My Uncle Merlin is a project created by Pocket Mana, a three-person indie game dev team from Serbia. Here we will have some words about the artistic inspiration and Slavic motifs used in the making of the game.

Why We Did It

After we decided to build firm around the odd notion of “wizards in space”, we discussed at length about which direction we should take regarding the game’s artwork. We allowed ourselves enough creative room with such a strange idea, but we also wanted the overall style to be something fresh and exciting.

We turned to our heritage, our culture and the interior design of our grandparent’s homes to find inspiration and the results came out quite special.

How We Did It

The Slavic influences are subtle, but they affect many different aspects of the game. So the best way to present them is to split them into categories and go through them one at a time.

The Wizards

When we tried to imagine our wizards, we immediately thought of our elderly. The wise old folks we would see on the streets of our town, going out to buy bread and milk, greeting family, neighbors, and even unsuspecting strangers as they went along their merry way. Not all of them were merry though… Some were real grumpy. They would never leave their home, spending their days sitting in comfy chairs and continuously murmuring insults at the TV.

Enter uncle Merlin. An old, crabby wizard, that wears a woolen vest and a sleeping cap, both of which are essential parts of any Serbian grandpa look. His eyes tell the tale of how pointless it is to build a career as a government employee. His stare goes right through you, like you were nothing but an annoying pattern on his bedroom window, as he waits for commercials to finish.

The patterns on his clothing can be seen on some classic Slavic rugs. If you’re a 90s kid who grew up in Eastern Europe, you probably had the cold, blistering experience of washing the damn thing.

The Dragon

If you’re going to be propelling a wizardly tower through space, you need a name of epic proportions.

That is why our loving monstrosity had to carry the name George, jokingly referring to the dragon-slayer. His appearance and backstory were determined by some of the tales we were told as children. According to Slavic folklore, a number of animals can in fact turn into dragons when and if they reach a certain age. Georgie was obviously — a ram.

The UI and the Universe

We mentioned Slavic rugs already and their patterns are very common part of the game’s artwork. The rhombuses on their patterns which make them so recognizable are used as bases for the whole UI, but we also used them to map out the entire universe of the game.