Winter Wonderworld Game Map
An Unique Virtual World
The Winter Wonderworld is a virtual event/game space created by Pixel Canvas for a British company. It’s a festive space for the company employees to connect and share holiday joy with each other.
"Winter Wonderworld Official Trailer" by Pixel Canvas
Enjoy the Holiday While Physically Apart
Since the Covid-19 pandemic restricts large gatherings, many events have since moved entirely online. However, people are tired of endless zoom meetings and powerpoint screen shares. To elevate the online event experience, this virtual space provides much more than passively watching presentations. Besides being immersed in sounds and graphics, users can freely move around the space, play mini games like snowpal building and ice skating, and win real-world prizes. Users can access the virtual space from any web browser on any devices.
World-building on a Tight Timeline
For this project, I created UI assets for the world map that enables players to fast-travel between 6 unique zones of the virtual world.
Beside a small group of UI/UX designers, the team consists of 3D artists, full stack developers, and a sound designer. We only had a little more than a month to bring to life the entire virtual world with over 14 activities.
A screenshot of the map UI
Shake the Globes to Teleport
Inspiration
In Pixel Canvas’ previous collaboration with the same company on an internal SKO event, I helped make a world map with 6 zones. This is one of the map icons on hover.
For the Winter Wonderworld event, we were not constrained by the company branding, so I really got to unleash my creativity and maximize the festivity. I was inspired by Christmas snow globes and isometric graphic style. I designed the map buttons that shake and glisten on hover and selected states, just like shaking Christmas snow globes in real life. The little worlds inside the globes are loosely based on isometric shots of the 3D space and are representative of what activities each zone contains. For example, a snowman in the Wellbeing Zone is a sneak peek of “Build a Snowpal” game.
One of the map icons on hover from a previous project
Snowglobe House by PlastyForma from TurboSquid
VOXEL MERRY CHRISTMAS by Thunder Cloud from Artstation
An isometric still shot of the gaming zone inside 3D space. Image by Pixel Canvas
Try It Out
Using a desktop browser, hover on each of these graphics to see the interaction.
A Fun and Meaningful Project
This project was the most joy I have had bringing an amazing experience to life. It brought happiness and the holiday spirit to people across the Atlantic during dark times. I gained valuable experience working with 3D developers making these assets for the site powered by Unreal Engine.
In-game map interaction
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