Lilac House Arcade - Game Project

Jean giving Wattson an interplanarean egg. The nascent power of the titanic creature’s egg gives protection in the dimension of the dead besides containing anti gravitational properties.

Jean is the main character of the game and who the player controls on his adventure. His outfit in the Arcade, the result of a union with his childhood stuffed animal, is a visual representation of obtaining his pearl upon crossing to the lower plane.

Jean's outfit contains elements linked to rest, dreams, and childhood imagination, such as his hood that resembles rabbit ears, his slippers like large furry paws, his skirt, padded like a blanket.

Open Eye and Closed Eye, materializations of the protagonist's psyche, representing sensory perception and its connection with the unconscious. They represent the polar forces of the arcade, aiding in navigating both facets of the threshold world.

While he aids the player with his items that are useful to advance in the Arcade, in addition to being who the player must communicate with to unlock the games, his help always comes at a cost, never missing an opportunity for profit.

She grew up watching her community prosper and fall into ruin due to exploitative systems, which made Moira lock herself in the basement corridors and begin her long art project of recording the entire history of the house in fabric.

knitting with her long hair of wool and sharp needle nails, trapped in the center of her own web of stories.

Because they are in a state between the Material World and the Underworld, the inhabitants of the Sub-Material Sea exist as "colloids", an imperfect mixture of their body and their mental state, physically manifesting their emotions and personalities.

Petal is the leader of the Crystal Masks clan and cult. Due to the grudge she has against her mentor, after she left the theater in a conflict between the two of them, Petal became closed, perfectionist and moralistic.

Her pearl is that of suppression, for its ability to contain the physical manifestation of her internal world and that of others. However, at the center of her theater's stage, out of sight, she returns to her "imperfect" form which she keeps secret.

Bivolt was part of a legendary hacker duo from the Arcade’s recent history, the Shockerz. He and Short-Fuse modified the games, changed the machines by adding surprises, discovered ways to exploit them to get more tickets.

The player, by completing his mission, can help him remember his story, making him confront his last moments with Short-Circuit and his true feelings towards his friend, the price of the silence never broken.

The arcade floats in the ocean contained between the Material Plane — domain of the palpable and concrete — and the Underworld — domain of the dead, of the fictitious and oblivion. This ocean is called the Sub-Material Sea.

A monter inhabits the Arcade’s cellar. The giant creature floats, hiding from the spotlights inbetween the corners of the architecture, its cage, the stage’s structure. Wandering through the shadows of the theater’s stairs, equipment and scenery.

Cellar monster early sketches

Jean is trasnsported to the Arcade inside an interplanarian. Interplanarians are colossal flying worms who travel between the Material Plane and the Submaterial Sea.

Little is known about them but some believe that, from their behavior, they have a mysterious connection to the Underworld, antigravitational powers, and the secret of interplanar shifting, through the breaking of the Metaphysical Barrier.

Initially Jean would receive a different outfit based on which Arcade clan the player chose to join, in a branching storyline.

Early jean design sketches

Jean's design and personality reflect his place in history, his search for knowledge, his non-belonging, entering adulthood as a transitional and confusing stage, and the search for answers in his imagination.

Wattson early exploration. I tried capturing a balance between retrofuturism and y2k styles while also representing his connection to the place and technology through electricity.

Moira changed a lot during production as I refined her elements and broke her character in two, Moira, the seamstress, and Star Disco, the diva, her adoptive sister.

The player interviews a soul by choosing a sequence of three out of four questions. Based on the responses of the spirits, represented on screens as abstract static, the player must grant one of their memories recorded on discs.

Mouses roam the abadoned parts of the arcade, you can get one as a friend and use them to solve puzzles. They can access documents in computers and like to eat technological scraps.

Environment concept art

Moira is the biggest source of historical information about the place and is capable of deciphering and rearranging fragments of old documents.

Mirtilo and Pistache are the Arcade's mascots. They can be found in various details across the place, being present in the architecture, in prints, such as the carpet’s, statues, minigames in the cabinets, items in the stores, among others.

I had to create many documents scatereed through the Arcade to help tell its story. For them used a mix of editorial ilustration, 3D and digital collage.

A locker that, due to the memories and secrets it keeps, and under the influence of the Sub-Material plane, obtains consciousness.
It seeks Jean's help to free itself from the weight of the memories it carries.

The fish machine contains five colorful goldfish-shaped spirits, each of a different color.
The beings swim in circles in the narrow glass globe, few feet away from the largest body of water in all the planes. If only they could live freely…

The map was first though out in its layout and camera positioning, since the game uses a fixed camera system.

Game UI screenshots

In 'Techinical difficulties' one of the Arcade minigames you control Mirtilo in a match against Pistache inside the game circuits, trying to damage the enemy's cogs in a pong match.

In 'Dalí's Dream' the player controls an eye that flutters away from sharp blades, crying inky tears. As you play the game your tears fill the background sky in a monochrome twilight.

For the thesis presentation the game was exhibited and projected as well as its manual, inviting guest to interact with the artworks.

I created a manual with art, information and tips about the game, inspired by ps2 manuals. This feature helps in bringing the player closer to the main character in his quest of collecting and researching documents and revealing mysteries.