We usually do not work with traditional concept art, as Simon does not consider himself good at drawing. Usually we try to communicate ideas with photo collages, or paintovers instead. But for Sayonara Wild Hearts, Simon did explore a little through drawings. We thought each setting should have something off about them, something that stuck out, or felt unnatural. For “Hatehell Valley”, that became the trees growing from inside the house, to show that this city was not, or maybe had never been, inhabited by humans.

Early in the production, when the game was a little heavier on story, we had designed small adventure style intros for each song. The Fool would visit the Fate Pyramid, and have her fortune told, and then travel to a place, to seek revenge. We also had a lot of ideas about how each song would be in a medium. In The Devils’ chapter, The Fool visited a cinema in a dead city, which The Devils lived in. As you explored the cinema, you’d have to turn on the projector, and go and sit and watch a movie, which would be the level itself.

In The Lover’s level, The Fool entered a castle inside a storybook. Daniel, who was making the music for the game, but has a background as a 3D artist, made several concepts for the castle, and gameplay ideas on how The Fool would also split herself into two personas of herself. We made most of this level, which took several months, but in the end we threw it out, as the entire game was heading in the wrong direction. However, Daniel would continue to make concept art for several other sequences in the game, such as the mecha-wolves The Moons.