Saga Skye

Saga Skye is an online multiplayer game and learning platform used by public schools to support student's math learning. Skye and its integrated math tools have been used in over sixteen school districts by thousands of students and math tutors across the United States. Data-driven methods are used to provide students a path to educational equity.

I joined the Skye project as it was greenlit and in need of capable creators to bring it to life. I had worked on one game prior to this, but for the rest of my team this was new territory. Identifying potential problems and finding creative solutions was vital. With the collaboration of artists, engineers, curriculum writers, and producers I helped guide Skye from a CFT concept to a finished game that captured student learning data, and provided tutors with teaching solutions.

Overworld

Skye consists of seven unique islands connected by bridges and one secret island accessible by teleportation. The islands exist on an isometric grid that players traverse by completing math lessons and by accumulating currency to build bridges to new islands. Once students reach the seventh island, day turns to night and they are able to experience new adventures awaiting them on each island.

Palm Inlet

Cherry Hills

Winter Pines

Sulfur Springs

Sunflower Fields

Metro Square

The Wetlands

Ergesh

Characters

Skye is home to twenty-one unique NPCs and three variable drone NPCs. These colorful characters not only flesh out the world of Skye, but serve to deliver quest information and lessons to student players. Working on these delightful designs and personalities was a personal highlight. Let me introduce you to a few of them and the process used to make them.

Hopper

Hockey Player

Stinky

Bodega Owner

Criquet

Cave Dweller

NPC Drones

I made sure to make a mammal, reptile, and bird NPC drone to avoid mammalian bias. And because I like lizards. NPC drones were color swapped, re-posed, and sometimes given themed costumes in each island to indicate they were unique individuals.

Character Development

As Art Director, I worked with my team to brainstorm potential characters, backstories, and names. I ensured that everyone had an opportunity to make significant contributions to these fun characters, and tasked those team members with researching cultures and animals as they submitted designs. Designs were subject to a few rounds of notes before I took them to further refine.

I explored different solutions and shapes for characters and interpreted them to fit within Skye's art style and scale. The finished character sheets included photo reference and notes to clarify details and give context for those who worked with the characters next.

These character sheets became the guides for vectorized key art 3D models used throughout the game and math curriculum.

Key Art

I made the decision to use vector art for the final images instead of pixel art to maintain image quality through all of its applications. 2D key art like Hakeem the hyena above were used in mini games, dialogue boxes, and math learning materials.

3D Model

The character sheet, notes, and photo reference were given to the 3D artist to create the in-game model and pose it in the game map. The modeler and I often held work live work sessions to fine tune the character's colors and pose to best support Skye's story.

As students explore Skye, they discover these 3D models and interact with them to progress the story, read flavor text, or receive quests.

Locations

Each island in Skye is a unique habiat capable of having a climate, season, and history unlike any other island.

Concept Art

Once an island's theme is determined, I brainstormed with my team to produce a list of possible buildings, happenings, and points of interest. As Art Director I collected the ideas and steered them to have a cohesive vision that fit with the island's theme.

Next, our team pulled research images and mapped out sketches of buildings on the isometric grid that imitated the perspective of the in-game graphics. I provided notes and direction to keep the work in line with each island's needs. Once approved, the 3D artist built out models.

3D Model

Color Map

In-Game Assets

Buildings and assets were created in Blender based from detailed concept art. I designed limited color palettes for each island by choosing colors from Skye's overworld color scheme. Completed assets were then placed in the game world and positioned to be best observed in isometric perspective. I reviewed colors, lighting, and placement with the 3D artist until each world was fully realized and developed environmental storytelling.

Guidance

Throughout the process I provided feedback, photo reference, and drawings to clearly inform teammates of needed changes in a way that could easily understood and tracked. Feedback was delivered through video conversations, text chats, and file shares tailored to how each contributor best received and processed complex information.

Illustrations and Assets

Talk about the different needs: Take a Break screens, Campsite screens, dialogue boxes, UI and working with Megan, video features with Denise, bug testing with engineers, animations, Equivicards, etc.

Video Backgrounds

Collaboration between my team and the Producer team lead to the creation of instructional videos found within Skye. Shots would be rendered from Blender, touched up in Photoshop, then spliced together with video for a quirky, in-game world effect.

Step 1

Our 3D artist set up shots in Blender, but it was difficult finding the right framing for what would become a live action video. Problem solving with our Creative Director led us to develop an in-Blender dummy that could be used to frame shots more accurately for the future video.

Step 2

The renders from Blender were wonderfully framed, but lacked atmosphere and pizazz. I developed a Photoshop treatment for these point of view scenes that gave them more heart and a lived-in feeling.

Step 3

I taught my team how to reproduce this aesthetic and gave feedback as appropriate so our team delivered consistent work. This Photoshop treatment took the clinical-looking Blender renders and polished them into cozy scenary.

Step 4

I worked closely with our Producer team for the videos because the pipeline started and ended with them. They sent us their plans for videos, I and my team created the backgrounds, the Producers created the video recordings, then combined the illustration and live action. The effect is charming!

See more examples of Take a Break typography in Design & Typography.

Take a Break Screen

Skye encourages students to practice healthy screen time by interjecting lessons with a Take a Break screen. I illustrated a screen for each island based on its theme, combining hand drawn typography and illustration.

Mini Games

While Skye's overworld is a mainline game, we included plenty of mini games to spice up the experience. This included two card games, matching games, puzzles, and dice games. Many were designed to be played with classmates in order to instill cooperation or friendly competition. Learning is more fun with games.

Lobby Screen

We developed lobby screens themed to each island where students and teachers begin their online lesson. A team member or myself used Blender to scout potential lobby compositions, render the best shots, then bring the image into Photoshop to increase its level of polish.

User Interface

Skye required interfaces for navigating dialogue boxes, menus, games, lessons. We wanted our menus to echo the sharp angled, low poly graphics of our in-game models. We also folded in partners like MATHIA to provide diverse learning opportunities for our students.

Assembling the Parts

The final game of Skye was an effort of close collaboration between my creative team, math content creators, and engineers. Units of the game were passed between these three departments as we worked together to create a game that felt great to play, functioned well on an online browser, and effectively taught students foundational mathematics. I'm proud to say that our game has been played and enjoyed by thousands of students across the USA and has been a key factor of their scholastic success.

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