Pixel Art – Skill Trees

The first one I designed was the Erudition of Magic. I was influenced by the talismans and inscriptions I had studied when I was reading about magic and esoteric practices in the Islamicate world. Magic squares and certain symbols interested me due to their mathematically perfected designs as well as their supposed power, thus I made a design inspired by them. I did not copy any verbatim as I would not wish to offend anyone who takes black magic seriously, thus this symbol is based only on inspiration with no actual magic inlaid within.

After I finished the basic design I gave it a corona of red and black, mostly because those colours are associated with dark entities and demons, which is befitting of a path that represents black magic and communing with powerful spirits.

For this symbol I wanted one that was otherworldly yet peaceful, as opposed to the messy aura that made up the Magic symbol. This symbol was designed to be tranquil, yet commanding. I designed it after a sun as many faiths and religions connect god and the sun, thus it felt like an appropriate design choice. I was also inspired by the Saudi Arabian flag, which has the Qur’an declaration of faith written on it with a green background. It inspired the turquoise-green design of this symbol as well. I added some delicate shapes on the symbol as if it is also some sort of inscription of something, perhaps a prayer or the name of God.

Overall I believe this symbol is effective in conveying the fictitious religion of my game world.

For this design I purely relied on my own thought and rationale as to what I believed would represent the erudition of humanity. I felt that a fist covered in a metal and leather gauntlet worked best. The background colours were chosen as they represent the setting sun, while the fist represents the indefatigable nature of the pursuit of knowledge by humans. It also fits for the one skill tree not reliant on supernatural forces, this skill tree is purely human and corporeal, as a result, a simple raised fist accomplishes a powerful symbol in my eyes.

I was quite satisfied with how this particular symbol turned out and believe it is what best suits the erudition it was made for, and beyond that, it could be used as a symbol for the game as a whole as it encompasses the ethos of the game, the indefatigable nature of humanity and the pursuit of erudition.