Hidden Exepedition: Smithsonian Hope Diamond is point and click adventure game with hidden object game mechanic. I was the art director and co designer on the project with a all star team. Here is a collection of concepts, designs and finished art I created to set the style and tone of the game. Each piece has a lot of gameplay design that I worked together with my co-designer, Erik Haldi. We shared the design duties.
Rough concept for the Smithsonian castle scene.
Finished ingame art. I blocked out the environment in 3d Maya. Then did a painting on top.
This is the HUD design with finished artwork. I worked together with my co designer, Erik Haldi to design the heads up display and all the UI elements. I created the final art.
Concept sketch for the entrance doorway to the castle
Final ingame art for the natural history museum environment.
This is the inside of the castle. We called this room the showcase room. Each cabinet represented different parts of the Smithsonian museum collections. A lot of the final art was out sourced so I had to create clear concepts and flowcharts to lead the outsource team. Here is an example of a concept painting, gameplay diagram of gameplay clickpoints, a style sheet that helps guide the important details and then a value study to show the importance of the light and shadow.
Rough concept of the elevator that takes the place to the 2nd floor.
Storyboard of how the access panel works. These storyboards are important to explain gameplay for programming and art production.
Storyboard design for a chair puzzle. After the puzzle is prototyped then the gameplay is tuned before final art is produced.
Concept sketch for the Smithsonian Castle entrance area. The player interacts with a souvenir coin press machine. They have to find a coin and individual presses hidden in the world. The goal is to combine them in the coin press machine and make a souvenir coin that becomes a key to one of the puzzles.
Concept sketch for James Smithsons crypt area. There are hidden clues that help the play learn about the story.
This is a color chart that shows the flow of this level and how the color shifts to create the mood.
Concept sketch for the entrance tunnel to the secret underground headquarters.
Storyboard of the cutscene that explains the entrance to the secret underground base by a mysterious helper. This was the headquarters of a secret organization called H.E.L.P. that protected priceless art and artifacts from being stolen or destroyed.
