waves are coming and where bandit paths were.
It’s not obvious but each level has 3 values of grass that slowly transition to brighter in the middle. It helps focus the eye and make the levels feel less flat.
Our decisions on the game were based primarily on user delight and enjoyment. Our ratings and reviews were a huge point of pride.
Characters
Marketing videos
Using Youtube to tease new features/skins/events has helped us interact with the community. They also let us show the character in a different light than our small in-game sprites and portraits.
Shamiko’s bedroom - As art director I still try to get in and do assets when time will allow. This was a pet project to get the player to go to a heroes childhood bedroom. She hadn’t been back in thousands of years and is now an infinitely powerful spirit of rock and roll!
Teaser for the Discord community. We would take off boards revealing parts of the image to slowly reveal new content
Process
Our process was fairly straightforward. Design would layout many paths and tower placements with no art help. Once the level had a rough balance pass and deemed “fun” the art team would take a look. We used a group of generic environment assets across large groups of levels but if the path design allowed for specificity we would create an asset list for POI specific assets that fit the story.
As artists got more comfortable with the tools some levels would be created by art from the ground up and pitched to design.
Feedback
Daily feedback and paintovers helped get to the style we have. The most important thing that I hope I give to a team is a culture of open communication and feedback! No one is above critique including me. If it doesn’t help the quality of the game and consistency of the art anyone can chime in.
Realm Defense in Beijing
I have had the chance to travel to China a couple times and was able to see how our game is handled over there.
Seeing our game in the context of so many other amazing games was incredible.
