UI/UX Design, Technical Art.

PoN! A Ilha dos Tatus

PoN! A ilha dos tatus! Is a mobile multiplayer action game and educational initiative by Danskkultur Institut – Instituto Cultural da Dinamarca, financed by EUNIC – European National Institutes for Culture. The game is targeted to teenagers, aiming to address the subject of climate change and activism, based on the theory of the sociologist Bruno Lateur, entitled Politics of Nature.

As UI/UX Designer I was responsible for designing the user flow and user interface, setting up unity prefabs and animating them, implementing what I could without C# and then properly handing it to a programmer. I've also contributed with diverse asset integration and scene setups.

UI Reel

UI/UX Design

Working closely with the Creative director of the project, we've decided to use Cordel Literature as a visual reference since it's a part of the cultural heritage of Brazil, specially because the environments of the game were inspired by the Brazilian biomes.

Cordel Literature uses xylogravure to print it's booklets, which defines a distinct aesthetic I took as inspiration for the interface elements such as buttons, panels, icons, HUD and font choice.

Since the target audience was under aged, I made a collection of stickers so players could communicate in game without the safety risks for text based communication. They ended up being useful for marketing and other graphical materials.

In PoN!, the player engages in cooperative matches for up to 6 players, they can play offline solo, create or join online matches and choose in between different maps.

The user flow planned for the main menu:

Some main menu screens:

In the current version of the game, the armadillo's color is randomized in between players, in the original design it was planned to be personalized by the players in the following screen.

Conclusion

PoN! was the first project I've worked on at Ilex Games and that's one of the reasons it is in a special place in my memory. Back in 2022, here was the first C# line I attempted in an unity project, the first struggles with unity canvas, prefab hierarchy, animator controllers and so on.

I appreciate all the guidance and knowledge that came from the more experienced folks I've worked with in this game. Thanks, a shout out to you all!