Portfolio
u + me = love is an educational game for junior high school students which helps them playfully practice their arithmetic reading comprehension skills. In the game, the students help Mathew to win over his crush. By solving puzzles and figuring out clues from the given information, they can help him, working towards prom and hoping to be able to ask his crush out on a date.
Group Project
role: 2d artist, narrative designer
Project Runtime
1 semester
Software Used
firealpaca, unity
This game is my graduation project, which I worked on together with Tatum van Trier. The original concept of the game and the first playable demo is all her work, and I joined her project as official 2D artist to help bring the art style of the game to life, and help create a full game out of the existing demo.
For the project, I have dedicated my time entirely to working on the art of the game. In earlier stages of the process, I have also assisted with putting together the full narrative of the game.
The player follows junior high schooler Mathew around as he tries to get closer to his crush. The game consists of 10 levels which slowly work towards prom; each level of the game has a puzzle that the player needs to solve, based on math exercises the students get in math class.
The game is focused on practice and doesn't punish the player harshly if they get the puzzle wrong. Instead, the game provides instant feedback, allowing the player to learn from their mistake and retry the level with their new knowledge.
Before starting with all the assets for this project, I worked on developing three different art styles which could be used in the game. My main angle for this project was accessibility; I wanted to focus on developing a readable art style that appeals to the target audience, all while making sure that the art style is easy to understand for them.
After developing the art styles, I ran tests with two different groups. My conclusion was that various different aspects of the art styles worked well, but many also didn't; rather than choosing a single art style to continue with, I ended up combining all the good aspects of the different styles to create a single better style, effectively maximizing appeal and readability among the target audience.
Since I created a lot of art for this game, I've decided to only showcase part of it here. I've included all the backgrounds I created that are shown in the game; all UI elements are layered over it, though in some cases the backgrounds are also shown without UI during the more cinematic parts of the game.
To give you an idea of what the game looks like, I have also included some screenshots and mockups of the gameplay. If you're interested in the full game experience, you can get it here!
We have proudly showcased the game at INDIGO 2023, and to make our stand catch the attention of visitors I've created some promotional art as well. This art has also been used in the HKU's own showcase.
I loved working on this project a lot, and I have learned a lot from it. Developing the art style by myself and learning what works best in terms of readability and accessibility was an eye-opener for me; on top of that, I managed to create a ton of assets for the game which I am very happy with.
