Case study 03

Days of Discord

Founder, Creative Director and Art Director, Muti Labs (Santa Monica), 2012–2016

  • Original sci-fi IP
  • Mobile card battler built in Unity
  • Released on iOS in 2016 with 250 cards
Days of Discord key art

The challenge

Create an original sci-fi world from nothing and make it rich enough to fill 250 collectible cards. A dozen international illustrators would paint those cards, and the whole set still had to feel like one place.

The world

Twenty years after a strange substance called Pandemonium falls from space, its genetic chaos has transformed every living thing it touched. Earth has split into warring factions: Heroes, Beasts, Bandits, Plants, and Ferals. Battles play out in real-time turn-based fights across settings that show what Pandemonium left behind.

My role

I co-founded Muti Labs and hired its designers, artists, and engineers. I led the creative vision for the game, from the IP and worldbuilding through art, audio, and narrative.

What I did

  • Built the IP. I developed the setting, the factions, and their visual language so every card read clearly as part of its faction and as part of one world.
  • Directed a distributed team of illustrators. I found and directed about a dozen international artists across 250 cards. Each card started with a creative brief, went through several sketches to set the look and pose, and then got two or three rounds of color and polish.
  • Ran creative across disciplines. I brought in and directed outside partners for visual, audio, and narrative content.
  • Designed the player experience. I created the UX/UI assets and integrated the 3D game assets in Unity. See the battle and UI screens below.
  • Took it to release. Days of Discord released on iOS in 2016 with the full set of 250 cards.

Results

Battles and UI

In-game screens from the 2015–2016 release. Click any image for full size.

Days of Discord battle screen: attacks hitting cards on a 3D jungle battlefield, with damage numbers over each lane
Battle: attacks resolve on the 3D battlefield
Days of Discord battle with a hand of cards along the bottom of the screen and units on the board
Battle: the card hand and energy along the bottom
Days of Discord battle with a fire ability exploding across the board
Battle: a fire ability resolving

Menus and meta-game

Days of Discord main menu with a champion and buttons for solo battle, online PvP, store, powers and deck builder
Main menu
Days of Discord card collection screen showing a grid of cards with filters
Card collection
Days of Discord deck builder screen with power card slots
Deck builder: powers
Days of Discord champion store with three champions for sale
Champion store
Days of Discord pre-match screen pairing two champions for an online PvP battle
PvP pre-match screen
Days of Discord solo world map with battle markers across a painted landscape
Solo world map

Trailer

Days of Discord trailer2015

Screens from the official Days of Discord site, TouchArcade’s 2015 hands-on preview, and gameplay capture.

Card art by faction

A small sample of the 250 cards. Click any card for full resolution.

Heroes

12 cards

Beasts

6 cards

Bandits

6 cards

Plants

6 cards

Ferals

6 cards
Ghost Bear turnaround: a white bear standing upright, with red brindle markings, in front, three-quarter, side and back views

Revisited

Reworking Days of Discord with AI

Ten years on, I went back to the cards and directed 21 character turnarounds, a remastered battle, animated abilities and new card frame explorations.