ABOUT

The project emerged shortly after DJ Hero 2. Following the underperformance of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Activision expected DJ Hero 2 to follow a similar path and shifted much of its marketing focus towards Call of Duty. Although DJ Hero 2 reviewed well, it received limited support and sold below expectations. Early pre-production for DJ Hero 3 initially explored dance before evolving into a broader, music-led concept that became Dance Hero.

The work shown here comes from an early vertical slice. I led the UI team and defined the project’s tone and creative direction, building a small, highly specialised team covering UI design, motion graphics and technical implementation.

Creatively, I wanted a clear break from games such as Just Dance. Rather than broad, family-focused entertainment, the aim was to create something sharper and more contemporary, rooted in modern pop culture. The visual direction drew from pop music videos and European music channels, using bold idents, graphic overlays and confident typography.

The central design idea was the relationship between strong graphic design and 3D form. I used dynamic camera movement, music-video staging and visual references from artists such as Beyoncé and Katy Perry. This approach extended into the front end, where real-time music-video sequences played behind clean, bold UI.

The project was cancelled before entering full production, and I later moved on to Sing Party with Nintendo. Although Dance Hero never shipped, it remains a strong creative exploration of how the dance-game genre could have developed a more contemporary and visually confident identity.