Lanternfall

The brief

Pinecone wanted a village you could fall asleep in. Their first prototype looked fine in daylight and fell apart at night, which is when most of the game happens.

What I made

I set one rule for the whole world: every light source is a lantern you can see. Buildings were sculpted chunky and soft so they read from a top-down camera, then painted in a narrow palette of moss, timber and warm windows.

Over eight months I art-directed a team of three and built most of the environment kit myself: 40 props, six biomes and a day-to-night lighting pass for every one.

How it landed

Lanternfall launched in spring 2026. Players share screenshots of their villages at dusk more than any other moment, which is exactly the point.