If you love cozy management games and cute graphics good for the soul, you will love Minami Lane! I am happy to receive today Doriane Randria, Game Artist on the project!
Minami Lane is one of those games that will make your day better after a long day at work. What striked me the most when I first saw it was the soothing color palette and distinct art direction that make it so recognisable among its peers in the cozy gaming niche.
It intrigued me so much that I decided to reach out to Doriane (aka Blibloop) to learn more about her creative process and how her and Dorian (aka Doot) came up with everything we can now see in Minami Lane.
Glad to have you here, Doriane! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi there, thank you for having me! 🌻 I’m Doriane, 32, and it’s almost been 3 years since I started my journey as an independent illustrator and game artist.
I live in the South West of France by the ocean with my amazing boyfriend Doot, with whom I created the game Minami Lane.
Before settling in a tiny village nested in the middle of pine trees, I lived in quite a few places all over the world, namely Montreal, Singapore, Paris and San Francisco. I love exploring! Discovering a foreign country, riding my bike in random forest paths or getting lost in video game open-worlds bring me a lot of joy.
How did you end up working in the video game industry?
It wasn’t exactly planned but I naturally got drawn to it. My academic background isn’t linked to video games nor art, but marketing.
When it was time to find an internship, I went to my school’s career fair with little hope to find anything interesting. Instead of dropping my resume to as many companies as I could, I just talked to a few – maybe 3 – including Ubisoft. I managed to get an internship there in the Consumer & Market Knowledge team, and ended up working within this team for the following 6 years.
Overall, I loved my time at Ubisoft but by the end it became far from perfect and it made me want to switch jobs. Nothing really got me excited in yet another corporate job so I took a hard decision: leave, completely change my career path and start an online shop living off my own illustrations and creations. Later on, as my boyfriend also started a career change to become an independent game dev, it made sense to make a game together.
Johanna: I love this so much! Having the courage to take the leap and change career is such a difficult thing to do. I’m glad that you were both able to create something wholesome with the freedom you had.
Coming from a marketing background, were there any challenges when switching to such a different role?
Many! I went from marketing research and data analysis to drawing silly characters, so you can imagine how different that felt.
With no art background except drawing lessons as a hobby when I was 14, I lacked – and still lack – a lot of technical skills. I still see myself as a beginner. I keep learning, regularly take online courses, follow tutorials and get inspiration from the process of other artists. With time, I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will never be as good as someone who started their art journey earlier, and that’s ok.
… Which leads me to my second biggest challenge, the imposter syndrome! It’s really hard to be confident in your position when you start as an illustrator at nearly 30 with zero experience and a lot of room for improvement. I met amazingly talented artists who feel equally self-conscious about their skills, which made me feel a little better, like we are all in the same boat you know? I also realized that being a good artist isn’t about having the best technical skills, but conveying something that speaks to people with your art, and that helped a lot.
Johanna: Imposter syndrome is definitely something that came back multiple times in the interviews posted here. Your last sentence is a good reminder to all of us that we should keep making art that makes us happy and proud – we will always find people who will resonate with it.
What attracted you to make art in the first place?
Weird to say, but it was covid lol. With my job and just keeping up with friends, I barely had time to draw. When covid hit, I had nothing to do outside of work so I started creating stuff.
After a few months, I gained a bit of traction. I think positive feedback is what gave me the motivation to keep going.
What were your main responsabilities on the incredibly cozy game Minami Lane?
I was mainly in charge of the creative direction and art, while Doot took care of the programming and project management parts. We both worked on game design together, with a lot of back and forth to decide on the main mechanics and balancing.
As it was only the two of us working full time on the project – Zakku, the music composer/sound designer and external partners worked sporadically on the game – we also both had to do a lot of communications on social media ourselves.
When you’re in a small team, you can’t be overly specialized and need to be at least somewhat decent at several things!
In terms of art direction, how did you come up with what we can see on screen?
It’s a mix of what I wanted to do and what I felt capable of doing. Remember when I said I was new to illustration and wanted to learn?
Johanna: YES!!!
For this project, I really wanted to learn how to draw in isometric view. I knew this before we even came up with the game idea. I wanted to achieve a cute little world bursting with life and activity, something pleasing to just watch. Knowing my limitations, I chose a simple color palette, a simple art style and avoided anything too complicated like 3D or very detailed environments. And…Tada ! It became Minami Lane.
In general, what would be your creative process when making art?
I usually get a lot of references about the overall mood I would like to achieve, plus a few more detailed references for specific items, elements or characters.
Then I try to draw, fail a few times, get frustrated and try again until I get something I’m happy with lol… It usually ends up being completely different from what I initially had in mind, but as long as it works, I’m fine with it.
On a more serious note, there is still a lot of randomness in terms of results in my creative process and I’m trying to work on it. But on the other hand, it can sometimes lead to nice surprises. I think Minami Lane was one of these.
You seem to really enjoy cozy vibes! Are there specific things inspiring you when creating?
Cozy games! And indie games in general too. They are the best. I’m mainly interested in their mood and how they achieve it, whether it is through design choices, gameplay mechanics or aesthetics.
Visually, I was impressed by games like A Space for the Unbound or Eastward, which managed to create stunning environments. I also love A Short Hike for its packed little world with lots to discover in such a tiny space. Other games managed to create super unique atmospheres through narration and repetition, like Mutazione and A Night in the Woods. There are so many I can’t mention them all, but indie games with strong design or aesthetic directions are huge inspirations.
Johanna: I was also impressed with how A Short Hike was proposing so many different areas and things to do in such a small island (I kept getting lost though). There are many awesome games being released every months, we are so lucky!
You have an online shop where you sell unique creations around The Legend of Zelda universe. What does this franchise represent to you?
It represents my childhood, me growing up, and what I am now to be honest. It followed me through the years and with each new installment, there were new things to love about this franchise. I started with A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening when I was little, but it’s with Ocarina of Time that I really fell in love with the series. The world they created was absolutely fascinating to me. I was a kid so for a long time I was too scared to keep playing after encountering the ReDeads, but I would watch my brother play.
I played most of the larger titles and was always drawn to the exploration part of these games, even before Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. As I previously mentioned, exploring and discovering are core motivations for me, in game or IRL, and the Zelda series perfectly scratched that itch.
Anything else you would like to share with us?
Thank you so much for the interview!
I just wanted to remind people who come across this interview that if I somewhat succeeded, it’s not just because of hard work and ~believing in my dreams~. I was privileged enough to be in a comfortable position at Ubisoft and was able to save money. Even with this, I only had the courage to change my career path when I was sure I could get unemployment benefits after quitting my job.
Right now, it makes me sad to see these benefits taken away. I would have never been where I am today without them. And who knows how many won’t be able to pursue their dream career if our government keeps stripping them away? Please keep that in mind and vote accordingly! 🙂
Doriane Randria – Game Artist
Instagram / X / TikTok
Thank you so much Doriane for taking the time to answer these questions, and shed the light on your amazing work on Minami Lane! Hope you all loved this interview, I can’t wait to share another one with you all soon. In the meantime, take care! 💛
