Scope
For my senior-level digital media course, I tasked myself with designing a narrative-driven beat ’em up game concept that centers underrepresented voices particularly focusing on Black and Brown communities for people of color and specifically women of color.
The project required me to focus on visual design, concept art, and brief narrative writing to develop stylized characters and immersive environments, while exploring themes of friendship, rivalry, and personal growth.
Through community research and authentic storytelling, I created a foundation for a game that blends action, interactive exploration, and culturally rich narratives within a nostalgic early 2000s-inspired visual style.
Challenges
Crafting a game narrative/design that authentically represents Black and Brown communities, especially women of color, without relying on stereotypes or tokenism.Translating insights from community research into meaningful design decisions that resonate with the target audience.Conveying complex character relationships, personality, and story through primarily visual and environmental design, rather than extensive text or cutscenes.Navigating pressures to “market-ize” the game while preserving the specificity and cultural authenticity that make the project meaningful.
Solution
Rooting every character in real-life inspiration(friends and family)and validating those portrayals through direct community research to ensure authenticity and respect.Designing interactive environments as storytelling tools, using objects, colors, and spatial details to reveal backstory and mood visually, reflecting community feedback.Drawing from early 2000s culture: music, fashion, food, and vibrant palettes to create a visual and tonal identity that feels nostalgic yet fresh.Integrating community voices throughout the creative process to refine and validate design choices, creating a game that genuinely speaks to its audience.
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
