Silhouette first
Give each Shikigami a readable form before adding surface complexity.
ONMYOJI ARENA · 2016–2024
A world of myth.
A game of clarity.
An Eastern visual system designed to hold its identity at the speed of competitive play.
Art Manager / Visual Systems Lead · NetEase Games
THE BRIEF
Make the world distinctive.
Make the action readable.
Onmyoji Arena is NetEase’s MOBA built on the Onmyoji IP. My work linked visual strategy, Shikigami look development, rendering standards, and cross-team quality. The central challenge was to preserve a stylized mythological world while helping players read fast, crowded competitive encounters.
01 · THE DESIGN PROBLEM
Culture has to work
during the fight.
The art direction had to answer three questions at once: How could Eastern culture become a coherent design system? How could characters and effects remain readable under pressure? And how could that identity stay consistent across years of live content, marketing, and esports?
02 · VISUAL LANGUAGE
Recognizable by silhouette.
Distinctive by design.
We pursued a modern Eastern grammar built on symbolic forms, clear silhouettes, and restrained ornament. The goal was to avoid a generic collection of decorative motifs. Shape and visual hierarchy had to carry identity before the player could inspect fine detail.
Color and value
Organize visual hierarchy so important characters and actions remain legible.
Effects with discipline
Treat VFX occlusion as a gameplay concern, with clarity reviewed in playtests.
03 · A SHARED RENDERING SYSTEM
One visual language.
Many production decisions.
I defined and art-directed the figure-style rendering direction, with a proprietary toon pipeline developed during the project’s early production period, including work in 2018. Shader references, lighting benchmarks, and material guides gave artists and technical artists a shared target. The team explored rendering in Unreal R&D and reproduced the intended results within NeoX for mobile.
Look-development benchmarks
Make the desired finish concrete through approved shader, material, and lighting references.
Engine collaboration
Align the visual goal with the practical constraints of the mobile production engine.
Quality checkpoints
Review models, animation, scene VFX, and UI against shared standards and gameplay readability.
04 · VI & SONIC IDENTITY
A brand that works
beyond the battlefield.
The visual identity evolved from ornate treatments toward a bolder, more symbolic modern Eastern language. A modular VI system helped connect HUD, splash art, events, marketing, and esports. I led the VI rebuild and iteration in 2020; the original portfolio also documents the VI 3.0 direction. Sonic branding added an auditory expression of the world, its tempo, and its factions.
05 · LEADERSHIP & DELIVERY
A clear quality bar.
A team ready to ship.
I coordinated art, technology, and gameplay around shared visual goals. Leadership included creative UX hierarchy, Shikigami look development, effect clarity, production checkpoints, recruitment, budgets, and scheduling. The original case records delivery of 20 launch-ready Shikigami in six months to support a strategic release date.
- Defined shader direction, visual targets, and look-development guidance.
- Led Shikigami appearance development and VFX readability.
- Set cross-discipline checkpoints for models, animation, environments, effects, and UI.
- Managed team capacity, scheduling, and cost while preserving the agreed quality bar.
20Launch-ready Shikigami
6 monthsDocumented delivery period
2020VI rebuild and iteration
Delivery milestones reported in the original project case study. Work was produced collaboratively.
06 · PROJECT OUTCOMES
A recognizable presence.
Inside and outside play.
The original portfolio records a peak of No. 3 on the China free-app chart, a sustained presence among leading MOBA titles, and recognition including the Golden Feather Award. It also reports 1.27 billion social impressions and 11 Weibo hot searches in 2022. These describe the wider project and campaign reach; they are not a measurement of art direction alone.
No. 3Reported peak · China free chart
1.27BReported social impressions · 2022
11Reported Weibo hot searches · 2022
Figures documented in the original project case study. Team and project outcomes, not individual attribution.
The enduring contribution was a visual and production framework that could support new characters, changing campaigns, and future rendering work without losing coherence.
Artworks and results shown here are collaborative project work. Role descriptions and project figures are adapted from my original portfolio. Onmyoji Arena and related IP belong to their respective rights holders.