Just messing around with another prototype for a game. Nothing playable yet but I have a few ideas jotted down. I'll try and get something playable this week to determine if the base mechanics will be fun. I'm no artist but pixel art is often forgiving if symmetry is maintained. It also serves the game where realistically I'd have to implement an incredibly complex device that wouldn't be fun. With simplified graphics it requires less work to define . I kind of like the base colour scheme but I'll probably do another pass on it to better serve the mood of the setting if I decide to get more serious with it.
I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos about electronics recently and that's definitely feeding into my ideas for this. I've also always been a fan of Cyberpunk which definitely feeds into the look (those purple hues seem ubiquitous). In terms of laying out the screen, there're two perspectives similar to Papers Please. Having a front on view for the background and top down for the playable area simplifies the control scheme and the burden on the user significantly. I only spent a few minutes with the UI in the same perspective before dismissing it as unworkable. Aside from the complexity there's a lot of wasted space setting up that view in a meaningful way and it doesn't serve the game.
This is a drag and drop into Unity but no logic attached. Whilst it's usually better to get something working, sometimes having some (admittedly crappy) art assets is nice to start. At least it means if I do decide to start adding functionality I've got some distinct parts to work with without having to drop to an editor each time.