Art Direction • Visual Development • Game Art

SciPlay

Gemstone Express is a family of train-themed social casino games developed for SciPlay. The project centered on creating a cohesive visual identity that could extend across multiple titles while giving each game its own distinct personality.

The result is a flexible visual world built around trains, gemstones, and vibrant environments that connects the series without relying on traditional Western train imagery.

My Role

Art Director

I owned the visual direction for the Gemstone Express series from early concept development through production. My role included developing the initial creative strategy and vision board, presenting the direction to stakeholders for greenlight, and guiding the creative team as the concept moved into production.

I partnered with illustrators, animators, and production artists throughout development, providing creative feedback and direction to help maintain a cohesive visual identity across the series.

Final artwork shown below was created by the project’s contributing artists under my art direction.

The Brief

The goal was to develop a visual direction for a family of 2–3 games built around established game mechanics.

The creative direction needed to:

• Establish a recognizable visual identity that could connect multiple titles

• Use trains as a central theme without relying on traditional Western imagery

• Work within mechanics and functionality established by the Game Designer

• Give the creative team a clear visual foundation that could guide illustration, animation, and production

Establishing the Visual Direction

I built a shared vision board in Confluence to explore the visual language of the series and turn the initial brief into a direction the team could react to.

The board helped define the atmosphere, color, subject matter, visual motifs, and opportunities for creating a recognizable family identity without falling into expected Western train imagery.

It also became a communication tool. I used the visual direction to pitch the concept to stakeholders for greenlight and, once approved, as a shared reference point for illustration, animation, and production art throughout development.