Dear players!
Project TLDR finally has news: we’re completely reworking the game’s art!
Sounds like a small update, but trust us — it took us a long time to get there. Since 2021, when we first started shaping the game, we’ve had five different artists work on the project (not counting our game designer. And almost all of their work made it into the proof of concept .
All this time, we’ve been searching for the right style, experimenting, and trying different approaches. Now, we’re finally on the right track!
First Steps
On the left – the very first piece of art created for the game on October 11, 2021. On the right – how this character looks in the "proof of concept" version (and not final yet).
We’ve come a long, looooooong way in designing the game’s locations. Finding the right style and gameplay took ages. At first, we envisioned the game more like a hidden object adventure, and the art reflected that. Here’s what it looked like back in 2022:
How We Ended Up with the Paper Theater Style
The picture below is the moment when we first realised that we wanted to go for a paper theater aesthetic. The reason? A deep understanding of game design and thoughtful planning for the project’s future? Nope. We just really liked how the white outline looked (which we then, for some reason, decided to ditch in the next version but now we’re bringing it back again).
Then we doubled down on the idea. Unfortunately, this is also when the visuals started falling apart completely.
In the end, we took this whole chaotic mess and tried to turn it into something that actually looked cohesive. The missing pieces? The game designer just slapped things together. Good enough for a proof of concept, right? A proper background? Never heard of it. Let’s just slap a piece of cardboard in there and call it a day. By now, you’ve probably figured it out — we all agreed that the game designer is officially banned from touching the art ever again.
This version was released at the end of winter last year. Behold: the theater in a cardboard box!
Where We Are Now:
We even sent this version to potential publishers and got some… feedback. Apparently, the palette was too dull and dark, and the overall vibe was kinda, well, depressing. Fair. But! This version gave us the motivation and confidence to bring in an actual artist. Oh, and to rethink our entire location design once again.
The process is still ongoing, but here’s an early piece where we were testing out composition and color palette—nothing too detailed yet.
We’re continuing to refine the visuals and hope to show our progress not just in static images but in motion soon. Stay tuned!
TLDR: Later, this acronym also started being used as a subtitle for a short summary after a long text)