Making Art for Hyper Casual Games

Making Art for Hyper Casual Games

Want to make hyper casual games that are capable of topping charts?

In this new game design tutorial video, Buildbox CEO, Trey Smith, shows how he creates art for his successful hyper casual games like Phases, The Line Zen, and Wall Switch.

You’ll learn how to design hyper casual games from scratch using Pixelmator. Trey also shares his top tips and techniques for coming up with unique design elements.



Download Graphics & PSD Files

You don’t have to be a skilled graphic designer to create fantastic looking hyper casual style games. In fact, all you need is a photo editing tool like Pixelmator and a little bit of know-how.

Currently, Pixelmator is only available for the Mac, but it’s a great tool to use for creating this minimal type of game art. However, software like Gimp or Photoshop will work well also. Both options are available for Window users. Also, Gimp is an excellent free alternative for indie developers that happen to be on a tight budget.

With image editing software, most of the options are the same. If you ever have trouble finding the editing tool being used, you can Google the option and your software name to find it (i.e. ‘Draw tool in Gimp’).

Hyper Casual Games – The Basics

In the tutorial, you’ll learn how to draw lines, shapes, add outlines, and make a shadow effect.

Trey walks you through step-by-step on how to create the hyper casual games that players will want to play. It’s the same game style that major publishers like Ketchapp and Voodoo Games release on a regular basis that often end up dominating the charts.

Modeling a previous game called Cavern, Trey will recreate a new background and show you how to add a stylized disheveled look to any backdrop. This technique is quite trendy in the hyper casual genre.

Then he’ll explain matte versus glossy and why glossy works best when making hyper-casual game art. Trey will show you how to manipulate the saturation in Pixelmator to get the desired glossy effect for a polished looking game.

He’ll cover new game design angles and tips on freestyling to find unique art styles. You’ll also learn how to make your design parallax. He’ll show you how to make the best platforms, obstacles, characters, and more for hyper casual games. Plus some great tips on game art!

You can also check out our YouTube channel for more in-depth video tutorials like this.

Tiana Crump

About Tiana Crump

Tiana Crump is a journalist and social media manager at Buildbox with a passion for inspiring others and driving brand awareness. As a gamer and creator, she enjoys sharing game development insights, tips, and success stories from the Buildbox community.

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