https://www.brianfavia.com/contact daily 0.75 2017-09-21 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/t/59c42ee5c534a510ff1dda3b/1487104996732/Type+Vol.+2+4.jpg Contact https://www.brianfavia.com/about daily 0.75 2025-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/ca2fbdea-58bf-4019-a948-04b155b7f485/048-G3rcFq0k0CU.jpeg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/ca2fbdea-58bf-4019-a948-04b155b7f485/048-G3rcFq0k0CU.jpeg About https://www.brianfavia.com/home daily 0.75 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/f0489b3d-34e1-4a10-a67c-9ccb27d942a7/20221002_181950.jpg Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/b6b59ab3-f764-463d-8cfa-43b909d73e6a/imgg-demo-9scJV8bA.png Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/dccd25e4-4ac0-4800-b670-67b27736cf0d/imgg-demo-Hj2zoZDh.png Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/aea623ed-e2d7-4982-b29d-4445ad564fa4/imgg-demo-LzBokRBR.png Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/cc67c5e3-9a3a-402f-909f-7eef788c812c/terrariums-thumb.gif Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/8a3aa3ca-7062-47b7-bca7-3068cd086aa2/048-G3rcFq0k0CU.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/f0489b3d-34e1-4a10-a67c-9ccb27d942a7/20221002_181950.jpg Brian Favia | Creative Director & Product Design Leader - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.brianfavia.com/coming-soon daily 1.0 2026-06-20 https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio daily 0.75 2026-06-20 https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/pocketbeaniebabies-efaff monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702366440-A3VHTWKLUOIP3Q3BLJBQ/lion-idle.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702366798-UE0HZEA19FNO2V8LI7MM/lion-hunt.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702364355-7EGY7ARM1INIK4VREASQ/lion-eat.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702363248-PE4ZW4PUDIH9ZJ6QGGHQ/lion-balance.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702364409-NSC1ZBNLSF3NERG8DG7G/lion-exercise.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702362590-THP390X06KNZNSXU8W6G/lion-brush.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702357280-RAFLB8YYK10EJZ9JJYG6/goose-exercise.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702358525-W09MZ18KJI2HDOHWA1J3/goose-happy.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702358544-SKRK1A6M4D1ABSYMYGI9/goose-flying.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702359881-HYJ0D5U7DHA4YA4E6UOF/goose-reading.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702356982-VBDMHMKTSUVNRD5FHBWN/goose-diving.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506702356570-NR0QE01KIDZSTUKMIN8H/goose-eat.gif Brian Favia - Pocket Beanie Babies https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/hvv-kn6f5 monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504539965341-0LQG0EFRT1WGQO1WIK41/hvhero.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - HEROES v VILLAINS (Copy) HEROES v VILLAINS Art Direction, UI/UX Design and Branding Heroes v Villains is a mobile web game developed and published by Cellufun. Players align themselves with either the "heroes" side or the "villains" side and complete a series of missions based on their alignment. To help complete their missions players must find and recruit super-beings to add to their teams, with strong emphasis on discovering and collecting them all. I was the art director and UI/UX designer for this game, and worked closely with Cellufun's studio head Dan Martinelli to design this game. I also created the game's logo and various marketing materials. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504891065431-CNXPHOXMG735DMJ0WBU2/fill.png Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - Clone "Wars" (Copy) Clone "Wars" Over the past several years, Cellufun had developed a number of simple role-playing games, beginning with MOBile Wars in 2009 and followed up with Vampires Rising, Special Ops, The Stalking Dead and others. These "Wars" games all followed a similar format: players complete text-based missions and attack other players within the game to gain experience points and loot, building up their stats and gaining new weapons and items to progress through the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504536956363-3QRPOPE7TS4Z1IQQYCSB/wars.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains Cellufun enjoyed producing these types of games for two main reasons: 1.) They were quick and inexpensive to develop, and 2.) They (initially) proved to be profitable and popular with Cellufun's audience, particularly its male players. However, with each one following the same format, with little to no innovation from one to the next, their popularity waned and each subsequent iteration generated less and less revenue. When we were tasked to create a new one based on super heroes, Dan and I agreed that if we wanted to recapture the players' excitement of the original MOBile Wars, we would have to shake up the formula. Specifically we wanted to address the players' complaints that the "Wars" games all looked and played the same, which meant reimagining both the game mechanics and the presentation to give them a fresh new experience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504537359029-IKNPJ4L7Z823CBSXSFIK/hvnotes.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - Concept and Design (Copy) Concept and Design The first task was to work out how Heroes v Villains would both build upon and differ from the simple format of the "Wars" games. Because they served as the foundation for this project, Dan and I knew that the premise would still revolve around completing missions and building up levels and stats. The challenge, though, lied in changing up the rules of play without making the game too confusing for those players who were familiar with the old format. To start, we came up with the idea of introducing non-playable characters, or "NPCs": super-beings that the players can take on missions with them. We would design our own characters of different types and specialties, each with their own strengths and stats, and the players would build up their stats by sending them on missions and have them earn experience points to upgrade them to higher levels. Players would have to find these NPCs while playing and recruit them to their team, thus adding a collecting mechanic to the game similar to Pokemon. We also liked the idea of new players having to choose a side: the "heroes" or the "villains". Each side would get its own storyline for the missions as well as a slightly different version of the UI. Players from both sides would earn additional points from missions, aka "heroic act" points and "villainous act" points, that would go towards an overall global score for each side. At the end of a time peried (say, 4 hours), the leading side would be rewarded with bonus missions and additional boosts to their mission spoils. We felt this would add a strong social aspect to the game by encouraging players to actively engage in global competition with their peers. As we fleshed out the game mechanics I began designing the user interface and flow of the game, breaking away from the simple HTML lists and icons from the old "Wars" games and creating a more visually-engaging layout. The gameplay was simple enough, it was just a matter of presenting it in a way that players would immediately pick up on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504537413245-B3B9BZAW31ZBB865TA5C/hvnotes2.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504537419117-V487RUUE30I61PEIZI04/hvflow.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504537424770-PG5W1FSOM8BROQHETLXX/hvwf.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - Art and UI Development (Copy) Art and UI Development For the overall visual style of the UI I wanted to give it a modern sci-fi computer interface look and feel. My aim was to give the players a feeling of being in a team leader role, like Marvel character Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., sending out their teams from a command center. I had not designed any projects with this style before so I looked at a number of recent superhero and sci-fi action movies for inspiration, most notably the Iron Man trilogy and The Avengers, as well as Oblivion, Skyfall and the more recent Star Wars films. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890342418-HS5YYDRP5UX3CTND0R87/hvfinal1.png Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890376719-3SZ5MD0VKKSR59G6TR6G/hvfinal2.png Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains In addition to the UI, I also designed all of the icons for the equipment items, which players can add to their missions for added boosts to their spoils or enhance their assigned NPCs to increase their odds of success. Equipment can be gained as drop items from successful missions, or could be purchased for Funcoins, Cellufun's virtual currency. I produced the UI in two different color schemes to differentiate the "heroes" side and the "villains" side. The heroes got a blue interface while the villains saw theirs in red and yellow. The missions also differed between the heroes and the villains, though they followed parallel storylines (example: the villains would go rob a bank, while the heroes would go to stop the robbery). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890466675-WX05M1NH5MEPR0ZTGXFN/hvred.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains For new players I designed a simple tutorial overlay, to help guide them through the basic mechanics of the game as they play through their first missions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890572046-L8TARKIU6EAK3SXNIXQ4/hvtut.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains Dan and I also conceived the NPC characters together, which I styled around Cellufun's existing avatars. We came up with a variety of unique super-beings, both hero and villain-types inspired by various comic book characters. About 30 characters were created for the game's launch; below are some samples: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890633390-0L8O5V4Z75LII2U42Q89/hvchars.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - Changes and Cuts (Copy) Changes and Cuts During development we went over the new rules of play a number of times to make sure we were going about the best approach for our players. After much consideration we took a step back at one point and revised some of the mechanics to make things less complex and to better streamline the flow of the game. Initially the player was to go on the missions themselves along with the NPCs, and the player would have his/her own skills and stats to manage, including health and stamina. Ultimately we felt it was a little much for the players to manage both their own stats as well as their NPCs stats separately, and we preferred that the players focus on the NPCs to further push the character collecting aspect of the game. As a result, we dropped the idea of the player having his/her own stats in favor of a more simple experience point system (called "merits" for heroes and "demerits" for villains) used to track game progress and unlock later missions. Only minor changes had to be made to the home screen UI from my original high-fidelity mockup as a result of this mechanic being dropped. Additionally we altered the header from its original design to include a timer for players to know how long they had to earn act points for their sides, and we replaced a button on the footer to allow players to view their equipment inventory outside of the mission dialogs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890747289-V60IY3OL669LVQU8QDRR/hvchanges.jpg Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains Being a very small team developing this game, production was going slower than initially expected due to the lead developer's time being divided between this project and various other tasks. Faced with a hard deadline for releasing the beta, we were forced to prioritize some features in order to release on time. Our aim was still to give the players an entertaining new experience, even if we couldn't implement all of our planned ideas within the allotted timeframe. We had planned to include an additional multiplayer function where players could go on "group" missions with their friends for additional spoils. This feature required a substantial amount of time from the lead developer, who was still refining the core gameplay late in the development cycle, and so we ended up shelving it for beta, with hopes to revisit it post-launch. Additional missions and NPC characters were also cut from the beta release due to time constraints. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504890845237-WFQWXCXUPAANA924E5QJ/fill.png Brian Favia - Heroes v Villains - Launch and Post-Mortem (Copy) Launch and Post-Mortem Thanks to a pre-launch marketing campaign, we were able to build up a decent amount of hype for the game among Cellufun's community. About 620 registered users participated in the beta upon its release. Feedback from the beta players was generally positive: they liked the art style of the game and they enjoyed collecting the NPC characters and comparing their teams to their friends'. On the other hand, many players felt the game lacked in content, a criticism that we expected due to the aforementioned cuts for time. We were able to address the content issue by writing up additional missions in time for the game's full release, and we added some new NPCs to the game later as part of a tie-in with Cellufun's annual Halloween-themed game Hallofun. Unfortunately, the planned multiplayer feature ended up being scrapped for good following the lead developer's departure from the company. After a month in beta, Heroes v Villains launched full release to an audience of approximately 408,280 monthly unique visitors, a considerably smaller number compared to Cellufun's average monthly traffic when MOBile Wars launched back in 2009. Those who did play the game responded well to the UI design as well as the new features, and the game saw 22% more daily players in its first month of release compared to the last "Wars" game. All things considered, I am proud of my design work for Heroes v Villains and glad that we were able to satisfy the players who had grown tired of the old formula. Though various circumstances held back this game from reaching its full potential, I took this as a lesson in the importance of expecting the unexpected during development and better tailoring project ambitions when resources are limited. For more information on Heroes v Villains, visit the game's catalog page on Cellufun.   All images © Checkmate Heavy Industries LLC. https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/mobilechef-e2k9b monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504906659996-ZR0L1I9VW279YZMG5RG5/mchero.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - MOBILE CHEF (Copy) MOBILE CHEF Art Direction, UI Design Mobile Chef is a Cellufun game where players run a restaurant kitchen to complete food orders and earn mastery stars on their way to become a top chef. The game has 22 different restaurants to master, each with its own cuisenes and dining room interior upgrades to unlock. I served as Art Director and UI designer for this project. I also worked with UX designer Ryan Flynn, and fellow Cellufun artists Eric Santana and Adam Frizzel to create all the final images. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504906718103-ECP5R81EJV2EOV8OG02B/fill.png Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - Early Concepts (Copy) Early Concepts Mobile Chef was conceived as a restaurant simulation/time management game following the success of Cellufun's previous strategy game Farm World. The game was initially designed to play similar to other restaurant games like Diner Dash and Cake Mania, where players would manage multiple aspects of a restaurant including cooking, serving tables and upkeep (cleaning, restocking supplies, etc.). Other Cellufun players would be able to come into your restaurant as patrons and rate you for your service. I started with some initial concept sketches for these functions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504906795517-N647VXNPPWLNLYEDS8DO/mcsketches.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef Early in development, the team decided to simplify the game by doing away with the restaurant management gameplay. Instead the players would focus on cooking and filling orders, keeping the setting mainly in the kitchen. We added the concept of there being numerous restaurants to master with different types of cuisines to prepare in each, like Italian, Chinese, French, barbecue, etc. We would still allow players' friends to visit your restaurant to help complete orders faster for additional points for themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504906828192-C3OGVQ4CB92VVAL2LMXC/fill.png Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - Kitchen Interface (Copy) Kitchen Interface For the UI of the kitchen, I expanded upon the "cooking view (v2)" sketch above, with the idea that the players would tap the ovens to perform a task based on each one's current state. For example, if the oven was idle, tapping it would start cooking a dish from a given order ticket. Each oven (beginning with two, upgradeable to four) could cook one dish at a time, with each type of dish requiring a predetermined amount of real time to cook (alternatively, the player could tap an active oven again to finish the dish instantly by spending Funcoins, Cellufun's virtual currency). If an oven became dirty, the player would have to tap it to clean before it would become usable again (again, spend Funcoins to clean it instantly). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504906899001-25FSVVR3GA0IN02BS26T/mckwf.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef From here I began producing colored art for the kitchen UI. As Art Director I decided on a colorful illustrative style to allow the UI to pop, and to also match the style of Cellufun's in-game avatars. I drew and animated the art for the ovens, kitchen scene, cooking devices and food icons: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907014796-HLQAOMRHYRYRU8RFVEXG/mck1.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907020901-TWHVXZ8TRKL796T2IMPU/mck2.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef To indicate the dish being made and amount of cooking time remaining, I designed a number of different containers to display this information (seen below) before settling on the simple food icon display and the timer on the oven window. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907048508-IEWRHEG7MA9SJ33TIR79/mcoi.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef Meanwhile, Ryan worked on the heads-up display displayed above the dining room view to display the progress of the current order, the player's level and the restaurant's mastery. This HUD went through various concepts, starting with an art-heavy chalkboard concept and evolving to a more simplified design at the lead developer's request. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907089636-1QRMH8N9XELD3NZ7OKCG/mchud.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - Order Ticket Screen (Copy) Order Ticket Screen Mobile Chef required a separate dialog screen where players would choose what dishes to cook on their available ovens. In the early stages of development we originally planned to have the player choose the dishes to cook themselves and would have to master each dish over time to gain better ratings for their restaurant. For this design I conceived a chalkboard-style menu (like the early HUD concepts) showing the player dishes that were available to them and how far along towards mastery each one was. When the game's design was changed, we nixed the dish mastery aspect and instead had players cook specific dishes from a randomly-generated order, earning experience and restaurant mastery points for each ticket completed. The player could select from an "easy", "medium" or "difficult" order, which would determine the total number of dishes required to complete the ticket, the cost (cc) of each dish, and how much oven power (p) each one would use. With this change, I scrapped the chalkboard menu concept and designed a new screen resembling a traditional restaurant order ticket. The simple design of the ticket allowed the developer to built this screen mostly in code without needing an excessive amount of art assets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907141291-HZ7VKA1QFZQNL1MZIYKM/mcorder.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - Restaurant Art (Copy) Restaurant Art I designed Mobile Chef's kitchen UI to have the player "chef" look out into the restaurant's dining room area through a window above the cooking station. The dining room art would help distinguish each of the 22 different restaurants that the player could master in the game, and each restaurant's dining room can be upgraded in quality as the player earns more points. The dining room would start off with a basic interior design, with few visible patrons, and with each upgrade the room would become more crowded and better decorated. I worked with Eric and Adam to illustrate and animate the dining room art, with three different versions of each restaurant in all. Some samples below: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190244-6JPZFP98Y32NF3Q834T5/mcc1.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190288-MQDKGBYO85LWBRZLGAFH/mcc2.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190443-NIHTAVN1E2SPWW87PCED/mcc3.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190500-RK56CHRRNITD9CS7GYC5/mci1.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190599-LS3XFA8LPNWQVYE383AJ/mci2.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907190705-1HHOZ6EIDFU98JLLUV8O/mci3.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Chef In addition to the dining room art, the three of us also created names and logos for each of the restaurants based on their cuisine type and quality. Here are the ones I created: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907228131-U2TO4L7ERIL25XRDZW1Q/mclogos.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef - Final UI Designs (Copy) Final UI Designs All the different pieces of the UI came together well, giving the player the feeling of being behind a restaurant kitchen station. Minor alterations were made to the oven images late in production to accommodate the heights of the final HUD and dining room scenes, and to add a "power" bar that would drain as you use the oven and replenish when you clean it. Screenshots below: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1504907346932-GYJA1XV8RN7I8WKJBN56/mcfinal.jpg Brian Favia - Mobile Chef Given the high volume of art assets needed throughout the production timeline, everyone on the project team worked especially hard to get this game out on schedule. In the end, I was very happy with the results, as I feel it is still one of Cellufun's better-looking games. Players responded well to Mobile Chef's gameplay and art style, and it still brings in a respectable amount of traffic to this day.. For more info on Mobile Chef, visit the game's catalog page on Cellufun.   All images © Checkmate Heavy Industries LLC. https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/mall-match-6sre9 monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515617317767-J2Q4RFPOXW2EJXU1RR1C/hero.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match - MALL MATCH (Copy) MALL MATCH Art direction, 2D illustration, Branding Mall Match is a tile-based match-three game developed and published by SurrealVR. Players solve a variety of puzzles by swapping two adjacent pieces in order to create chains of matching colors. With a limited number of moves or time per puzzle, players must meet various goals like reach a high score, clear X number of specific color pieces, break X number of special tiles, and more. I served as the Art Director for Mall Match, designing most of the in-game backgrounds, icons, and miscellaneous art assets. I also designed the game's logo and branding, including its store catalog and marketing images. I worked alongside Lead Developer Arthur Goikhman and Lead Designer Orchun Koroglu on this project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515620325600-YIMK2VV7GF0ZXZZ8V1SF/phone-mockups.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515690533969-R5QKT6TM8A7BAAIBDLQ1/fill.png Brian Favia - Mall Match - Icons and Backgrounds (Copy) Icons and Backgrounds With the game's interface already done, I began by designing the game pieces that the players would interact with to solve the puzzles. Keeping with the mall theme, I illustrated shopping and commerce icons to represent the six match-able colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple), testing and checking the icons in the game to ensure they visually stood out from each other in both shape and hue. Each required three "special" variants: a vertical stripe that clears a whole column, a horizontal stripe that clears a whole row, and a "bomb" that clears out adjacent tiles in all directions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515690620611-53ND1TWKFFU2VZYXZYS0/icons.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match Next on my list was creating the game's level select map and backgrounds to fit the shopping mall theme. The game's 100 puzzles were divided into five groups of 20, with each group set in a different "world", so I came up with five different types of stores to visually represent the five worlds: clothing store, furniture gallery, electronics outlet, toy store and pet shop. Using Adobe Illustrator I designed the level select map to depict the player traversing through each store, with one seamlessly connecting to the next via escalators. Markers for each level/puzzle (placed in Unity) would guide the player thru each store on the map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515697630429-8AEQ5EBWUIBDBVJLVX5F/maps-1.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515697630482-QK5M4GC464HNBKFWFJLJ/maps-2.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515697631163-780XJTTQ3UOQF6FMBU74/maps-3.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match Likewise, I illustrated background images for the puzzles themselves for the five different stores. These were kept relatively simple and clean, as the gameplay elements had to stand out well in front of each one, especially the six color game pieces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515699206159-V2NSP6NATSB7NTGGJ6U1/BGs-1.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515699373618-93OQUGTL8V20F2UZOB3I/BGs-2.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515699373824-72CSWHIW4W8QEKP4S2TD/BGs-3.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515699374864-52ML81BEWAZASU81H3BM/BGs-4.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515699375153-I49S1TKNIMH7TH449VZQ/BGs-5.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match - Branding and Logo (Copy) Branding and Logo When it came time to decide on a title for the game, there initially was temptation to make a play on another well known match-three style game, but it was decided against this to avoid any potential legal conflicts. Instead, I suggested the name "Mall Match", among other alternatives, which ended up being most liked by the rest of the team. Once the rest of the game art was finished I fleshed out a title logo for the game, as well as design its banner image for the app store and for Cellufun.com. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515701166216-6D9AJ9BOI4RRQ330VOFU/logo.png Brian Favia - Mall Match https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1515701529586-KHSPESADVKCXUPEVGU0D/gp.jpg Brian Favia - Mall Match - Launch and Post-Mortem (Copy) Launch and Post-Mortem Mall Match was released on the Google Play app store, receiving generally positive reviews praising the game's art and addictive gameplay. The game was largely marketed to existing players on Cellufun, selling the game on the exclusive bonus prizes that could be won by playing. However many of the site's most frequent visitors expressed concern that they could not play the game because they did not own an Android device. To address this concern, we later published a web version of the game on Cellufun.com, allowing players to enjoy the game without having to download onto a compatible device, and also allowing them to use their existing Cellufun virtual currency balance for in-game purchases. To extend the life and replay value of the game, the team later implemented a subscription model, in which players could replay the game and win even more bonus prizes for Cellufun for a small monthly fee. All these prizes were created by me, ranging from avatar clothing to new and exclusive virtual pets for Mobile Pets. For more information on Mall Match, please visit the game's Google Play app store page.   All images © SurrealVR, Inc. https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/logo-design-6nagh monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681644823-C3M5DRSVNO8U8DGSNN2N/casino.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681647295-7AY5Y7BP7ZML2OJVR3E7/drone.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681649142-9VXA4Z4XEJOZU48FNJWA/mob.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681648669-SGCFNAJIEJUZEAV6FVBD/hvv.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681647778-3X0SXOVAHGWHNZU2PND4/mall.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681644515-3AGUS8BTFW606STLB846/cc.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681648669-8SS2E4QQA5BE9JDT7KSL/mg2.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681649366-IEJM0PPNMKLEACMWHVUJ/mpb.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681645674-O2EVD0ACEFBHFD9HXPF9/cmh.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1517681649468-CB1IEG207SW9CLF6CKMI/reveloot.png Brian Favia - Logo Design https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/mobilepets-s9cr7 monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600727857-SQIT5TJREK959FPS1J4R/bulldog-run.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Bulldog - running (Copy) Bulldog - running test https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600726972-WGWEWKUWNR6WV6O3LWQR/blacktuxedocat-happy.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Tuxedo cat - happy (Copy) Tuxedo cat - happy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600734473-MG374NEN59MNZ9C62LJJ/horse-hungry.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Painted horse - hungry (Copy) Painted horse - hungry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600729326-Y5KEPJPTAHTLHVI33MUL/bunnies.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Rabbits - tea party (Copy) Rabbits - tea party https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600732767-TV9AGLFIKKOY00IPWBCY/greytabbycat-laser-left.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Tabby cat - laser pointer (Copy) Tabby cat - laser pointer https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600736308-NRWA3OJZTZMALHUWY55A/superdog-happy.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Superdog - happy (Copy) Superdog - happy https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600735010-H1SUHQG7N8G6JALYZCCG/raven-poetry.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Raven - poetry reading (Copy) Raven - poetry reading https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600732661-3712Q8I5GTFRF4X39CRV/chimp-swing.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Chimpanzee - vine swinging (Copy) Chimpanzee - vine swinging https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600769075-GB9859GST2C2SXQZUY3X/cerberus-bad.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Hellhound - bad (Copy) Hellhound - bad https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600732070-FEVVPJH8YB29EVI93T40/blackdragon-bad.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Black dragon - angry (Copy) Black dragon - angry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600740363-0N5TJBJ9KRP6WFIAI0IB/unicorn.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Unicorn - magic spell (Copy) Unicorn - magic spell https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600725597-OPKWHZW04ZBJRBD31J1P/baldeagle-pose.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Eagle/hawk - strike a pose (Copy) Eagle/hawk - strike a pose https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505605509365-0WSUH4A66SFPB04EUW5X/brownsnake.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Python - slithering (Copy) Python - slithering https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600736360-CAYZM67G9DZG95QQUB3T/polarbear-treelighting.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Polar bear - tree lighting (Copy) Polar bear - tree lighting https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505605531677-YAZH3OVNCEVPCSHS2S6A/hens.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Hens - egg laying (Copy) Hens - egg laying https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600739412-44999G2AWIZ2K9FTFP19/trex.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - T-rex - demolition (Copy) T-rex - demolition https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505600740243-PPDE9T7BG2NK3QDGAU8W/wolf-omen.gif Brian Favia - Mobile Pets - Wolf - howling (Copy) Wolf - howling https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/ssdt-ktg9a monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506023786586-2LELX2M0GF1J22MSW123/hero.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown - SUPER SLAM DUNK TOUCHDOWN (Copy) SUPER SLAM DUNK TOUCHDOWN 2D Animation, 2D Game Art Super Slam Dunk Touchdown, is a retro-style 2D multiplayer sports game developed and published by indie game developer Tipping Goat. Combining elements of American football, basketball, hockey, soccer, baseball and roller derby, the game offers a team-based all-sports mashup driven by a 3D physics engine. Players assemble a crack squad of different sports athletes and use their unique shot styles and abilities to score goal units and demolish the opposing team. I was commissioned to create and animate a variety of 2D art assets for the game, adhering to an 8-bit pixel art style reminiscent of early Nintendo games. All art was created with Adobe Photoshop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506027812880-SBZ1RIFLNGKZETKD5U2G/ssdt1.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506027812842-7OY8NUNDE5BSTNHEJPKL/ssdt3.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown One of my bigger tasks was designing the four different playing fields: turf, ice rink, basketball court and street court. Each setting included a floor tile, center and goal line overlays, and unique background sprites cut into layers and assembled in Unity for proper overlapping. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340135-TGITDIX5NDQKGZYIYERA/basketball-disassembled.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340130-HQ17UCWT2TEZ3HPMNBHZ/hockey-disassembled.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340674-C3P1MMLJSHQN24EC8AB1/street-disassembled.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown In addition to the background art, I cleaned up and re-animated several existing player sprites, including new run cycles for the soccer and basketball players and a new idle animation for the football player. Additional player sprites were checked for consistency in highlights and shadows between frames of animations. I also drew and animated other in-game art assets, including the soccer/football/basketball hybrid goal, miscellaneous floor sprites, and trophy images for rewarding players. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340236-NKQ9G0VVQC0UZW9L92LC/players.gif Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340554-1XQJQIS7QTYW4TCH6O4A/sprites.gif Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506022340933-34WOX13BCK7UR6YU5Z39/tr.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown Lastly, the developer commissioned me to design a t-shirt graphic to promote the game. The shirt was given to backers of the game's Kickstarter campaign, and also given away during promotional events at GDC, PAX South, ID@Xbox and PAX West. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1506026895670-SGX8XWGQR1UA47PVXFBO/shirt.jpg Brian Favia - Super Slam Dunk Touchdown Super Slam Dunk Touchdown was released for Windows (Steam and Humble stores) and NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV. For more info on Super Slam Dunk Touchdown, visit the game's developer page.   All images and media © Tipping Goat, LLC. https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/descend-2axby monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757262138675-Z468ETLGT4RXH58MISAL/underworld-hero.jpg Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld - WARRIORS OF THE UNDERWORLD (Copy) WARRIORS OF THE UNDERWORLD Art Direction, UI/UX Design, 2D Illustration and Branding Warriors of the Underworld is a mobile game developed and published by Reveloot Games. Players traverse through various dungeons, battling enemies and descending down multiple levels in order to collect crystals that can be exchanged for better equipment. Along the way the player may come upon random items and encounters that could either aid or hinder their journey. I was the art director, UI/UX designer and lead illustrator for this game, and worked closely with Reveloot partners head Dan Martinelli and Aaron Van Blarcom to design this game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303249836-8V3FTKU34AP2AYMSOS8N/uw-ss1.jpg Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303267695-PP5TAE67IQFCCB64GJAD/uw-ss2.jpg Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303284971-HX0S31IV69MJT5R856JZ/uw-ss3.jpg Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757269483081-R93T1XCWN9OBOO6AXR7F/ui-early-versions.jpg Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld - Background Art (Copy) Background Art In addition to designing the user interface, I also illustrated background images for the various dungeons in Adobe Photoshop. Three different environments in total were released for the game: Murky Caves, Scorching Hellscapes, and Arctic Caverns. Below are a few samples of each: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303312578-ML18BX12EIW8IDX5FXHW/cave1.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303325447-FR2D1DMV2HRTIZ2GYC5W/cave2.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303339824-6Q6PH81D1EPGA69M3182/cave3.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303353189-84R6YS4JXX3WJZ285I0Q/cave4.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303382222-NWVL6N2VQD0IA1LLB2KX/hell1.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303401799-QVLZBQELGHKNDSOUL0NF/hell2.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303423455-J0N3I4E6I9KJA5BMGIKF/hell3.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303433763-K6YV7LTNOJ5389MNT9L7/hell4.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303457515-T4JLSROSOO1AVBZPMIKQ/ice1.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303467445-KN60BCVDERJY9Y5GLNKE/ice2.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303476681-7GNY2C6FXP9CSVC0KRHD/ice3.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757303497546-11ERU8ZIKLXOF0Z41AW7/ice4.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld - Title and Splash Image (Copy) Title and Splash Image Lastly, I design the game’s title logo and illustrated the “hero” image used for the game’s marketing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1757271461244-PZ4RF0FFUI4C1C5D12HK/gp-feature.png Brian Favia - Warriors of the Underworld Warriors of the Underworld was released on the Google Play store and received warm reviews from players. The base game containing the Murky Caves environment was free to play, with the other two environments made available as micro-transactions. A sequel to the game is currently in development with a planned 2026 release. All images © Reveloot LLC. https://www.brianfavia.com/portfolio/dronefighters-frs9w monthly 0.5 2026-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505075568182-R77189HFJDT33U7ZBIGB/hero.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - DRONE FIGHTERS (Copy) DRONE FIGHTERS 3D Art, UX Design, Branding, 2D Illustration Drone Fighters is a virtual reality multiplayer game developed and published by SurrealVR. Players control their own weaponized drones in virtual 3D space and battle against other players in online matches. The game is compatible with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift VR headsets, utilizing both platforms' motion controllers for flying and shooting. For this game I designed the game's logo and animated title sequence, and I illustrated texture maps for the drone and avatar 3D models. I also consulted on the game's user experience, providing usability testing and feedback on the game's input controls. I worked alongside Lead Developer Arthur Goikhman and Lead Designer Orchun Koroglu on this project https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505707478626-010VD2BSSPAIV5L5XGFQ/6.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - Overview (Copy) Overview In Drone Fighters, the player (represented by a customizable avatar) operates a remote control drone outfitted with one of several projectile weapons made available in the game. Players engage their drones in one-on-one matches, with the goal of shooting down the opposing player's drone before the clock runs out. Having designed Drone Fighters from the ground up for virtual reality, our team faced whole new opportunities and challenges in designing the game's user experience. One common issue that so many VR applications must address is minimizing user motion sickness due to the VR headsets' inherent latency issues. We were able to resolve this early in the design by keeping the player avatar and VR camera fixed to one spot in the scene, and giving the player the perspective of controlling the drone from the ground. Camera movement is restricted to only head rotation, thereby eliminating any forward motion that could potentially disorient the user. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505773350117-QV2INNDWW68EB8D2TJBI/1stperson.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - Control Testing (Copy) Control Testing Finding the right control scheme for Drone Fighters proved to be a more complicated task. Because modern VR platforms are still relatively new to the consumer market, we knew there would naturally be some learning curve for new users. The challenge, however, lied in mapping three axes of movement, two weapon triggers, and a point-to-aim system on the motion controllers for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in a way that feels most natural to the player. The first control scheme for testing used the left hand controller's gyroscope to move the drone along its pitch and roll axes, and the up/down directional buttons for the yaw axis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505791387555-OBX7G425HO5Q82SNEKY8/controlvid1.gif Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR In my initial playtest sessions, I found myself repeatedly trying to use the left/right directional buttons to move on the pitch axis instead of using the gyroscope, which of course did not work. Having spent a considerable portion of my childhood holding a Nintendo controller, I felt that if the up/down buttons controlled one direction, then naturally the left/right buttons should control another. In addition, I struggled to move on the roll axis because the way I was bending my wrist was not registering as the correct motion. This was due to the motion input being recorded bending at the elbow, not the wrist (this was later adjusted to accommodate both). We got a sample of 20-30 people to do additional playtesting of the game with this control scheme. For most of these testers, this was their first virtual reality experience of any kind. Feedback on the controls were split: some liked the gyroscopic controls, others struggled to get used to them. We found that testers with past experience playing video games had an easier time adapting, while a few testers even requested a different control layout more akin to a real physical drone controller, with the yaw axis on the opposite hand. What I observed was that the gyroscope controls were producing mixed results, varying from tester to tester due to each person's arm movements being slightly different. Reflecting back on my own experience, I felt the game would benefit from an alternative control scheme that prioritized button input over motion for a more consistent experience. Discussing the sample group's feedback in addition to my own, I recommended that the game offer multiple control options, including one that maps pitch movement to the directional buttons along with the yaw movement. In the end the developers made three different VR control options for the game: the original "Arcade" mode, a "Mix" mode with my recommended movement changes, and a "Drone RC Mode" for players wanting a more true-to-life setup. Orchun and I also recorded demo videos to accompany the control options in the game's settings menu. Feedback during the game's open beta was more positive: while each setup still had a learning curve, most players were able to find one that worked for them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505790365201-AT6GEB1L7377NEQW6NYL/controls1.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - Branding, Title Sequence and Cover Art (Copy) Branding, Title Sequence and Cover Art I was tasked with creating a logo for the game as well as animating its startup title sequence. The logo's design was inspired by various pilot wing insignias, incorporating a quadcopter propeller ring into both the icon and lettering. I gave the high-fidelity renderings of the logo a brushed steel texture to match the game's gritty environments, and split blue/red lighting to reflect the 1-vs-1 gameplay. The animated title sequence appears in front of the player, with the VR headset on, when the application is launched. We decided to keep it short and simple: pieces of the logo emerge from the shadows around the player and fly into place. I modeled and animated the logo in Autodesk Maya, then imported the sequence into Unity to set up the lighting and materials. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706936519-UQNB6IQWURH90L62A3LD/coverart.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505834700914-OMZFBV38KCZXXU2V8MCW/poster.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706936519-STB01S6WUA6WXE78MPP3/steam.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - Drone Texture Maps (Copy) Drone Texture Maps In addition to the branding and UX design, I also contributed to some of the in-game 3D art. We already had the drone models and some simple color textures; it was my task to create additional, more detailed "skins" for the drones that players could unlock as they progressed. Using the models' existing UV maps and Adobe Photoshop, I went to work designing a few different sets of texture maps for each of the four drone types. After making a quick batch of camouflage textures (including forest, snow and desert patterns), I illustrated from scratch two unique sets of sci-fi themed designs, inspired by Battlestar Galactica and Portal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706913759-KALP8URRZG1VG6OPH8HE/drone4.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706913350-ZBA94P92S3T9FST4U6LO/drone1.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706913604-9CBQQPRDU51SOKV1OLK4/drone3.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59a9e381e45a7c3665b9619b/1505706913352-UWN3WKMYAP8D32B9APGG/drone2.jpg Brian Favia - Drone Fighters VR - Release and Post-Mortem (Copy) Release and Post-Mortem Drone FightersVR was released on the Steam (Early Access) and Viveport stores late Spring 2017. Reviews were favorable overall: most reviewers praised the fun gameplay and variety of options, while also commenting on the learning curve of the controls. To make the game more accessible and broaden its audience, we pushed an update that included a non-VR mode with a modified interface for regular PC players. We also added support for non-VR input controls, including keyboard/mouse and Windows-compatible gamepads. A multiplayer expansion titled Arena was released on Steam later that summer. Arena added two new multiplayer modes: a battle royale-style Deathmatch mode allowing 3 or more players to fight simultaneously, and a Team Deathmatch mode allowing teams of 2 or more to battle it out. Both Drone Fighters and Arena were included in indiegala's Virtual Reality XIII bundle, and both were ported to Sony Playstation with PSVR support. For more info on Drone Fighters, visit the game's developer page. All images and media © SurrealVR, Inc. 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