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Maria Loureiro
Year
2024
Context
Academic team project
Role
Experience & Visual Designer
Team
Five designers, three game developers

KailaniIsland

An educational adventure game about climate change for younger players, developed under Honua — an organisation created to address climate change through interactive media.

Academic project · interactive prototype

Kailani Island in-game view: a character walks along stepping stones towards a village market under green mountains

Challenge

Turn environmental problems into something younger players want to explore — clear enough to learn from, rich enough to keep playing.

Maria’s contribution

  • Visual identity
  • UX/UI: menus and in-game screens, from high-fidelity wireframes to an interactive prototype
  • Worldbuilding: characters and 3D environments
  • Launch and awareness materials

Made by five designers and three game developers. The work shown is shared team output; Maria’s role was experience and visual design.

01Concept & worldbuilding

Character concepts and props: a girl with a backpack, a group of kids, a scientist, farm animals, a handheld device and a floating island
Characters, props and the island.

02Game screens

Screens designed for the high-fidelity wireframe and the interactive prototype.

Title screen: Kailani Island in chunky cream letters over a sky with clouds
Loading screen: Welcome to Kailani Island over a snowy mountain with a progress bar
Main menu with Play, Options and Quit buttons in front of a mountain
Options menu: Sound, Video, Control and Credits over a turquoise bay
Score and level panels over a sky with clouds
Dialogue screen: a character in a cornfield says the crops are growing just fine
Inventory screen: collected items shown on a banner above the player character
Village path seen from behind the player character, with the inventory icon
Map screen: an unrolled island map in front of the floating island
Title, loading, menus, score, dialogue, inventory, village and map.

033D environments

Built to support immersion and keep gameplay readable.

In-game view of a lab interior with a scientist and the player character
In-game view from above of a cosy room with a round table and sofa
3D model: low-poly trees and a character in a clearing
3D model: a scarecrow with a parrot, pumpkins and a cart
3D model: a cluster of village houses on a green base
3D model: a lineup of eight characters in T-pose
3D models.

04Honua & launch

An identity for Honua and a launch campaign concept to carry the game’s message beyond the screen.

Honua Foundation identity: Heavitas typeface specimen, three greens and a mountain logo
Honua identity.
Launch campaign concept: a digital wallet pass, Honua banners on street poles and a Kailani Island poster
Launch campaign concept.