The Art Direction of Lynked Banner of the Spark

A epic undertaking of combining the frenetic energy of an action rpg with Rogue-like elements and a cozy town builder. This project began with just myself on the art team and soon expanded to many talented team members that spread across the globe. I was responsible for coming up with the initial look and artistic tone of the project, I then helped pitch this to investors and publishers. Over the course of over 4 years I managed a team that at it’s peak consisted of 14 artists, and two outsourcing partners. In addition when possible I would create assets, 3D concepts, marketing art, and I worked in conjunction with the Creative Director on the backstory and characters bios.

My goal was to create a game world that felt like it came from a Saturday morning cartoon. I wanted vibrancy and visuals that leapt off the screen. Throughout the project I communicated and guided this vision among our talented in house team, contractors, outsource partners, and publisher at Dream Haven.

Being a small indie team, from time to time I still had to go into the trenches and create some production work as well, you can view those assets here: LYNKED PRODUCTION WORK

Shipped in Summer of 2025

PS5, XBox Series X/S, Steam, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2

Lynked Banner of the Spark on Steam

Lynked Trailers

Trailers that were created by the talented artists at Half Giant Studios. I worked closely with them on the art direction to make sure our characters and world translated cleanly to 2D animation.

Animated trailer showcasing our release on the Switch and Switch 2

Reference and Early script/story ideas for the above trailer

Animated trailer showcasing our 1.0 release on Steam and our release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S

Lynked Vertical Slice Trailer

This was a trailer created by the Key Words studio: Fire Without Smoke. It was used to show the project at GDC to publishers and investors. I helped with storyboarding, and art directed our concept artists on the illustrated motion graphics that kick off the trailer.

Internal Vertical slice trailer used to pitch to investors and publishers. At the time we were using the internal name “Roboverse”

MIRO BOARDS (Selected Pages)

Miro is an incredible art direction tool, an online white board I could use to post concepts, screen shots, and even drawings to convey notes to my team. Being a fully distributed team this was invaluable as I could give direction in real time, as well as direct the team to notes I may have provide outside of their time zones core hours.

I had over 10 distinct boards, with literally thousands of notes, concepts, reference and other direction over the course of the project.

Character Miro Board

An example of one of our character Miro boards. I also start with reference and notes outlining who the character is from a personality type and general attitude. From there we refined as concepts were completed.

Desert Environment Miro Board

For each environment we had separate micro themes within. For the desert that was, sand dunes, oasis, and cliffs.

World Building

As our levels progressed past an alpha state, I would go into each level, play the game and take notes on areas of polish and improvement. I would work with design to make sure their gameplay goals remained clear and aligned with the art goals.

UI Miro Board

For our UI, I wanted it to be themed around a fictional futuristic computer operating system.

Biti-Bot Miro Board

Our collectable critters, known as “Biti-Bots” were based on spirits from various world cultures. I did extensive research to find appropriate sources that fit our Earth friendly direction and also make sure were were being culturally sensitive and accurate.

LYNKED KEY ART

Various key art I art directed to promote Lynked, created both in house at Fuzzy Bot and with external partners.

Key art by Umeshu Lovers

Key art by Lise Elsoght and Arthur Gorin

Key art by Lise Elsoght and Arthur Gorin

Key art by Envar Studio

Key art by Lise Elsoght

Key art by Hamagami/Carroll Inc.

Lynked Art Bible (Selected Pages)

Selected pages from the Art Bible I wrote for both the existing team and people new to the project. In it I outline our Keywords, inspirations and best practices.

Lynked Art Bible (Selected Pages)

Selected pages from the Art Bible that dealt with best practices on environment art and world building.

LYNKED ASSET GYMS

Examples of our “asset gyms” which were a combination of outsource and in house assets. I was responsible for managing and integrating the vast majority of these assets.

ASSETS - CONCEPT TO COMPLETION

Examples showing the process from concept ideation, to finalized design, to in game asset.

MOOD BOARDS

A selection of mood boards created to help give the concept artists a foundation to start their designs.

LYNKED BANNER OF THE SPARK: ART BOOK

Created as a shipping gift to the team, I compiled and designed the layout for this 200+ page collection of the concept art from the game as a thank you gift to the team at Fuzzy Bot.

Purchase the Art Book!