Empires & Puzzles is a chart-topping fantasy RPG, combining epic match-3 battles and base building the mighty castle Stronghold – all topped with thrilling PVP duels full of magic and action.

Client

Small Giant Games

Service lines

2D Game Art

Platforms

Mobile

Release Date

2019

Empires & Puzzles

At the heart of the game is a cast of incredible characters, each with their own unique range of skills and abilities. Atomhawk has been working with Small Giant Games since 2017 to help build out the look of the Empires & Puzzles roster.

The Small Giant team provides us with a brief and some reference images. Atomhawk’s process then begins with rough sketches of the character to get a sense of their silhouette and personality. We focus on giving lots of creativity and variation within the boundaries of the brief.

Puzzle Combat

In Puzzle Combat, players are challenged to grow an army, lead their heroes and build mighty bases.

Atomhawk worked with Small Giant Games to create a range of backdrops which sit behind the game’s main play area. These environments needed to capture a diverse range of international locations, from rolling farmland to Brutalist cityscapes.

Each piece was given a distinctive colour key to ensure it worked within the game’s overall design scheme. The image for the Master Dam is used as one of the main backgrounds in the tutorial and the Naval Carrier is the backdrop upon which new unlocked characters are revealed.