If you wanna play the game for yourself, check out our Itch page where we post free demos: speakerbeak.itch.io/unholy-roller
Also be sure to follow our official Bluesky page! @unholyrollergame.bsky.social
(6/6)

P.S. new update soon :)

Instead of trying to inject personality into a functional layout, I found success by creating eye-catching visuals and gradually dialing it back to make it functional. Lifting the constraints I placed on myself gave me way more creative freedom than I originally had. (5/6)

Trying to push myself further, I made a completely wacky layout that covered the entire screen with intense shapes and colors. After a few iterations, I was genuinely shocked how cool and fun it looked. This style later became the foundation for Unholy Roller’s branding and visual design. (4/6)

About a month later, I went back to the drawing board and collected a bunch of new references, including 90s and 2000s cartoons. I made a layout I was happy with, but the design still wasn’t quite there. It was missing that energetic feeling I couldn’t seem to replicate. (3/6)

The first pass began in mid-September and reflected my usual design style: clean, neat, and organized. But this style didn’t mesh well with the loud, chaotic nature of Unholy Roller. I really struggled to break out of my comfort zone, so I decided to take a break and put the task on hold. (2/6)

Once the Burner lights itself on fire, the pin’s body glows red hot and opens its jaws wide. I’m super happy with how the art and animation turned out, and you can see it for yourself in our most recent build! speakerbeak.itch.io/unholy-roller (4/4)

I struggled with the design at first because, unlike a standard tenpin, candlepins have a band around their center instead of the top. This made the face placement look weird, so I experimented with a bandana covering the Burner’s eyes. That bandana eventually became a Cyclops-esque visor. (3/4)

We wanted to reference a real-life candlepin that also used a fire attack, and after prototyping all three ideas we had, we decided on what I called the “martyr” option: the Burner lights itself on fire and runs around leaving a fire trail behind it. (2/4)