I'm developing the perk system for Apocalypse Island, my pixel-art horror RPG, and I've now completed 30 pieces of perk artwork. Here are some of the top-tier (Tier 3) designs.

Most perks will have three tiers, with upgrades covering health, stamina, weapons, movement and other abilities. The aim is to give players different ways to build their character as they level up.

This selection includes increased maximum health, damage reduction, health regeneration, heart and XP attraction, improved sprinting, and a chance to gain temporary invulnerability after a kill.

I'd be interested in feedback on how clearly the artwork communicates each perk's effect, especially at the small size it will appear in the perk tree. How do you balance readable perk icons with a strong visual theme?

For icons that small, I'd test them at the actual in-game size first and judge them there, not zoomed in. A trick that works well is one strong silhouette per perk type, so health is always a heart, stamina is always a boot or lung, and so on, and the tier is shown by something separate like a frame color or pips under the icon. That way the player reads "what" from the shape and "how strong" from the border without having to study the art. Keep the background and palette shared across the whole set so the theme carries, and save the detail for the parts that don't need to be read at a glance. It also helps to squint or blur the icons slightly and see if you can still tell them apart. If two perks still look alike at that size, a short tooltip on hover usually covers the gap. Good luck with Apocalypse Island, 30 icons is a lot of work already.

Thanks Jeremy! I’m really grateful for the feedback and the time you’ve taken to explain your suggestions. I really value fellow gamers and developers opinions, especially while I’m developing Apocalypse Island.

Keeping a clear silhouette for each perk and showing the tiers separately makes a lot of sense. I’ll test the icons at their actual in-game size and see how easily I can tell them apart (easy to get caught up in the details when working zoomed in!) Thanks for the encouragement too 🙂