HERE BE DRAGONS
Here Be Dragons was a collaborative project I completed while studying at NUA, working alongside three MA Games students and two MA Fine Art students. The brief was broad: to create a project inspired by East Anglia and its folklore. After researching the region’s myths and legends, we decided to develop a video game centred on the dragons of East Anglian folklore.
My primary responsibility was developing the concept art for each dragon, translating their traditional stories into distinctive visual designs suited to the game’s world. I also created the project’s promotional and supporting materials, including posters, game-box artwork, and an instruction manual. This allowed me to consider how the game’s visual identity could remain consistent across both its in-game designs and physical marketing materials
Promotional posters for each ‘Dragon’, based on medieval banners. made digitally on Procreate.
A couple of pages of the game’s manual. I also created the font myself, sourcing the letters from medieval text
A repeat pattern I created for the Here Be Dragons game manual, inspired by actual medieval tiles in Norwich Castle. I used a mix of traditional lino printing and digital to create this.
In the game, the player plays a medieval knight tasked with hunting and slaying these dragons. However, each victory comes at a cost. As the dragons are defeated, the world gradually becomes less fantastical. Its colour, wonder, and magic fade until the landscape feels duller and more ordinary. This transformation was intended to encourage players to question whether destroying these mythical creatures was truly heroic or whether it meant erasing the folklore and imagination they represented.
The project gave me valuable insight into the collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of video-game development. Although we each brought different skills to the team, everyone took on a variety of roles throughout the process and contributed to the game’s creative direction. It strengthened my ability to develop ideas collaboratively, respond constructively to feedback, and adapt my work to support a shared creative vision.
demo playable at: https://mitergear.itch.io/blackshuck-demo
Here be Dragons was created by Ahmed Arshad, James Woodier, Josh Shaw, Julian Cormack, Leonardo Scalia, and David Amoako