”We already unveiled on our social media profiles some of the stunning menus you can find in Othercide, whether it be to see your Daughter’s stats or sacrifice one of your warriors. Meet Yoann Jacq, the UI/UX artist behind this work, who ensures you will have a great experience while interacting with the game!
What was your career like before working as a UI/UX Artist on Othercide?
Othercide is my first fixed position as a UI/UX Artist. Before that, I worked as a freelancer on much smaller mobile projects, and was able to join SUPERSCARYSNAKES on their amazing Black Future ’88!
That one was fairly short, but was also the first video game I worked on. And what a game! Complete artistic freedom (pixel art aside), and super cool team. Killer result! So, yeah. My career is only starting with Othercide!
What challenges do you face when working as a UI/UX Artist?
As a UX Designer, the main challenge is to design something as simple as possible, while taking all the game design stuff into account. You need to create a flow that will be comfortable and easy to go through, and set interactions that are easy to understand.
As a UI Artist, working with an art direction as strong as ours is where the challenge lies. You have to take specific constraints into account, and that is the case with colors on Othercide: black, white, red, and nothing else.
Conveying informations without colors while giving a sweet/cool appearance to the user interface is quite a challenge!
What is your main motivation about working on Othercide?
What drew me to Lightbulb Crew WAS (and still is!) Othercide. What drives my motivation as an artist is the art direction that Alexandre Chaudret built. Simple as that.
I have to admit that tactical games are not my cup of tea, but the challenge is interesting!
Where does your inspiration come from when creating? Are there games that inspire you in your work?
That’s a tough one. My inspiration is coming from the art direction itself, as it is the main constraint. Plus I was given some red lines to follow.
My work is defined by key words that I need to keep in mind (such as “purity”, “etheral” and “elegant”). So I couldn’t really add glitter everywhere!
As for references, I don’t have specific games in mind. I would say games such as Dark Souls and dark games are what lead to such an art direction, but that’s not my job!
Would you have tips to give to aspiring artists?
Tips? First tip for the aspiring UX Designer: you are NOT the user. What seems logical to you won’t necessarily be to someone who has never played your game before.
As for the artist: try and plan ahead what you are willing to achieve. The user interface can be quite heavy depending on the target platform, and needs to be as lightweight as possible.
Try and do the most with the least possible! But as always, don’t limit yourself because of these technical limitations.