ATLAS / IDEAS

Game design atlas

Find a mechanism, understand its tradeoffs and smallest useful scope, then build your game with a design card and sample project.

192 Mechanisms32 Mechanism domain48 Art styles12 Genre guides

Art styles My research shelf Rain Canopy Workshop · Try the complete prototype Pixel toolkit

A pastel sunset over the sea, mint palms, marble arches and a checkerboard terrace.

Art styles

Vaporwave aesthetic

Dusk pink, electronic cyan, and a perspective grid share the frame. The nostalgia comes from outdated statues and interface shapes, not from a distress filter.

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Pink, cyan, and purple lead; yellow is only a small sign
One grid, one column, or one palm is enough
Gradients are large and shapes are few; any lettering is part of the picture
Glitches and scan lines stay sparse so hotspots remain readable

Reference gamesParadise Killer · Broken Reality

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A cyclist silhouette crosses a bridge in a navy city lit by cyan and magenta neon.

Art styles

Neon-night aesthetic

Most of the frame stays dark, and only a few glowing edges do the work. Readability comes from light lines on a dark ground, not from lighting everything.

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The background is held down; neon outlines an edge or a small patch of floor
Glowing colors stay within three, at different brightness
Rain and reflections can extend the light without melting the silhouette
Danger keeps one stable bright color, and collectibles use another

Reference gamesSayonara Wild Hearts · Katana ZERO

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Covers are original AI-generated style illustrations. Game names reference publicly visible design choices and remain the property of their owners. This atlas does not supply screenshots or assets from those games. Prompts and combinations are original drafts for new games.