Pop-Off — MILA NERY

Samsung TV Gaming HUB

Illustration, 3D Animation, Game Design, UX/UI

I was brought on by Loop, a fun new agency, to help design a game for Samsung TV’s built-in gaming hub. They knew they wanted a “mad libs” style word game and let me run with it. We went through many concept changes— from a news show where the teleprompter is broken to a pop-culture trivia show.

I touched every single part of this project (except for the code) the concept art, character design, 3D modeling and character animation, user gameplay experience and interface design. I can’t wait for it to come out as its truly showcases all my talents in one place!

Get ready to “Pop-Off!”

Our host went through many iterations. The news is a tricky subject to make fun so we knew we needed an animal host that could feel silly and apolitical. I began by listing animals you can trust, animals with physically large mouths, and animals that can’t keep quiet.

Character + Set Design

An alligator has a large hinge-like mouth so she probably has a lot to say and would make an excellent talk show host!

An alien pretending to be human would justify the news being “wrong”. Help them fix it!

Cat was a possible contender. We considered alley cats always around, bodega cats in everyones business—

or the pet of a notable news anchor role-playing their owners job from their home desk!

Pigeon Concept

We got really close with the humble Pigeon! As a team of New Yorkers, we couldn’t possibly deny our noble neighbors the opportunity. Pigeons are cosmopolitan! They go everywhere so they must know everything— but they are also quite goofy, known for their terrible nest making abilities, and always seem a little lost. Great makings for a unreliable news or talkshow host!

Our Stage could be an alcove atop an abandoned building where a crumpled paper, a few twigs and pages off a magazine make our hosts desk and guest chair.

Poodle Concept

After a lot of deliberation, we landed on a yappy little fluffy white dog: TV safe, friendly, loyal, silly and cute! This informed our stage. We’d be keeping it simple with a talk-show feel and stepping away from the seriousness of news all together with poochy accessories like treats, bones and balls.

BTS of building the stage!

Meet Pawla! I wanted to make her SUPER expressive, so whenever she was on the screen, you can’t help but think “aw!” weather you get the answers right or not.

I was working with a few tough constraints to manage file size. Our entire scene couldn’t be over 20,000 polygons to keep frame rates up on Samsungs hardware. To keep the look consistent and graphically cheap, we needed to come up with a shading style that wouldn’t use complex lights. My inspo for the visuals were 100% Power Puff Girls concept art. I love mid-century wonk and how simple but effective the silhouettes and flat shading could be. Also, it’s timeless and visually easy to understand!

This is where the going gets a little granular. We were even more restricted by what Samsungs proprietary game engine could do and the game had to work in line with a few of Samsungs future goals for TV gaming.

I start by mocking each screen such as this Start screen, intro, and get into the gameplay then iterate, iterate, iterate!!

Gameplay

My first pass. This had a more “mad Libs” style layout. Your host would introduce the question and you answer. Then, once submitted, she’d read the card out and through her emotes reveal whether the answer was right or wrong.