How I Helped Build Elysian Realms

What is Elysian Realms?

It is a pixel-art tower defense game for computers. You build towers to hold the road across seven realms. Every realm changes a rule of the game, and every time you play, you grow a skill tree that makes the next game stronger.

It took my dad 10 months to build, and I helped from the very first drawings.

The first realm, Frosthold. Can you spot the knight with the spear, the boy in blue and the wizard in the purple hat? They are my towers!

What I did

• I drew the first pictures of the towers and the monsters.
• I thought of their names, and the names of the realms.
• I helped with the lore, which is the story and the world of the game.
• I drew how the main menu should look, with a castle.
• I helped with the general game development, and gave my dad ideas for how the game should work.
• I did the playtesting. I played the game and told my dad what felt too hard.
• I was key to the playtest and development loop: I played it, my dad changed it, and then I played it again to see if it was better.

My drawings

These are the real drawings I did before the game was made. Click one to see it big!

My towers

Thunder Boymy fast tower Sir Fredricmy strong tower The Great Zarmy splash tower

My monsters

Snow Gremlinthe basic one Snow Ninjathe fast one Snow Gorillathe chunky one Giant Snow Yetithe boss

My main menu

The castle menuNew game, Continue, Settings