Lucy Kyriakidou, Art Director
“We had to find new ways of working to create a world that feels organic, full of bespoke curves and leading compositions, and it took all the departments to make it work.”
Aj: This was one of the ways in which I feel Disney helped us to become better at what we do. They truly helped us to understand the value of the journey, which sounds obvious saying it now, but it isn’t always. It’s very easy for us to do something, like a piece of design or art, and instantly love it and want to move forward with it. Disney got us to value carrying on a bit further with exploration and either finding something better or proving out you had the right choice. The “what is the journey” approach is now a core element of how we design games.
DID THE OLD MEGA DRIVE GAMES INFORM THE VISUAL DESIGN OF ILLUSION ISLAND? Aj: Where you see the influence of the Mickey games that came before is really more in the game design itself rather than the art, and this was key. We wanted the fab four to feel like they were in a world that wasn’t theirs - somewhere they’d never been before. Lucy: The work is really based
on research, as well as taking what feels magical from all the sources Mickey has appeared in, to make something new and fun. As we started working on the art of the game we had a watchlist of classic and new Disney movies, series and shorts that we got the team to watch to spark discussions.
42 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2023
We wanted to find what that “Disney Magic” really is and explore how we could sprinkle that in the game.
HOW DOES BEING A METROIDVANIA GAME AFFECT HOW YOU APPROACH THE LOOK AND FEEL? Lucy: One of the pillars, for the art, was appealing compositions that not only look good, but also compliment the design by helping lead the player. Not many elements in Monoth (the world of Disney Illusion Island), are straight as we tried to follow the flow of the path the player takes to subtly guide them. Aj: It was a challenge I didn’t envy our wonderful art team for having. The game is this big seamless world that can be approached from different directions at different points. I’m so proud of the job they did. Lucy: An element we found needed a lot of back and forth on, was to balance the clarity and contrast. This really informed our colour palette, and lighting decisions, to make sure that not only is the playable space clear but is also recognisable and memorable. Biomes have distinct areas, and even within those we tried to include little stories and memorable places. There is the Head of the Highness tree that can be found in Terrarium Town, or the broken stars in Crescent Hamlet.
WHO WERE THE KEY PEOPLE THAT WORKED ON THE GAME’S ART AND WHAT WERE THEIR ROLES? Chris: Everyone who worked on the game’s art was key in bringing it through to completion. That includes the concept team consisting of Rory Jobson, Ana Steiner, Ben McEntee, Emily Abeydeera, Emma Maltby, Lara Pickle and Paul Cartwright. The production art team of Yeonjae Lee, Kasia Brzeinska, Marina Gonzalez and
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