Mystic Seekers by Maine College of Art

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Inspirations

Concept Ideas

Logo Design

Rough Logos

Draft Logos

Final Logo

Advertisements

Teaser Poster

Character Designs

Environments

Game Mockup

Thesis Installation

Knockout Version of Final Logo

INTRODUCTION

elcome to the concept book that goes into great detail about my senior thesis project. This was completed for

my final semester at Maine College of Art (MECA) in the year 2021.

Throughout these pages, you will find

my thoughts and process behind the quirky adventure of the Mystic Seekers. The Mystic Seekers is an interactive visual novel that combines my love for graphic design and passion for video games in one place. This book will showcase everything you need to know about it, logo design, character design, advertisements, the mockup game, and more.

INSPIRATIONS

efore the Mystic Seekers project became the final product, it started with a ton of research and finding topics that inspired

me. I knew I wanted to create a project that challenged myself and my work. This is why I wanted to experiment in both design and illustration. I began by looking at things that inspire me and how I could apply these influences to my work to further push it.

To grasp what I wanted the project to focus

on, I began by looking at games, movies, and shows that I love or have inspired me in the past to gather some ideas. In the early stages of the Mystic Seekers, there was a ton of questions I had to ask myself. What did I want my game to focus on? What type of genre? What kind of play style was I trying to achieve? What am I explaining to my audience? These are some examples of questions that popped through my mind as I collected images to create a mood board.

As the mood board developed, I

noticed that the images I was gathering began showcasing a reoccurring theme. There was a mixture of different genres, all mashed together, photographs of the paranormal, romance, mystery, action, and comedy genres. Which made sense, I do have an interest in the unexplainable, especially anything that involves ghosts, cryptids, folklore creatures, etc. This mixture of genres became the starting point for the idea of the game. 3

Final Poster Design for Thesis

CONCEPT IDEAS

nce the genre of the game was established, it was time to start brainstorming words, sketching ideas, and developing a teaser

poster to promote the game. The teaser poster was designed to give viewers an inside look into what my project would be focused on before it was finished and provide me with a way to brainstorm ideas.

The process of the poster began with

brainstorming 100 words that related to the subject matter. The subject matter is the topics that revolved around gaming, graphic design, and illustration. I wrote down names of video games, gameplay elements found within games, and different gaming consuls. This list of words helped me visualize the number of possibilities that the direction of the poster could go in. From this list of words, I was able to sketch out ideas of how I wanted the composition of the poster to look, the placement of time, image, and shapes.

As the poster started to develop, there were

several iterations created before the final design (shown to the right) was completed. This final poster was particularly inspired by the words 'Game Over' and 'End Screen'. These two words play a critical in video games; these end screens usually pop up when a player fails a mission or loses all their lives. With this concept of a game

CONCEPT IDEAS over screen in mind, I redesigned my poster to fit this idea. Although to make my poster stand out, I added a playful yet humorous type that pokes fun at the player for losing. In the background behind the text, I designed small icons that related to the romance genre. The icons were intended to relate to a cast of characters, but that idea was scrapped.

The final poster (displayed to the left) was

developed very early on within the process of the project, unfortunately, it didn't represent the end product and was remade completely.

100 Words That Related To Thesis 7

Thumbnail Sketches for the Thesis Poster

Mockup Poster Designs

LOGO DESIGN

he next step within the development process of this project was designing the branding and logo. Although it may seem

small at first, the logo shares the same amount of importance as the game itself. The logo acts as a recognizable anchor point that the player often sees when loading up the game or seeing it on their desktop. The logo can also give the player a sense of what the game might be like before they click play.

With these crucial ideas in mind, it was

time to design a logo that would fit the overall tone and become a memorable visual piece for players to interact with. Before the "Mystic Seekers" became the "Mystic Seekers" the logo went through a lengthy process of sketches, edits, and drafts. The logo design process helped solidify the final name of the project and the genres it would be focusing on.

Similar to the teaser poster, the

development of the logo started with looking at inspiration, gathering information, experimenting with games, and sketching. As I created the logo, I tried sketching designs that related to the paranormal, true crime, mystery, myths, and legends to push the game's atmosphere. In each sketch, I tried to experiment with both an illustrated icon and usage of type.

Thumbnail Sketches for Logo

Logo Design Process

ROUGHS DRAFTS

rom the sketches shown on the previous page, it was time to pick a few designs and refine them. In this part of the process, I

decided to try two different directions when it came to drawing the logos, those being handdrawn and vector stylization. The hand-drawn style was created on my Ipad where I used a pencil to draw out each aspect of the design. On the other hand, the vector style was created entirely within the program Adobe Illustrator with the usage of the pen tool. The pen tool always me to make crisp lines that tend to have a geometric feeling to them. You can see the difference between the two on the left; the vector style is showcased on the top left, while the hand-drawn is displayed on the bottom left.

As I look back on this process, the

illustration of the ghost and crystal ball icon is constantly present within the development. They were both showcased within the sketch phrase and continued until the final stages. These icons were mainly inspired when looking at titles of different shows, games, and movies that focused on mystery.

Rough Logo Designs

DRAFT LOGOS

rom the rough logos, I received feedback from my teachers and peers about which two logos were the most successful out of

the many I created. In the end, the ghost with the detective hat and the crystal ball with the name of the Mystic Seekers written inside was the two logos picked. From here, I returned to my Ipad to fix any small details that needed to be edited out or refined further before exporting them into Adobe Illustrator for final coloring.

The coloring part of this project is one of

my favorite moments within this entire process. The experimentation within colors can heavily change the mood of the overall logo, certain colors can impact the thoughts of the viewer. For example, a darker blue color palette may seem mysterious, sad, and adventurous while brighter pinks might signify playfulness, happiness, and love. So, it was important to me that the genre of the game was somewhat represented within the logo.

At this point, I experimented with color

in both logos, each having multiple variations between each of them. I tried to branch out to every color to see how the logos would look under different hues and saturations. The colors blue and darker shades of grey kept appearing throughout the picking process because I felt they effectively showcased the tone I was trying to portray.

Two Final Logo Designs

Testing Colors for Logo #1

Testing Colors for Logo #2

Kayli Lucente Senior Thesis Project 2020 Mystic Seekers Final Logo Colors 21

Keywords: Mysterious Humorous Adventurous

Final Logo Design

C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=100

FINAL LOGO

fter experimenting with different color palettes, rough drafts, and sketches of the logo, it was time for the final logo. The

ghost dressed up as a detective accompanied by the Mystic Seekers text ultimately won my heart over. The cute illustration of the ghost and the hand-drawn type embodied what I want to showcase in the game. It has an exciting mixture of mystery, playfulness, and wonder. The distinct shades of blues with the touch of beige bring life into the personality of the logo.

Along with the colored version of the logo, I

created a grey-scaled version, a complete blackout version, and a knocked-out version that is used for colored backgrounds. To ensure that the logo was at a place I was happy with, I went back into Illustrator for a final time to properly space out the letters, refine the illustrations, and fix any mistakes. Not only with the final version of the logo be seen on the title screen of the game, but it will be seen in advertisements, stickers, business cards, and more!

ADVERTISEMENTS

ow that the logo was finalized, it was time to experiment with using it within different forms of advertisements that

revolve around the game. These mockups of advertisements would be used to promote the game as if it was being sold within a store or purchased online. For the development of the advertisements, I wanted to portray a similar tone that the logo displayed, playful yet mysterious, to make everything stay on brand with the Mystic Seekers company.

When I designed the Instagram mockups

for the Mystic Seekers brand, I took the direction of making the account look like it was owned by one of the characters. I thought by making these advertisements look realistic that it would make the player more immersed within the story and its characters. So, I designed posts based on the different services that Mystic Seekers provide to their clients. The Mystic Seekers is a company of private investigator; but also specialize in dealing with the paranormal, monsters, and the unexplainable. I tried to display this aspect of their company through the usage of photographs and simple use of text.

Instagram Mockup

Mystic Seekers Game Poster

POSTERS

long with the mockup versions of the Instagram posts, I created a teaser poster that gives the player an inside look

into the game and characters. As mentioned previously within the concept idea chapter, this poster replaced the first rendition of the poster. I wanted to draw and experiment with something that was out of my comfort zone; so I created a full illustrated poster compared to the previous one that focused heavily on text.

For the process of creating this poster,

it went through the same process that many of my designs go through. Those stages being the research, sketch, refine details, color, and finalization. The inspiration behind this piece was influenced by the funny yet interesting show called "Ghost Adventures." The poster was heavily influenced by how the TV network promoting the show with the cast of characters all surrounding one another with these serious yet shocked expressions. With this idea in mind, I recreate one of the posters in my style and just recreate my characters in the scene.

Mystic Seekers Game Poster #2

Mystic Seekers Game Poster #3

CHARACTER DESIGNS

o make the Mystic Seekers a fun experience; it needed to have characters that the player could interact with.

Characters within the gameplay a critical role within this interactive story and without them, the story and gameplay would feel bland. The characters act as a key piece in helping the player solve the mystery of their family's past, so these characters needed to be unique from one another.

This particular section of the entire

development of this project was my favorite to complete. The characters showcased within this story have been stored in a special place in my heart since I joined MECA my freshman year but were never fully designed until this project. These characters have been present within my side work outside of college projects with a deadline, I drew them in my free time as a way to relax and destress. So, being able to draw them and create a world that they can thrive in makes me extremely happy.

In regards to designing the characters,

each has a small piece of my personality sprinkled within them to make them feel as human as possible. Each of them has its likes, dislikes, preferred style of clothes, hobbies, birthdays, etc.

Shane's Office

ENVIRONMENTS

nvironments or backgrounds are another key part of the development of this project. Similar to how the characters

play an important role within the game-play and storytelling, the environments take part in that same role. Throughout the entire game, the player will explore different places from the Mystic Seekers office to the inside of the mansion. These backgrounds provide the player with a certain mood and create a toned atmosphere that can help push how successful the game will be. For example, I wanted some environments like the character's offices to showcase a few pieces of their personalities. On the other hand, the mansion was drawn in an opposite tone to display spooky yet haunted undertones.

To create these backgrounds in such a small

time frame, I looked towards the game that I owned for help. In particular, I used the video game "Sims 4" to help map out how I wanted certain areas to look. I used screenshots of builds that I created, decorated, edited, and redrew them in a style that best suited the game.

The mansion, that the main story takes

place in was inspired by a Sims Builder named "intothesim". Their build captured what I wanted the outside of the mansion to look like, although I went in and edited the furniture and decorations to fit the theme of the game.

Shane's Office

Office Hallway

Autumn's Office

Spell's Office

Mansions Front Door

Mansions Side

Mansion's Main Room

Mansions Basement

Ghost Room

GAME MOCKUP Now that all the major pieces of the game were completed, it was time to weave all the elements together to design the game. The Mystic Seekers game was created with a program called Adobe XD, which certain elements being designed in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. Adobe XD is a design program that is commonly used for creating mockup versions of mobile applications, websites, and more.

I used XD to cycle between character

dialogue, allow different paths that the player can choose between, and clickable elements within the environments. Each of the scenes within the game was designed and edited individually to make a sequence of events.

The game focuses on players' choices

as they go through the environments to solve the mystery of their family. As the player picks how to react to certain situations, they can bond with the Mystic Seekers gang and learn about their backgrounds. The player can also discover the character, likes and dislikes through environmental details.

Character Select Screen

Thesis Exhibition

THESIS INSTALLATION

nce the project was completed, it was finally time to showcase all the work I've done within the 2021 Thesis Exhibition.

To make my viewers immersed with my artwork, I wanted to recreate the first scene of the Mystic Seekers game. The particular scene that I am referring to is when the player interacts with Shane for the first time in his office. I chose to recreate his desk because the beginning sequence introduces the player to the main storyline and the characters they will be interacting with.

To properly mimic Shane's desk, I decided

to display the computer on a wooden desk compared to a white pedestal. I decorated the desk with objects that Shane might have owned. That included some basic office supplies, a donut on a plate, a coffee mug, and some plushies of bears. To bring life to the white walls around the desk, I hung up some of the other artwork that I created throughout the project. That being the Mystic Seekers poster, character reference sheets, Instagram mockups, and logo design.