What if we landed on another planet, and it actually really sucked?

For years I had been learning various aspects of game development, but I was never able to make meaningful progress. In 2022, I went full-time on Chaotic Era, a “realtime strategy nightmare” which fused genres and inspirations that have motivated me for years.

The end result had you crash land on an alien planet, struggle to find resources and power for life support, build defences and structures to support your population, and try to fend off wave after wave of horror.

A core design challenge was the commitment to keeping everything monochrome. This meant not being able to rely on conventional affordances for building visual hierarchy, which turned into a forcing function to get really creative.

The principles of the final visual language were built around highly-functional copy and consistent iconography that was shared between the 2D interface and 3D game world, making the two feel tightly coupled and highly responsive.

The limited colour palette also meant having to be highly intentional about the contrast assigned to every element based off it’s functional importance.

Terrain and decorative elements needed to always sit behind important focal points, such as UI and units, which in turn were given ultra dark/light tones, motion cues, and distinct silhouettes.

Chaotic Era on Steam