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

An original pear courier with curved rubber limbs leaps through a painted garden.

Art styles

Rubber-hose cartoon

Soft curved limbs and exaggerated poses let a character bend like a rubber hose. Motion rhythm and silhouette define the style; black and white is only one palette choice.

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Joints may disappear while movement direction and contact points stay clear
Anticipation leads into an exaggerated action and a readable settling pose
A rich painted backdrop leaves key character poses as simple large shapes
Film grain stays subtle and never flickers over text, hit areas or warnings

Reference gamesCuphead · MOUSE: P.I. For Hire

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Ink contours, blue-red color blocks and halftone dots depict a courier jumping a street gap.

Art styles

Comic halftone

Ink contours, solid color groups and regular printed dots build an interactive comic image. Dots handle tone; panel-like framing and motion marks emphasize events without hiding rules.

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Contours separate character and scenery before dots add selected midtones
Dot size is designed for the final display so thumbnails avoid distracting moire
Motion strokes, framing and impact shapes highlight events rather than filling every moment
Text and interaction markers sit on clean areas away from shaded texture

Reference gamesVoid Bastards · XIII - Classic

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Indigo and vermilion woodblock shapes depict a mountain village, river and traveler.

Art styles

Ukiyo-e

Flat color areas and clean printed edges make the space feel like a sheet that has been laid open. Front and back come from overlap, not from strong perspective.

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Few inks, with a clean edge on every shape
Waves, clouds, and wind may repeat, while the character stays quiet
Space can be scattered; order comes from which shape covers another
Seals and frames easily compete with buttons, so use them rarely

Reference gamesGetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon · Okami HD

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Art styles

Manuscript illustration

People, buildings, text and ornament belong to a shared page. Flat pictorial space and page structure work together.

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Use contours and flat color fields
Ornament leaves room for reading
Keep functional text legible

Reference gamesPentiment · Inkulinati

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Art styles

Classical painting collage

Painting fragments form new scenes through consistent scale, light and narrative relationships. Cutting and recombining are visible design choices.

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Align figure and building scale
Balance values across fragments
Keep contacts and occlusion understandable

Reference gamesFour Last Things · The Procession to Calvary

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Art styles

Decorative storybook art

Plants, roofs and characters share decorative shapes and motifs. Ordered repetition creates richness while targets retain breathing room.

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Share shape rhythms across plants and buildings
Reserve patterns for secondary regions
Highlight interactables with value and outline

Reference gamesWytchwood · The Wild at Heart

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Art styles

Bold comic illustration

Strong contours, expressive poses and dramatic color masses shape characters. Comic identity can come from form and composition without halftone everywhere.

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Prioritize major contours
Design shadows as clear shapes
Share angular language across actors, props and frames

Reference gamesHades · The Wolf Among Us

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Art styles

Heavy ink and shadow

Large dark shapes and assertive ink lines model forms. Selective light is reserved for faces, props and important feedback.

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Design dark/light area ratios first
Give contours a weight hierarchy
Reserve bright accents for limited information

Reference gamesDarkest Dungeon® · Don't Starve

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Art styles

Hand-drawn animated 2D

Consistent character shapes, continuous poses and restrained shadows create drawn-animation readability while scenery supports the action.

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Preserve proportions and contour rules in motion
Limit shadow bands
Arrange background detail around actor focus

Reference gamesSpiritfarer®: Farewell Edition · Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe

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Art styles

Antique print and engraving

Fine hatching, open paper and historical print composition evoke illustrated books. Print-like visuals do not imply a physical printing process.

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Align hatching to volume
Keep major contours clearer than internal lines
Unify paper color and line density

Reference gamesAviary Attorney · The Bridge

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Art styles

Bold-outline flat cartoons

Closed bold outlines and simple flat fills keep small characters readable in busy scenes. Reusable simplified forms matter more here than elaborate comic illustration.

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Use consistent stroke weights at the same scale
Separate actors and props by major shape
Keep effects from filling silhouettes

Reference gamesCastle Crashers® · BattleBlock Theater®

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Art styles

Black-figure pottery graphics

Terracotta grounds, dark profile figures and ornamental bands evoke ancient Greek pottery. This is a specific graphic language rather than a label for all ancient settings.

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Make profile poses and props clear silhouettes
Limit terracotta/dark value relationships
Use bands to frame structure and regions

Reference gamesApotheon

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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.