Sound Shapes
2D • UI
Targets:
Playstation 3 / Playstation 4 / Playstation Vita
Description:
The multi-award winning Sound Shapes features a unique campaign that fuses music, artwork and artwork into a classic 2D Platformer featuring music from Beck, Deadmaus, Jim Gutherie, and more.
Software used:
Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate
2D
Album Covers - Photoshop/Illustrator
The Sound Shapes campaign mode included 5 playable worlds known as "albums." As the Lead Artist for the project, I took charge of creating all the content for the "Beyonder" and "Car DLC" worlds.
Beyonder Album Cover: My goal was to integrate elements from each of the six distinct levels (referred to as tracks) featured in the album into the cover art.
Car Album Cover (DLC): Building upon the success of Sound Shapes, we introduced an additional DLC album called "Do You Wheelie Want To Hurt Me," focused on car-themed levels. This DLC included two completely new levels. Apart from my role as the chief pun-master, I also took charge of developing all the creative content for this DLC release.
Box Art Album Cover (DLC): The "Community Milkcrate" DLC album showcases a collection of user-designed levels that exhibit exceptional aesthetic appeal.
"ghostly" Album Cover (DLC): The "ghostly" DLC album includes additional music assets contributed by a variety of artists signed to the "ghostly" music label.
Game Environments - Photoshop / Illustrator
It is interesting to mention that all the environmental artwork I developed for the campaign was created using the same in-game editor that players use to craft their own community levels.
Aside from a few basic ground and background elements I crafted in Illustrator, my options for drawing levels were constrained to rotating, scaling, and adjusting triangular, rectangular, and circular ground shapes. These shapes were available in three colors: light, dark, and red. Instead of seeing these limitations as constraints, I viewed them as an opportunity to unleash my creativity and design abstract alien landscapes using these three simple ground shapes.
Hypoglacia Level
Thermogenica Level
Mechanica Level
Aquatica Level - above ground zone
Aquatica Level - bubble tube zone
Aquatica Level - fossil cavern zone: The player has seized control of the UFO vehicle.
Extraterrestria Level: Inside the mothership on the final Beyonder campaign level.
Hard Drive Level (screencap): The player is piloting the techno-car, the first car from the "Car DLC Pack".
Heck On Wheels Level (screencap): The player has now hopped into the skull-car, which is the second vehicle in the "Car DLC Pack" and boasts a heavy metal theme.
Car DLC Pack (screenshot from commercial): We thought it would be nice to show the character returning home to enjoy a peaceful evening at home after a full day of gaming chaos.
(VIDEO) Beyonder - Full Album Playthrough: This fan-made video features a complete playthrough of all five tracks from my Beyonder album.
Concept Illustrations - Traditional / Photoshop / Illustrator
Prior to finalizing the sci-fi/alien theme for the "Beyonder" album, I prepared several rapid sketches and high-fidelity mockups to explore potential level designs. These visuals helped us envision the overall atmosphere of the area and brainstorm elements and characters that could be incorporated. Looking back, I still would have loved to have made the "Candyland" area as a DLC pack!
Nature Area (concept sketch)
Candyland Area (concept sketch)
UFO Vehicle (concept sketch)
Dr. Seuss-ian Area (mock-up 1): Featuring friendly characters and entities.
Dr. Seuss-ian Area (mock-up 2): Featuring enemy entities.
Angular Area (mock-up): Featuring early pass of visual differentiation between sticky and non-sticky grounds.
UI
Sony Store Icons - Illustrator / Photoshop
Playing through the Campaign game mode is the initial attraction for players in Sound Shapes. However, the true replayability of the game comes from using the editor to create and publish their own levels and music. After the game's release, we developed multiple DLC musical note packs that required Sony Store icons.
Hohokum DLC: Store Icon
Tycho DLC: Store Icon
Funk 3000 DLC: Store Icon
Vocoder DLC: Store Icon
Game Editor Icons - Illustrator / Photoshop
Editor Icons: Music notes from DLC packs.