Dualbeat is a Rhythm game I worked on with a small team back in October 2023. I took care of the visual design and soundtrack.
Programs used:
Design philosophy: Dualbeat’s design philosophy is red on left, blue on right. This extends to almost every design in the game, from the logo artwork all the way to the backgrounds.
The reason for this is because the gameplay is tied to both of your hands, where your right hand controls a blue square and your left hand controls a red circle. When playtesting this game in the early stages of development, myself and others were having a hard time distinguishing which shape and which color corresponded with which hand, so by integrating this design into the visuals, one could take a glance at the background and remember that red is left, blue is right.
Retro Aesthetic: Dualbeat uses retro pixel graphics as a design choice. However, most of the pixel art you see wasn’t created the traditional way, but instead “faked” using vectors.
These vectors were created and then animated using Moho 14.5 Pro.
We chose to use vectors because they speed up the animation process greatly and help maintain consistent proportions. They also allow me to reuse the same model for different animations. (and sometimes the same animation for different models)
When I’m done, I render the vector model as a low resolution and turn off antialiasing. This results in a crisp, retro look.
UI Design: Dualbeat included a level editor for players to create their own levels and share them with one another to play. I fine-tuned the layout of the level editor as well as designed all the icons for the effects or tools.
Production Images
Vincent Li 