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Hekka Fresh Games | Space Critters™| B27 and Friends
Space Critters™ and B27 and Friends Puzzle Arcade, are free to play games, where you must fill the meter before time runs out. Similar to a match-3 game the player must chain together multiple combos to earn big wins. Space Critters™ is available on the iOS and Amazon Store. B27 and Friends available on Google Play.
Iconography | Store Items | Game Tiles
Store Items are separated into two categories, individual items and packages. Packages are color coded. Gold being the most expensive, blue being the most affordable.
Design goal: Create a consistent look for each tile that is easy, efficient to replace and follows the theme of the style guide.
Gameplay Tiles are the main tiles that the player will interact with. Each level has one of four repeatable color tiles with an on/off state. They are containers for the level's primary fruit.
Challenge Tiles appear before a level challenge.
The Frozen Tile Challenge has the periodic table symbol for water in an ice block. The electricity challenge design has the universal high voltage symbol.
XP Items One set per level. Each item has three states that change as the player progresses through the level.
Iconography | Buttons On & Off States | Earnables
Level Indicators
Before starting a level, the player will see a Level Indicator with a fruit displayed at the top of their menu. I designed the Indicator bubble shape with two layers; a transperant glossy layer for the front and a gradient background layer. This design allows an easy plug in of each fruit according to the level it is featured on.
Stage Design
Space Critters™/B27 is separated into 5 different stages of 20 levels. The design for each stage corresponds with the main story quest. Stage 1: Farmland, Stage 2: Volcano Area, Stage 3: Sky, Stage 4: Space, Stage 5: The Moon. When combined with the correct gameplay tiles the theme of each stage begins to take shape.
In-Game Tile Animations
I created an animated preview for each Gameplay Tile on After Effects. Each preview is intended to demonstrate exactly how every tile should function on a live game board. Once each animation preview was finalized, I separated the individual layers and exported into Adobe Animate for SpriteSheet creation.
Spritesheets
In total I created 121 SpriteSheets that make up all of the In-game animations. The SpriteSheets are mainly designed for efficiency. They also solved the huge design problem of not having the skills or resources to create assets on 3d Modeling Software. SpriteSheets allowed me to manually animate every aspect of the game and provide a developer with assets that could be plugged directly into the game.
By stacking SpritSheets together we can easily combine the tomato and orange tile into one "Fruit Tile". When the Fruit Tile appears on the board, both SpriteSheets are triggered causing a seamless animation to play. (See above) This Fruit Tile can appear at random multiple times until the level ends. All 20 levels have one variation of a Fruit Tile and numerous animating game tiles that function in the same manner. The SpriteSheets are pixel perfect to allow all gameplay elements and visuals to be easily updatable.
WaterKing Beam
This is one of the main gameplay mechanics in Space Critters™/B27. The player loses when the board fills up with the tiles that carry an X. This beam will clear out those tiles. In order to use it the player must first collect enough matching tiles to fill the meter. Filling the meter allows the player to activate the beam and then select which column to shoot.
This creates the main gameplay loop where the player constantly has to clear out the X's using the beam in order to collect enough Fruit Tiles to beat the level before time runs out.
The design of this mechanic is intended to spur a fun interaction that keeps the player engaged. Visually the color chosen contrasts from the rest of the tiles on the game board to highlight importance.
Animated Transitions
I designed/animated, the Countdown Clock, Level Up, and Foam animations to create a sense of urgency and reward during game play.
Countdown Clock is a simple notification animation designed to stress out the player if they aren't ready to begin.
When the player takes Fruit Tiles off the game board each tile turns into a green orb that will float into the tube causing the foam to rise. The Foam animation is designed to show the player they are getting closer to their goal.
Reaching the top earns a medal and advances the player to the next tier where the level changes in difficulty. A minute is added. The XP Items on the game board change into their next state as a visual que to show the player they have advanced. *XP change not shown in animation. Please see game :)
Stage Mock Ups
These mock ups were provided to the developers as a visual representation to build the game. They are designed to demonstrate the final look and feel for each stage.
UX
My UX is designed for the game's target audience (kids and families). The UX is easy to understand. It is fun to look at. The visual design along with user flow, easily guides the player from the load screen, into gameplay, and allows easy access to tutorials and other menus. With my UX, it was very important to take a "show instead of tell" approach with the design. My UX design is intended to create interactions that are visual, with little to no wording to avoid major localization issues. Space Critters™/B27 has launched in over 100 countries.
Localized in Spanish | Pop Up Screens
Space Critters™/B27 is currently only localized in Spanish for a Latin American Audience. These pop up screens appear through out the game to help guide the player or provide tips.
Marketing Design | Landing Page
The landing page for SpaceCrittersGame.com is designed mainly for conversions. It provides the user with links to the available product pages. It provides links to the merchandise page and social media pages. The design for the landing page keeps the light hearted fun branding style of Space Critters™.
User Acquisition Design
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