Depth of Creation

Creativity is key in any field I want to enter. But what does creativity mean to me? I think creativity is everything - and I've made it part of who I am. I've spent my life learning how to refine my creativity. How to channel it into my work. How to implement it into my goals. 

"Goddess of the Sea" was one of the first personal projects I tried to tackle. It was my first deep dive into ideating and designing a project of this scale from scratch. For me, it was an exploration of just how far I could push myself as an artist, designer, and writer. The art, concepts, and design document were all created by the same, hard-working one person team - myself.

I called this series of concept art "Neon Femme." I really just wanted to see if I could do something futuristic since it was outside of my typical wheelhouse. It was a fantastic exercise for my creative skills and I would love to revisit this concept again.

Dystopian societies have been explored so often in games. They're gritty and dark and, a lot of the time, very masculine. I wanted to create something that was similar to what's already been done, just with a hyper feminine look.

"As Seasons Change" started small. I hadn't expected to want to develop it further than a few sketches for practice. But as it developed, I found myself connecting with it, using it as an outlet for my own grief, and learning to heal in the process. Perhaps one day it can offer the same to a larger audience.

It's a story about grief.

At the core of this game is an element of healing. When we, as humans, experience grief it causes a ripple effect in all aspects of our lives. Grief can alter the way we think, feel, speak, eat, live - even the ways we interact with others and the world around us. It changes us, sometimes permanently. Ideally, I wanted 'As Seasons Change' to look and feel comforting. Everything from the art style to the nuances of the game itself is meant to offer players a comforting outlet for their own grief and trauma.

I was experiencing my own type of grief while developing the concept art for this game. In the course of one year I had experienced so many highs and lows - from traumatic events to positive and uplifting life changes. So much happened from car accidents, loss, death, and health problems to successes, engagements, and new additions to my family... I experienced all of these things within such a short time frame. And each and every one of these events has influenced the creation of this game and shown me that grief is very much a part of life. It's how we cope with it and move forward that determines who we are and just what we're capable of overcoming.

The main character of this game is named Daisy. She is a young girl around the age of ten who just lost her father in a car accident. Her mother is depressed, rooted deeply in an earth shattering first stage of grief. Daisy has never experienced loss like this before. While she isn't incapable of understanding death, she desperately clings to the idea that her father will still come home and doesn't understand why her mother can't be more upbeat like she used to be. One night Daisy sneaks out to her old treehouse after her mother breaks down when a framed family photo is broken.

Confused and needing comfort, Daisy begins flipping through an old pop-up book her father would read to her when she was younger during campouts in the treehouse. As she reads on, Daisy becomes tired and dozes off. When she wakes up, she is surprised to find herself turned into a fawn, plopped right in the middle of one of the towns in her pop-up book.

The game is a a combination of styles - something between a platformer and open world exploration. The environment is mean to resemble a pop-up book and the characters appear hand drawn like the illustrations of a children's book. Each level is a new 'chapter' and contains unique sidekick characters for daisy who represent difference stages of grief. These sidekicks help Daisy through the levels and simultaneously help her cope with and overcome the stage of grief they portray.​

Within the levels are different characters, or townspeople, who are having troubles of their own. The things the townspeople experience are different life events that can cause grief in specific ways. Many of the townspeople will give Daisy quests to complete - some of them help progress the main story while others are simply side quests players can choose to complete to help Daisy build more connections with the people around her.

Every character in game is meant to either represent a stage of grief or is experiencing a different, unique type of grief. Grief can be mourning the death of a loved one or pet, the loss of the person you used to be, or even grief for a missed opportunity or lost item.