Bird of the Land and Sea

Character, Environment Concept Art Project + Unity Asset integration

Bird of the Land and Sea is a 4-month project that tells the story of a young fledgling that lives in a whimsical but intimidating world of unknown portals and its residents. Reflecting the Hero's Jounery, the fledging ventures through these portals, each reference famous paintings from various art periods.As a game concept, Bird of the Land and Sea is a side scrolling platformer. Inspired off of exploration and non-verbal games like Abzu and Journey, Bird of the Land and Sea is set to be a quiet journey where symbolism, tone and mood are the foundation of the game's narrative.

Environment Design

With the main inspiration for the environments deriving from famous paintings, creating a cohesive art direction that spanned across 3 main art periods (impressionism, baroque, and romanticism) was the main focus. Starting with mood boards and then using greyscale studies to mimic storyboards would be the basis for the environmental art direction.

Character Design

Lovingly titled 'Angel' as a placeholder, this creature would be the character you controlled as you ventured through the painted worlds. Inspired by games like exploration games, Angel's design is based off of bird with additional chimeric qualities as they progress through the game.

Depending on which portal Angel had visited, and more importantly, what type of challenge they would have to face, their transformation had 4 stages. As if a child slowly growing up, their state would transition depending on what they had experienced. Stages, like the third and last one, reflect signs of trauma and deviation from their original bird and innocent themes.

Unity: Asset Integration

To create a immersive world for the fledgling to run in, the concept art of the 'Woman and the Parasol' World was used as the main environmental focus. With the goal of experimenting and gaining familiarity with Unity, characters were 3D modelled and rigged while environments were imported with a 2.5D art style.

Serenity at Dusk

Visual Novel game + Art Direction project

Serenity at Dusk is a 4-month project about a magical apothecary shop and a curious young girl. Inspired by Hong Kong apothecary shops with a magical and psychological twist, this visual novel project's narrative about taking care of mental health. As the player follows Jackie Huang, you learn about the various reasons a person can be in therapy or need support.

Environment Design

Based off of traditional Chinese medicine apothecary shops, this shop is designed to have a late night, after hours feel. As if Chihiro in Spirited Away, Jackie stumbles across this shop, supposedly after hours it's already been closed, but is open to her because of how Dr. Goji suggests, "Our shop is open to those when they really need us".

Character Design

Dr. Goji and Jackie are the two main characters that are featured in Serenity at Dusk. Pulling influence from traditional Chinese fashion and and the professionalism of white lab coats with a suit and tie, Dr. Goji's design is a play on a fantastical doctor who doesn't operate a normal clinic. Jackie's school uniform references the jersey/sports style of Chinese highschool uniforms.

Narrative Design

Serenity at Dusk's narrative design is straightforward as it mimics traditional storytelling that focuses on one main outcome and plot twist which is featured at the end. Though the structure of the visual novel format allows Serenity at Dusk to gave the players agency in what they'd like to explore, as they play Jackie, who is pretending to be a interviewer.

Game Screeshots

Hansel & Gretel

Concept Art Project

Hansel & Gretel is a 1-month project where the classic tale of the two children find a candy house in the middle of the roads meets an East-Asian spin with a winter wonderland twist.

Released Games

Game projects that are my own

Game Art

Game projects where contributions and roles are focused on art direction, art assets, art integration and animation.

Narrative Design

Game projects where contributions and roles are focused on writing, narrative, editing, and narrative design

'3am Snack' Zine

Graphic Design/Layout Lead for OC Fashion Zine Project

'3am Snack' Zine is a collaborative original character zine that features anthropomorphized snacks that our zine members love and have nostalgia for. As a lead in graphic design and layout, every zine member provided illustrated assets to be later placed in a layout that was similar but unique to every character.

Endless Loop

Sequential Art Project

Endless Loop is a 4-part sequential illustration series that features a inter dimensional traveler. The series is focused on conveying sharp lighting through the pixel medium.

Freebird Games

Contributed to Freebird Games as a 2D character, environment & prop pixel artist. Worked on sprite sheets, pixel illustrations, animations, level & UI design. More examples of highly rendered pixel concept environments can be found in my NDA portfolio.

Freebird Website Redesign

Graphic Design & Website Art Project

After sporting a old web aesthetic for many years, Freebird gets a new website redesign at freebirdgames.com

Nightmare Stalker

Comic Project

Nightmare Stalker is a 6-page comic dedicated to the minecraft server, QSMP, and the incident that temporarily resulted in a Family's death. This comic is an ode to the fandom's community and its love for heart clenching narratives, symbolism, and familial tropes.Spanish translations by @moti_otp on twitter

After the Frost

Mini zine + Poetry Project

After the Frost is a 8-page mini-zine with my own written poem about not letting the grief of lost opportunities linger too long. Dedicated to my sibling and anyone who needs hope, this project is a heart felt ode to those who need blue skies.Originally folded into a small 2.75 x 4.25 in booklet, it can be unfolded into a 8.5 x 11 in poster.

All work & Website © 2024 Kayden Chan, unless otherwise noted.