Break Orbit

a cartoonish 3D render featuring the Break Orbit logo floating in space above a large star. a three-ringed planet is in the background, beside another planet with continent-like features. to the bottom left, a rocket orbits a planet.
2020

UI / UX and illustration for Break Orbit, a mobile game developed by the indie game studio Drowsy Fox.

With the goal of creating an approachable, vibrant interface, I leaned toward bright hues and softened geometry to create a cute aesthetic for the interface and game art. The game offers a great amount of customization options, allowing players to mix-and-match characters, ships, and cosmetic effects.

I developed a set of ship designs, palettes, world themes, and a system for procedurally generating planets, using layered textures as building blocks. I also created a 3d illustration to serve as a promotional graphic during the development of the game.

In addition to providing the interface design and illustrations, I worked with Baruch Adi to evolve and improve the gameplay and user experience.

The game begins with the player orbiting around a planet in a ship. By tapping the screen, the player can attach or detach from a planet's orbit, if it's within range. A large star creeps in at the bottom, swallowing planets as it approaches — the player must move upwards by orbiting planets to evade the sun, collecting coins and power-ups along the way.

gameplay screenshot. a fighter-shaped rocket orbits around a planet, collecting coins.
a gameplay screenshot featuring a rocket-shaped ship approaching the orbit of a gas planet with wave-shaped accents. three power-ups appear at the bottom, and near the top of the screen a lightning bolt power up floats.
a cat pilots a star-shaped ship around the orbit of a planet with craters like the moon. near the bottom is a spiral-shaped wormhole which the cat has luckily evaded.
screenshot of the game home screen. a large button reading 'PLAY' sits beneath the game logo, around which a cat in a rocket ship orbits.
screenshot of the shop home screen. at the top are featured items, including the boost, coin magnet, and shield power-ups. at the bottom are category buttons: gems, players, ships, power-ups, stardust, and exhaust.
a product page in the shop. this one depicts a rocket and the nine different colors available for purchase.
eight planets created from the procedural algorithm. two have wispy, cloud-like features. another has continent-like features, and another has craters. two planets feature coin-shaped indentations -- these are the coin planets from which the player can collect lots of coins if they orbit around it!

Between all of the color schemes and designs for ships, characters, exhaust trails, and particles, there are 103,680 unique ways to customize the player.

six capsules, each containing an item from the game shop: a bag of coins, a rocket ship, a gem, an exhaust trail option, a cat character, and a boost power-up
the Break Orbit characters: a cat, a dog, a koala, and a rabbit
the break orbit ships, including two types of rocket, a fighter, a round capsule, and a star-shaped capsule.
early explorations for break orbit ship and power-up designs.
early ship designs and power-ups