Art Direction, Dictator Wars (2009)

Before Super Cute Zoo, Dictator Wars was the first social RPG that GameLayers published on the Facebook application platform. The player is a newly-minted dictator; their first action is to declare a state of emergency. Because of the political and potentially violent nature of the content, we knew we wanted a cartoonish art style to make the satire clear when we asked players to arrest dissident bloggers, enrich uranium, or ride around on an aircraft carrier.

I hired the illustrator Colin Adams for Dictator Wars, having used him successfully for PMOG and The Nethernet. Originally, I had contracted Colin to render steampunk styles but his take on dictatorship was appropriately fun and lighthearted. I communicated a list of characters and items to Colin via email, most often providing a source image online for him to reference.

Working this way we generated distinct characters, items, vehicles, and illustrative images for Dictator Wars. I then remixed these pieces into advertising content and promotional materials for the game.