“Give me Borderlands meets GTA meets gangster sim. We need to be different — and this art style gave us exactly what we needed.”
— Matt Raimondo, 762 Interactive Founder
The art direction of a game defines its visual identity, the mood, the tone, the way the world feels. It’s not just the characters or environments. It’s everything: the lighting, the UI, the motion, the atmosphere.
At its best, great art direction doesn’t just support a game — it unifies the vision and makes it unforgettable.
What We Wanted
At 762 Interactive, we knew early on that our visual style needed to do three things:
- Feel grounded without chasing photorealism
- Be gritty, but with flair
- And most of all, feel distinct, something not seen in any other crime sim
So we explored. We experimented. And we failed fast. Here’s a look at the directions we considered — and how we landed on our final visual identity for the project.
The Realistic Route: Where’s the Oomph?
Our first instinct was a traditional one: a realistic urban art style — think gangster saga meets early 2000s America. It had potential. It fit the theme. But it lacked punch.
The problem? It didn’t stand out.
It didn’t feel like ours.
We realized quickly: realism alone wouldn’t cut it. There needed to be more personality — more style.
The Low Poly Experiment
Next, we looked at the ever-popular low poly aesthetic: simple geometry, fast iteration, stylized shading. From a production standpoint, it made a lot of sense. But for a crime management strategy game, it felt… soft & clean, too clean?
We toyed with ways to give it edge: lighting tricks, punchy color palettes, animation juice.
But ultimately, it didn’t deliver what we needed.
The Wild Cards: Let’s Break All the Rules
We decided to break open Pandora’s box entirely.
What if we took a gangster sim and gave it an art style no one expected?
We tested a few wild takes:
Monochromatic Sepia
A noir-inspired palette. Dramatic light. Bold shadows.
Cool and moody — but too limiting for a game about growth, power, and evolution.
Diorama Style
Tilt-shift lenses. Miniature sets. Stylized scale.
Unique, but it broke immersion. We needed players to feel the streets, not look down on them.
UPA-Inspired
Bold outlines. 1950s animation vibes. Funky and fresh.
But it veered into abstraction — and this game needed grounded weight.
Each of the wildcards had merit, but none fully captured the tension between street grit and high-level strategy we were aiming for.
“Seeking visual references is more about understanding what your game is not than finding what it should look like. After all, if you find exactly the right reference, you’ve already lost the originality you were searching for.”
— Vitor Furtado, RAD Creations, Art Partner
Final Direction: Stroked Stylized Realism
After weeks of testing & sketching… we found it.
A style that fuses realism with expression — gritty streets, bold outlines, hand-painted textures, stylized lighting.
We call it Stroked Stylized Realism.
It’s:
- Real enough to feel grounded in an early 2000s American city
- Stylized enough to stand apart from the pack
- Expressive enough to support our themes of growth, pressure, and power
It brings visual storytelling into every corner of the game — from street corners to stash houses to tactical maps.
Of course, it’s harder to build. It demands more time, polish, and care. But we think the payoff is worth it — and so far, it’s delivering !
Join the Crew. Shape the World.
If you want to help shape the world of Project Kingpin, get early looks at art drops, and vote on visual concepts:
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Be part of the crew from day one !
