Katerina Michael
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All Work

The art and interface work I contributed to the project, grouped by kind — 57 pieces in total, from the first handwritten note that set the movement rule through to the sprite sheets that went into the build.

Interface

6 pieces

Title & pause

  • Title screen: the BeatBounds wordmark over a waveform, Play and Settings, social links and a shop button, on a moonlit pine-forest ridge Title screen
  • Pause menu over a stone-ruins level: Resume, Restart Level, Settings and Exit, with the life hearts still showing top-left Pause

Shop

  • Shop screen: a daily mystery chest on a countdown, note-currency packs at two price points, chest bundles and a Go Pro slot, under the hearts and note counter Shop
  • Alternative shop treatment: the same layout reframed in a neon outline on a brick wall Shop — neon variant

Button states

  • Button state sheet: default, highlighted, pressed and disabled drawn for the purple primary button Button states
  • The full button matrix: normal, highlight/selected, pressed and disabled across the purple, magenta, grey and green button colours Full state matrix
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Character Design

4 pieces

Design

  • Player character design: a figure in a long red coat and a goggled top hat, drawn full-length, in bust and in profile Player — turnaround

Movement & controls

  • Five walk poses of the player lined up to check the silhouette reads at small size Walk line-up
  • Working note setting the PC controls — A and D to walk, W to jump, Alt to run while walking — illustrated with three player poses Controls note

The sprite sheet that shipped

  • The player sprite sheet as it went into the build, with the green screen removed: eleven labelled animation rows including stand, small dance, pull out pocket watch, walk, run, jump, fall, hurt knockback, get up and crouch Sprite sheet
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Ground Tiles

20 tiles

Shown assembled, the way the tilesets were checked — each shape below is built from the individual tiles butted together.

Forest

  • Forest ground tile 2
  • Forest ground tile 1
  • Forest ground tile 3
Flat-topped block
  • Forest ground tile 6
  • Forest ground tile 1
  • Forest ground tile 5
Sloped block
  • Forest ground tile 4
  • Forest ground tile 4
  • Forest ground tile 4
Fill

Cave

  • Cave ground tile 2
  • Cave ground tile 1
  • Cave ground tile 3
Flat-topped block
  • Cave ground tile 6
  • Cave ground tile 1
  • Cave ground tile 5
Sloped block
  • Cave ground tile 4
  • Cave ground tile 4
  • Cave ground tile 4
Fill

Mountain

  • Mountain ground tile 2
  • Mountain ground tile 1
  • Mountain ground tile 3
Flat-topped block
  • Mountain ground tile 6
  • Mountain ground tile 1
  • Mountain ground tile 5
Sloped block
  • Mountain ground tile 4
  • Mountain ground tile 4
  • Mountain ground tile 4
Fill

Poison water

  • Poison water tile 1
  • Poison water tile 2
Surface run
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Level Backgrounds

3 pieces

  • Painted level background: an aurora over layered mountains and pine silhouettes in violet and rose, with a small tower on the ridge Aurora ridge
  • Painted level background: deep blue mountains under a crescent moon with a pale teal lake in the valley Moonlit lake
  • Painted level background: a cracked green stone-block cave wall for the underground levels Cave wall
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In-Game Assets

2 pieces

The object sheet that shipped

  • The object sprite sheet with the green screen removed: hazards and props including spiked bars, maces, flame plumes, saw blades, a cannon, crates, platforms, trees, bushes, flowers, rocks, torches, crystals, a heart pickup and a music note Object sprite sheet

Exploration

  • Obstacle exploration sheet: hand-drawn passes at spiked rollers, a swinging mace, flame jets, a saw blade, a cannon, spikes and a snare Obstacle exploration
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Logos

4 pieces

The mark

  • The BeatBounds wordmark in flat black, with and without the waveform rule beneath it Wordmark — mono
  • The finished BeatBounds logo in violet and magenta with the headphone-and-gear mark, shown with and without the waveform Wordmark — final

Logo exploration

  • Typeface exploration sheet: the wordmark set in a dozen candidate faces, each annotated in red with the font name Typeface exploration
  • Colourway sheet: twenty-four palette variants of the final logo tested against black Colourways
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Narrative

6 pieces

  • Story panel: the guardian of the timelines sits back at a wall of monitors, feet up, watching every alternative world at once 1 — On watch
  • Story panel: the same room, now washed in red as one of the timelines goes wrong 2 — Something breaks
  • Story panel: close on the guardian as a red WARNING and a list of locations fills the screen 3 — The alarm
  • Story panel: he leaves the office through a doorway onto moonlit stone stairs beneath a clock arch 4 — Through the gates
  • Story panel: the guardian silhouetted against a bright doorway, seen from behind, about to step through 5 — The threshold
  • Story panel: he reaches the great clock that keeps time for every world and finds it broken, a burning city inside its face 6 — The broken clock
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Drafts & Process

12 pieces

Starting notes & quick sketches

  • The note that sets the core rule: numbered beat rings govern movement — 2 lets you only walk, 3 lets you walk and jump, and a dashed 3 restricts movement The rule, written down
  • Early level layout note: jump arcs plotted between ledges over a gap Layout note 1
  • Early level layout note: a longer traverse with a moving platform and collectible notes Layout note 2
  • Earliest shop note: the shop laid out in white line on black, with the daily mystery chest, currency packs and a gold pack Shop UI note
  • Quick level sketch: a full layout in line, with hazards, a saw blade and collectibles placed Quick sketch 1
  • Quick level sketch annotated with a routing note and an optional side-quest branch marked in red Quick sketch 2
  • Quick level sketch: a wider, sparser layout with a swinging hazard and a stepped climb Quick sketch 3

Painted level concepts

  • Painted level concept in green stone, with a switch marked turns on/off and three beat rings across the gap Level concept — cave
  • Painted level concept in teal and rose, annotated with a trampoline and an end-of-level reward Level concept — grove
  • Painted level concept in pale blue, annotated with blocks that fall once the character steps on them Level concept — sky
  • Painted level concept in magenta and green with sliding platforms and a key at the exit Level concept — magenta
  • Painted level concept in muted grey-teal: floating islands stepped up toward a single beat ring Level concept — grey
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