Project: Magnus Chase

What it's about: A game to promote the new series of books, "Magnus Chase." The game recreates a scene from the book where the main character must flee the giant squirrel, "Ratatoskr", through the branches of "Yggdrasil."

Rough model: To start, a rough model of the play area is created, showing the trunk of the tree and various branches that the player can walk on. Red lines indicate where the player cannot go. This model is then tested for playability.

Preliminary art: After adjustments are made to improve playability, it's time to add the background. Enemies (in the form of wolves) are also added. It's time for testing again. Can the player make it to the goal in the upper right corner of the scene?

Final art: The place-holder art is replaced with the final art for the branches and the collision areas are hidden. In this game, only a portion of the scene is visible at any time, making traveling among the branches more challenging. All told, this game (and supporting materials) took about two weeks to create from start to finish.