🎨 SVCC Community Art Project

Hex-Empire: Terrain Expansion Pack

Official Client Design Brief for the Visual Arts Department & Student Illustrators
📄 Download Word Doc ⚔️ Open Game

🎯 The Project Overview

Welcome artists! You have been commissioned by the developers of Hex-Empire to create an authentic Expansion Art Pack. Hex-Empire is a grand tactical strategy game played on a modular hexagonal map.

We have engineered a new feature allowing any player to open their in-game settings and select your class / your name as the active artist! When chosen, the game will reload and every continent, ocean, mountain range, and wheat field in the entire realm will be rendered using your bespoke artwork.

🎨 The Artist Pack Feature is Live: When players select your pack from the in-game dropdown, the engine dynamically looks for your files. Any missing variants will automatically fall back to the default pack, meaning students can design as many or as few tiles as they wish without breaking the game!
🧭

MANDATORY RULE: TILES MUST ALL FACE THE CORRECT DIRECTION!

All tiles in Hex-Empire are POINTY-TOPPED HEXAGONS. Drawing in the wrong orientation will cause the art to be rotated 30° or 90° sideways when imported into the game!

▲ 12 O'CLOCK POINTED PEAK:
The top of your paper MUST have a pointed corner pointing straight UP (like a roof spire).
▼ 6 O'CLOCK POINTED PEAK:
The bottom of your paper MUST have a pointed corner pointing straight DOWN.
| | VERTICAL SIDES:
The left and right edges are completely vertical straight parallel lines.
☀️ UP IS UP:
Draw mountain summits, tree canopies, and sky pointing toward 12 o'clock, with ground/roots at 6 o'clock!
❌ DO NOT DRAW FLAT-TOPPED HEXAGONS: Never draw with a horizontal flat edge at the top. The top MUST be a pointed vertex.

🔷 The Shape: Pointy-Topped Hexagon

Hex-Empire uses pointy-topped hexagons (vertices pointing straight UP and DOWN, with vertical parallel sides on left and right). Never draw flat-topped hexes!

🔍 2x Resolution Specification

Draw inside an 18cm × 18cm square (or 2048 × 2048 pixels digitally). When scanned, our script automatically scales it down to 1024 × 1024 px.

🎨 Bleed Margin (+10% Overhang)

Do NOT stop drawing at the black hex line! Paint/color all the way out past the hex boundary into the bleed margin so adjacent tiles tile together without white seams.

🛡️ The Safe Zone (Inner 75%)

Keep your main hero elements (tallest mountain peak, farmhouse, monster tentacle, ancient tree) centered in the inner 75% circle so they are never clipped by the hex borders.

🎮 The "Stage Rule" (Game Playability)

Remember: Your tile is the stage upon which the game unfolds!
Players will be moving miniature armies (archers, knights, siege catapults), laying cobblestone roads, and erecting stone castle walls right on top of your tiles.

🗺️ The 7 Required Terrain Types & Demo Variants

To prevent the game world from looking repetitive, we need several unique variants (1 to 5) for each terrain type. A student or class can divide up these biomes:

🌊 Deep Sea sea_1 to sea_5
🐟 RESOURCE: FISH / NAVAL PASSAGE (Food & Sea Routes)

Game Role: Navigable waters for fleet transports; coastal waters yield supplementary fish to feed cities.

  • 1 Open Ocean: Deep blue royal water with gentle rolling surface ripples.
  • 2 Coastal Reef: Turquoise lagoon showing coral shoals and schools of fish.
  • 3 Choppy Waters: Wind-swept ocean with frothy whitecaps and fishing buoys.
  • 4 Deep Trench: Mysterious dark abyssal rift or swirling ocean current.
  • 5 Sea Creature: Mythical silhouette of a giant sea serpent under the surface!
🌾 Wheat Field field_1 to field_5
🌾 RESOURCE: WHEAT (Primary Food & Army Upkeep)

Game Role: Feeds your population and maintains your standing armies. Running out of Wheat causes catastrophic army starvation!

  • 1 Ripe Golden Grain: Waving amber stalks basking in warm summer sunlight.
  • 2 Plowed Furrows: Rich dark-brown fertile soil furrows ready for seed planting.
  • 3 Harvest Hay Bales: Sunlit field dotted with round rolled golden hay bales.
  • 4 Rustic Scarecrow: Wooden cross scarecrow watching over barley crops.
  • 5 Farm Well & Silo: Field clearing featuring a rustic stone freshwater well.
🌱 Pasture / Meadow pasture_1 to pasture_5
🐑 RESOURCE: SHEEP (Wool, Livestock & Trade)

Game Role: Produces Wool and Livestock used for diplomatic trade, raising cavalry horses, and expanding settlements.

  • 1 Flock of Sheep: Gentle rolling green knolls with grazing white sheep.
  • 2 Wildflower Meadow: Vibrant spring pasture dotted with purple clover and poppies.
  • 3 Cattle Herd: Pastoral hillside with grazing dairy cattle or horses.
  • 4 Babbling Brook: Freshwater stream winding through green grazing lands.
  • 5 Ancient Standing Stone: Mossy stone megalith standing in an open field.
🌲 Deep Forest forest_1 to forest_5
🪵 RESOURCE: WOOD (Lumber, Construction & Siege)

Game Role: Timber used to construct roads, build towns, craft bows, and assemble powerful siege engines.

  • 1 Ancient Oak Canopy: Dense broadleaf woodland of thick, towering timber oaks.
  • 2 Evergreen Pines: Alpine spruce and fir forest with tall conifer needles.
  • 3 Lumber Clearing: Sunlit forest glade with fallen timber logs and mossy stumps.
  • 4 Autumn Timber: Rich amber, crimson, and golden maple forest.
  • 5 Enchanted Woods: Moody forest canopy with giant wild mushrooms and ferns.
⛰️ Rugged Hills hill_1 to hill_5
🧱 RESOURCE: BRICK (Clay, Stone & Fortifications)

Game Role: Produces Clay and quarried Brick needed to pave roads, build towns, and reinforce stone defensive walls.

  • 1 Terraced Clay Ridge: Stepped earthen hillside with exposed reddish clay layers.
  • 2 Stone Quarry: Chiseled quarry hillside showing cut masonry building blocks.
  • 3 Granite Tor: Rocky hilltop capped with weathered boulders and clay soil.
  • 4 Heather Moor: Rugged upland with rocky scree and earthy gravel paths.
  • 5 Watchtower Hill: High grassy ridge with the stone ruins of a watchpost.
🏔️ Epic Mountains mountain_1 to mountain_5
⛏️ RESOURCE: ORE (Iron, Metals & City Upgrades)

Game Role: Yields heavy Iron Ore to forge swords & plate armor for Legions, and is required to upgrade Towns into Cities!

  • 1 Snow-Capped Crag: Jagged granite mountain peak covered in white snow.
  • 2 Iron Mine Entrance: Timber-framed mine adit dug into the base of the rock.
  • 3 Twin Peaks: Dual razor peaks showing visible mineral and metallic strata.
  • 4 Volcanic Basalt: Dark obsidian and hematite rock formations with iron deposits.
  • 5 Glacial Couloir: Icy mountain ridge carving through sheer silver-gray rock faces.
🏜️ Arid Desert desert_1 to desert_5
🚫 RESOURCE: NONE (Barren Wasteland)

Game Role: Produces 0 resources. Serves as a high-attrition barrier and tactical natural boundary between empires.

  • 1 Wind-Swept Dunes: Rolling curved sand ridges with sharp wind-carved crests.
  • 2 Cracked Mudflat: Sun-baked dry clay with hexagonal drought cracks.
  • 3 Desert Oasis: Small blue water spring surrounded by desert date palms.
  • 4 Sandstone Mesa: Outback-style flat-topped red rock butte.
  • 5 Ancient Fossil: Sun-bleached ribcage of a giant beast emerging from sand.