New research backs up what gamers have thought for years: video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety. Read the Reuters story “Cozy Comfort” to explore the findings while playing a game that lets you guide a walking, talking radish through the village of Rootersville.
When news around the world seems grim, it was a delight when our team decided to do a story about “cozy games”. My journey from a non-gamer to illustrating/designing an entire cozy game provided a cathartic escape to a charming world.👇Here’s a glimpse of how it was made:
The last time I was serious about games was Neopets. I “researched hard” by playing weeks of feel-good cozy games such as Stardew Valley and learning from resident cozy-gamer, Tiana, who pitched the idea. I loved how a charming world can be created by simple pixels and wanted to try this style.
I realized many cozy games allow you to become a character inside the warm, fuzzy world with seasonal change. I created a warm winter palette, and settled on the winter crop “radish”. Why? As a pixel-art novice, it felt easier to draw a round thing and make it walk frame-by-frame with outfits 😂. 
As the anthropomorphic radish character started taking shape, we realized the missing piece to make it alive is “sound”! Our resident audio enthusiast, Travis Hartman, took on the mission to bring original sound effects by squeaking many things in his house.
As the story developed, so did our ambition. What if we made a cozy game about cozy game? None of us had developed games, allowing us to dream wild, and for me to sketch up crazy UX flows. One thing we did know is that mobile would be a big challenge, so we tackled that design first. 
One part of our big ambition was having a joystick that allowed the reader to have full control of the radish, but we soon learnt how disrupting it is to the scroll-reading experience, ultimately dropping it. However, I do miss the short weeks that radish could go climb the wall I built for her.
Creating a pixel world was a new challenge. I’m used to freely brushing, and now every pixel placement needs to be intentional (or so says the pixel art gurus). However, the “pixel-pushing” was quite therapeutic. Much love and gems were added. Did you notice the radish recycles and composts😂? 
When asked where I draw inspiration, honestly, it’s pretty random. When I was drawing the frames for the growing flowers, my Xmas cactus was budding. Somehow, I thought, maybe I can combine my cat(Nori)+cactus= cat-us? I followed my gut, and it became my favorite thing created for the story.
At a time when so much is uncertain, I’m grateful the team @graphics.reuters.com reminds me there’s so much more to news reporting than sharing the latest topics. Here’s our small way to add a dollop of joy to the world💗 Stay for the credit scene for all the creative minds behind the project!
Check out my other projects!
