FolksRoad
FolksRoad is a project my team and I developed over the course of 3 weeks (ended on 31.01.2025) during our univeristy study. It is a mobile game with art direction and style heavily inspired by the Don't Starve games, where you get to immerse yourself into the very lightly explored world of slavic folklore. The story of the game is centered around Mara, a goddess of death, plague and decay, who has returned from a weakened state and has taken control of the forest and its inhabitants. It is your job as the player to delve into this world and protect your village while advancing into Mara's territory and taking back the forest.
This game was built in unity, using a 3D space filled with 2D assets. I was primarily responsible for the art direction, concept art, animations, and game design decisions. I defined the art style and communicated with my team of 2 other talented artists to help bring the world to life and keeping it consistent. I kept a close eye on the creation of all the assets and acted as art lead, guiding the others towards a more cohesive look and polishing even further when need be.
Aside from the art lead tasks and concept art, I picked up and learned how to use OpenToonz over the course of a couple days in order to bring our sprites to life. I started by learning how to make pin puppet animations out of several pieces for each character, while also incorporating 2D meshes and slightly distorting them for movement in the environment such as for the trees and bushes.
Lastly, I was also the one who designed the poster for the game, starting from a simple but strong composition of good against evil. I placed the player character up against enemies form the game and Mara herself in order to showcase the duality in the story, keeping everything consistent with the game's style.
Preview of an environment concept using the in game assets.
Kikimora - early concept art to explore the art style of the game, heavily inspired by the Don't Starve games
Stylesheet I developed to cement the style and help guide the other artists in the team
Leshy - more concept art for a potential enemy/boss in the game.
Saproling of Leshy - rough concept art, animation idea, and the final sprite for the enemy that made it into the game
In game asset for the bestiary entry for the Leshling.
Preview of the Leshling's walk animation Xsheet in OpenToonz. All the cutout pieces for the pin puppet are visible on the right, along with the keyframes.
Leshling finalized walking animation I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Leshling finalized idle and death animations I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Ground tiles I made for the forest environment the game would take place in.
Auka - rough concept art and the final sprites for another creature that made it into the game
In game asset for the bestiary entry for the Auka.
Preview of one of the Auka's transformation animations' Xsheet in OpenToonz. All the cutout pieces for the pin puppet are visible on the right, along with the keyframes.
Auka finalized idle animations for both forms that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Auka finalized transformation animation from leaf to man that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Auka finalized transformation animation from man to leaf that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Concept art and finalized sprites for the player character.
Preview of one of the player's many animations' Xsheet in OpenToonz. All the cutout pieces for the pin puppet are visible on the right, along with the keyframes.
Player's finalized idle animation from all sides that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Player's finalized walking animation from all sides that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Player's finalized attack animation from all sides that I made in a pin puppet style of animation with distortion and rescaling applied on pieces when deemed necessary.
Mara - my process from rough sketch/block out to final concept art for the game's major antagonist.
In game asset for the bestiary entry for Mara.
My progress from the rough sketch of the game's poster to the final render. I wanted the piece to feel like the start of a long adventure, with the odds against the player, with a very clear antithesis between the charater and Mara.
Final render of the psoter with the title incorporated.
Final in game view with all assets implemented.