Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . 2D/3D Artist
Company / Client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Blender, Photoshop


Roughly between May 2010 and January 2011 I've worked on Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres as a 2D/3D artist, creating a variety of art assets for this game. These include mostly minigames, some concept art and minor assets. A selection of that work follows below.


This game is currently released as a 'collector's edition'.


01. Pre-Production Title Design.

02. Pre-Production Concept Art of the Main Antagonist.

03. Concept Art of a Steampunk Voltaic Pile (a percursor of the modern battery).

04. Minigame in which all street tiles must be lit up, with a limited number of lightbulbs.

05. Minigame of a silver miniature of a mansion. The goal is to order the patterns on the correct sides.

06. Minigame of a battery-powered machine. The goal is to put the correctly coloured battery in the right holder.

07. Minigame in which metal tiles must be slid into the right order.

08. Minigame in which the correct order of tiles must be found. Each row opens a part of the lock.

09. Minigame of a length of knotted cord. The goal is to untangle it, so that not a single piece of cord touches another.

10. Inventory Item Model of a Steampunk Battery.

11. Inventory Item Model of a Steampunk Syringe.

12. Inventory Item Model of a Cast Metal Tree.

13. Inventory Item Models of Silver Puzzle Elements.

Thank you for looking.

Game Art II

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: Inheritance
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Creative Director
Company / client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Blender, Photoshop

In this last post about Time Mysteries: Inheritance I'm showing you various bits of artwork I've created for this game. The so-called 'zoom-ins' are close-ups of important objects, areas or events in the main scene/location.


Working on this project as Creative Director/Lead Artist has been an interesting and invaluable experience for me. It has given me the wonderful opportunity to work with a great team of people, and at the same time allowed me the freedom to show of my creative vision. I would like to thank those who had faith in me that I could pull it off, and I hope they feel that the end result proved them right.

01. Credits Screen.



02. Tournament (13th century) - Table Zoom-in.

03. Market (13th century) - Hands with Box containing Ring Zoom-in.

04. Painting (19th century) - Hidden Object Game.

05. Science Lab (17th century) - Found Object Pop-up.

06. Garden (17th century) - Ring Pedestal Zoom-in.

07. King Offa's Great Hall (8th century) - Hand with Ring Zoom-in.



08. Abbey Infirmary (11th century) - Side Table Zoom-in.

Thank you for looking.

Minigames I

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: Inheritance
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Game
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Creative Director
Company / Client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Blender, Photoshop

This is the fifth post with artwork from the game Time Mysteries: Inheritance. The screenshots in this post are from several minigames, designed and created by me.
The first image is from a match-3 style minigame, which the player must play to win hints, which can be used in hidden object scenes to locate objects. The other screenshots are from various logic puzzles and perception-oriented games.


01. Match-3 game - Create series of three or more marbles in the same colour.


02. Safe Lock - Create a path for the steel ball from the edge to the center.

03. Mastermind - Guess the correct sequence of the four hidden colours.

04. Switch Lock - Activate all the switches.

05. Golden Weights - Move all the weights to the middle rod, in the correct order.

06. Display Counter Lock - Move the large square down into the empty space.

07. Medicine Puzzle - Find the matching item on the shelves.

08. Shield Puzzle - Find the matching pairs.

09. Chemical Set-up - Follow the correct sequence.

10. Time Device - Put all the electronic pieces back in the device.

11. Chess Puzzle - Turn all the white squares red.

Thank you for looking.

Game Art I

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: Inheritance
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Creative Director
Company / Client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Photoshop, Blender

This update, again with material from Time Mysteries: Inheritance, focuses on zoom-in art. In different locations in the game the player can find so-called traces of a time traveller, who is being followed by the main character. These traces add story to the game, however not al of the art shown below has been included in the final game.


01. Time Traveller's ID Card.

02. 19th century Newspaper.

03. Time Traveller's Gloves.

04. 17th century Sketch of Time Device.

05. Time Traveller's Canister.

06. Old Book with 13th century Illumination and 15th century Script.

07. Time Traveller's Camcorder.

Thank you for looking.

Cutscene Art I

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: Inheritance
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Creative Director
Company / Client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Photoshop

Some more artwork from Time Mysteries: Inheritance, including some scenes which were not used in the final game.


01. The First Scene of the Game; An English Coastal View.

02. Unused Cutscene Art: The Main Character, Vivien Ambrose, at her Father's Funeral.

03. Unused Cutscene Art: A Mysterious Man Attends the Funeral.

04. Unused Cutscene Art: The Mysterious Man Gives an Envelope to the Main Character.

05. The Cottage where the Father of Vivien Ambrose used to Live.

06. The Main Character is an Award-winnig Physicist.

07. A Close-up of the Main Character's hands holding a Magic Crystal Ball.

08. Time Mysteries Features Futuristic Devices .

09. A Climactic Event at Stonehenge.

Thank you for looking.

User Interface Design I

Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Mysteries: Inheritance
Project Type . . . . . . . . . . Casual Game / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure
Job Function . . . . . . . . . . Creative Director
Company / Client. . . . . . . Developed by Artifex Mundi / publisher: Big Fish Games
Made with. . . . . . . . . . . . Photoshop

During 2009 and 2010 I've worked on the casual game Time Mysteries: Inheritance, a so-called Hidden Object game.

Time Mysteries: Inheritance is about a young woman who travels through time to find and rescue her father, along the way meeting a range of colourful personages.

The following images show some of the art used as user interface in the game.


01. Evolution of the User Interface. The first was used in the demo, the last is in the released game.

02. Main Menu and Ingame Menu.

03. Setting and Profile Windows.

04. Loading Screen.

Thank you for looking.