The Jolly Fortune is a pirate-themed game concept originally created as part of a winning entry to Hackabury, a two-day game development event where our team developed a prototype under the title Pension of the Caribbean in 24 hours.
Following the event, the project was expanded beyond its original scope and evolved into The Jolly Fortune, allowing us to further develop the world, characters, gameplay ideas, and visual identity. This games is under development by a student studio Black Tides Interactive.
My role on the project was as the lead 2D Artist. I was responsible for creating many of the game’s visual assets, including character designs, logos, title artwork, cosmetic items, currency, ship artwork, and animated assets. The project allowed me to explore a wide range of artistic disciplines while helping to establish a cohesive and recognisable visual style.
One of the first areas I worked on was the game’s branding. As the project moved away from its original Hackabury title, I designed new logos and title screens to better capture the adventurous pirate theme. I explored different typography, colour palettes, and layouts before arriving at the final designs that helped establish the identity of The Jolly Fortune.
After establishing the branding, I moved on to character design. One of my main responsibilities was creating the game’s cast of characters, each with their own distinct personality and purpose within the game world.
Captain Splash-Me-Cash serves as the main playable character. I wanted him to immediately communicate the playful and light-hearted nature of the game while still feeling like a capable pirate adventurer. Through several iterations, I refined his appearance to create a memorable protagonist that reflected the overall tone of the project.
I also created Captain Shannon, a quest-giving NPC within the game. Her design was inspired by the voice actor portraying the character, incorporating her blonde hair and blue eyes to strengthen the connection between the visual and performance aspects of the role. Developing Captain Shannon required balancing recognisable features with the stylised art direction of the game.
Another character I particularly enjoyed creating was Parrot Pete, the game’s shopkeeper. His design went through several stages before reaching the final version. I drew inspiration from Tyler from the television series My Hero, particularly his quirky personality and slightly awkward charm. I wanted Parrot Pete to feel instantly memorable, humorous, and approachable whenever players visited the in-game shop.
Another NPC I enjoyed creating was a Tavern Wench character designed to help bring the world of The Jolly Fortune and most specifically The Salty Seagull Tavern to life. While I didn’t draw inspiration from any single source, I was influenced by the types of friendly tavern and village characters often seen in fantasy settings, such as Rosie Cotton from The Lord of the Rings. I wanted her to feel kind, hardworking, and approachable, giving players the sense that she belonged naturally within the game’s world. The design evolved from a simple sketch into a fully detailed character, with her clothing, accessories, and serving tray all helping to communicate her occupation and personality.
Alongside character creation, I designed The Jolly Fortune itself, the player’s ship and one of the central visual elements of the game. I explored different ship silhouettes and decorative details before creating the final design. The ship became an important part of the game’s identity and helped reinforce the adventurous pirate setting.
As development continued, I created a variety of supporting assets used throughout the game. These included cosmetic rewards such as hats and earrings, collectible gold coin currency, environmental assets, user interface elements, and other visual components needed to support gameplay. The gold coin currency was particularly rewarding and challenging as it was the first ever time I had attempted to draw something shiny or metallic, I self-taught myself shading and highlighting techniques by thinking about where light would hit on a coin.
One of the most valuable experiences I gained during this project was my first exploration into 2D animation. To bring the ships to life, I created animated sails that moved in the wind. This required me to think differently about artwork, breaking designs into individual layers and considering how each component would move from frame to frame. This was also done by trialling different things, the first animation I made by just distorting and warping both the sail and flag in Procreate after putting them onto seperate layers, however I quickly learned that I needed to draw the ship fully without the flag and sail on and the pole all the way through the middle so that the animations looked smoother when showing outside of the sail.
The process involved creating multiple sail positions, planning transitions between frames, and assembling the final animation. Although relatively simple, it taught me a great deal about movement, timing, and how animation can add life and personality to a game world.
I have also included the individual animation frames and component breakdowns below to demonstrate the development process behind the final animation.
As development continued, I also had the opportunity to create a variety of smaller assets that helped bring the world of The Jolly Fortune to life. These included some animated fish for the fishing mini-game, as well as branding work for the in-game Yarr Bank Sign and a Swag Bag that shows the player how many galleons they have in the bank.
The animated fish were created as part of my first experiments with environmental animation. Using Procreate’s Animation Assist feature alongside onion skinning, I was able to plan and refine each movement frame by frame. Onion skinning allowed me to view previous and upcoming frames while drawing, helping me create smoother and more natural swimming motions. Through this process, I learned how subtle adjustments to body shape, tail movement, and timing could create the illusion of life and movement within the game world.
Alongside animation work, I designed the Bank Sign logo, which was created to be instantly recognisable to players while fitting seamlessly within the game’s light-hearted pirate aesthetic. I explored different layouts, typography, and decorative details to create a sign that felt authentic to the world while remaining visually clear and readable.
I also designed the Swag Bag icon, which serves as a visual indicator of the player’s banked currency. The challenge was to create an asset that could be easily understood at a glance while remaining consistent with the game’s pirate theme. I explored different shapes and decorative elements before arriving at a design that felt both functional and visually engaging. The final icon helped communicate important gameplay information to players while contributing to the overall personality and charm of the user interface.
Although these assets were smaller in scope than character or ship designs, they provided valuable experience in both animation and graphic design, further broadening the range of artistic disciplines I explored during the project.
GameBridge 2026 Submission
Artwork from The Jolly Fortune was submitted to the GameBridge Student Game Festival as part of the Individual Excellence Awards for 2D Art Excellence.
The submission showcased a collection of character designs, branding work, animation experiments, environmental concepts, cosmetic items, ship artwork, and supporting game assets. It highlighted both the breadth of artwork created for the project and the development of a cohesive visual identity across multiple areas of game production.
Closing Note
The Jolly Fortune has been one of my most enjoyable collaborative projects to date. It allowed me to contribute to every stage of a game’s visual development, from branding and character creation to asset production and animation.
I am particularly proud of the variety of artwork produced for the project and the opportunity to submit my work for consideration in the GameBridge 2026 2D Art Excellence category. The project pushed me outside my comfort zone, especially through my first experiences with animation, and helped me develop both my artistic and technical skills as a game artist.