Steam Lunar New Year Sale
Illustration, Game Design | Client: Valve | Role: Creative Direction, Illustration
To acknowledge its growing user community in Asia, Valve ran a surprise Lunar New Year Sale in 2016 (a monkey year on the Chinese zodiac). An interactive choose-your-own-adventure experience created a narrative framework for the sale and functioned as a way to introduce users to new games.
The story followed our monkey protagonist as he makes his way home for the new year, and incorporated elements from the traditions and mythology of Lunar New Year. The art direction put a modern twist on old tradition, combining a bold street art sensibility with traditional styles and motifs to create a vibrant world full of colorful characters. The sale was a huge success that resonated especially in Valve’s Asian markets.
Game Mechanics
Throughout the duration of the sale, we populated the Steam home page with interactive pieces of the narrative that prompted users to decide how the story unfolds. They were then driven to custom-made collections of games based on the decisions they made. Since these collections were grouped by theme, they included popular favorites, but also introduced players to new games they may not have discovered otherwise.
Illustrations
The multi-part interactive narrative unfolded through a collection of over 40 unique illustrated assets. These provided opportunities to incorporate easter eggs of surprise and delight — references to the folklore of the Chinese zodiac, as well as visual elements inspired by the artistic traditions of the countries where Lunar New Year is celebrated.
