By Fiene
The Forge of Empires Winter event promises an exciting transformation this year. As the chill of winter approaches, players can look forward to a re-imagined experience that brings fresh visual flair and engaging content to the season in the game. Our talented art team played a pivotal role in this redesign, and we sat down with them to gain insights into their creative process, inspirations, and the challenges they faced. In this blog post, we’ll take you behind the scenes of the redesign, offering a glimpse into the artistry and dedication that went into crafting a captivating winter event for our community.
Can you walk us through the initial inspiration behind the design of the Winter event?
We wanted to honor the classic, timeless appeal of Winter celebration visuals. Traditional themes often rely on iconic color palettes: rich reds, lush greens and warm golds – that evoke a sense of nostalgia and festivity.
While these colors remain integral to the season, our team decided to explore a more unique aesthetic by incorporating elements of Art Deco design, inspired by the glamour of 1930s New York. You will find this Art Direction in the final building designs and in the overall event graphics.
What were some of the key challenges you faced while designing the event interface, and how did you overcome them?
The previous color palette was far off our new direction. Also, the cute elves were a bit too much fantasy to match our new setting. We had to retouch most of our components like the Winter Calendar to reduce the number of colors and create one unique vision.
We also wanted to change how the rewards were displayed on a grid and separated from the lit-up buildings. In the redesign, we focused on simplifying the layout to make the event feel more straightforward and easier to follow.
What inspired the choice of setting the Forge of Empires Winter event in the New York of the 1930s, and how did this influence the design elements used?
Festive themes usually don’t focus much on architecture, so we wanted to change that and align more closely with the essence of Forge of Empires. To keep the design warm and charming, we used a winter market as inspiration, creating shop icons full of personality and character
Since Forge of Empires celebrates human history as a core element of the game, embracing this era felt like a natural fit, blending nostalgia, artistry, and tradition into the design.
What specific aspects of 1930s New York did you find most inspiring, and how are these reflected in the UI/UX of the event?
We love working with high contrast on dark backgrounds, as it creates a striking and atmospheric effect that perfectly complements the holiday season. The straight lines and the golden finish helped sorting our graphics.
How does the design of the houses align with the overall 1930s New York Winter theme?
For the Yukitomo Tower, we took inspirations from the Empire State Building, which is an Art Deco masterpiece and a reference for most buildings that were designed in that era.
Key design elements of Art Deco architecture include geometric patterns, bold symmetry, rich ornamentation, and the use of sleek, streamlined forms.
Our buildings and winter market shops tried to follow these.
How did you ensure the Winter theme was effectively integrated into the game’s existing aesthetic?
We ensured the winter theme fits seamlessly into the game’s aesthetic by staying true to our usual icon style and using recurring components like buttons and panels that connect the event to the main game. By incorporating the main game font and evoking a nostalgic feeling, we created a design that feels both festive and fully integrated into the Forge of Empires experience.
How does the design enhance the player’s experience in discovering surprises and collecting rewards?
We hide collected rewards to remove the amount of less useful information but added a badge so the players will keep track if specific rewards are collected already. In some cases, it can have a strategic importance.
How did player feedback influence the design choices for this year’s Winter event?
We also keep an eye on the user feedback. The former Winter event was very popular, but since we rerun the event for some years, we excite our users with a fresh coat of paint. We are happy that we encountered so many positive reactions during our beta.
Can you delve into the process of balancing aesthetic appeal with functional usability in the event’s UI?
The primary goal of our visuals is to extend the narrative and drag the players into our winter market. The mood is being painted with our colors, the lights are used to guide the user’s attention and separate out layers.
However, we needed to experiment with outlines visually popping elements to make it more clear which items are still interactable. Something, that needed some experiments before reaching a state that felt right to us.
Are there any hidden details or Easter eggs in the design that players might not notice at first glance?
Every winter shop icon is a unique design, our artists created some wonderful details that you should investigate when you have the chance.
We hope you’re as excited as we are to dive into the newly redesigned Forge of Empires Winter event. Our art team’s creativity and passion have truly brought this seasonal experience to life, and we can’t wait for you to explore and enjoy the icy wonders they’ve crafted. For more details on our Winter event, check out our YouTube video! Stay warm, and happy gaming!
Your Forge of Empires Team
RJ