Zombie Slayer Idle

Isometric 2D roguelite AFK idle game where the player is stationary and shoots enemies, levels up, and upgrades passes.

Engine

Unity

Team

8 people

Role

Environmental Artist / Producer / UI Designer

Duration

3 months

Art Style

Pixelated

Gallery

Overview

Zombie Slayer Idle is an isometric 2D roguelite AFK idle game where the player is stationary and must shoot enemies, level up, and upgrade passes. The game features a pixelated art style and was developed over a three-month period with an eight-person team.

Responsibilities

As the Environmental Artist, Producer, and UI Designer, the role encompassed creating all UI elements, designing and producing all environmental art, and keeping the team on track through the creation of ASG documents, GDD documents, and TDD documents. The project was managed by finding a manageable theme that could be completed within the time period, assessing everyone's capabilities, and assigning tasks accordingly. Weekly checklists were created for the team to ensure we stayed on schedule.

UI Design

I designed and created all UI elements for Zombie Slayer Idle, including menus, buttons, stat displays, upgrade systems, and boss interfaces. The UI maintains the pixelated art style consistent with the game's aesthetic, ensuring a cohesive visual experience throughout all player interactions.

UI Design Showcase

A comprehensive collection of UI elements created for the game, organized by category.

Main Menu & Navigation

Main Menu

Main Menu

Play Button

Play

Settings

Settings

Credits

Credits

Quit

Quit

Game UI Elements

Game UI

Game UI

Health Bar

Health Bar

XP Display

XP Display

Blank UI

Blank UI

Character Idle

Character Idle

Upgrade & Shop Systems

Upgrades

Upgrades

Upgrade

Upgrade

Upgrade Type & Amount

Upgrade Type & Amount

Passive Shop

Passive Shop

Price

Price

Amount

Amount

Stats & Attributes

Stats

Stats

Current Stats

Current Stats

Attack Damage

Attack Damage

Attack Speed

Attack Speed

Attack Range

Attack Range

Progression & Evolution

Level Up

Level Up

Level Up Variant

Level Up Variant

Evolve

Evolve

Genes

Genes

Antigen

Antigen

Antigen Upgrades

Antigen Upgrades

Bosses & Enemies

Boss

Boss

The Infernal Warlord

The Infernal Warlord

The Plague Colossus

The Plague Colossus

Game States & Menus

Pause

Pause

Paused

Paused

Pause Button

Pause Button

Resume

Resume

Restart

Restart

Return

Return

Retry

Retry

Game Over & Victory

Victory

Victory

Defeat

Defeat

Game Over

Game Over

UI Components & Assets

Buttons

Buttons

Skill Cards

Skill Cards

Text Borders

Text Borders

Credit

Credit

X Button

X Button

Asset and Texture Strategy

The project utilized 2D pixel art sprites created at 64x64 resolution. A character artist handled all character and enemy assets, while a prop artist created skill assets. Environmental assets were produced as part of the environmental art responsibilities, all maintaining the consistent 2D pixel art style.

Process

The process began with creating reference art for the environment, then moved to creating the environmental assets. Level designers were tasked to implement and set dress the environments to allow focus on additional tasks. After the environmental work was completed, focus shifted to documentation and UI creation, while maintaining weekly checklists for everyone to complete to ensure we didn't fall behind schedule.

Lessons Learned

This project taught me the importance of balancing multiple roles effectively. As both Environmental Artist and Producer, I learned to manage my own creative work while keeping the team on track through documentation and clear communication.

Creating all UI elements alongside environmental art required careful time management. I developed systems like weekly checklists and ASG/GDD/TDD documents that helped the team stay organized and meet deadlines.

Working with a pixelated 2D art style at 64x64 resolution taught me the value of working within constraints. Every pixel mattered, and I learned to maximize visual impact with minimal resolution.

The experience of briefly managing both environmental art and UI before handing off UI responsibilities reinforced the importance of recognizing when to delegate to maintain quality across all areas of a project.