Frosty Games Fest
2026
Having spent 2025 establishing ourselves as a Summer of Games Fest showcase, the team wanted our 2026 showcase branding to say something about the current state of industry.
2025 - 2026 has been a difficult year for making video games, and with the industry facing unprecedented lay-offs, discourse, and a sense of melancholy around making games , we wanted our branding to acknowledge this while also celebrating what makes ANZ game-makers special.
So, in 2026 we reached deeper into our Frosty branding craft drawer, and created intentionally human-made assets to demonstrate to our audience that in 2026 we are showcasing cool games, made by REAL people in ANZ.
2026’s showcase would not have been possible without our mates
Strange Scaffold and CODE NZ
Client
Frosty Games Fest
Year
2026
Illustrated key Art
Something myself, and showcase founder, Amy Potter, wanted for year two’s visual direction was a big illustration featuring our mascot, Frosty. The previous year we had established the brand’s visuals and it was time to build upon them now that the audience was familiar with Frosty and the showcase.
I wanted the illustration to feel inclusive of the entire ANZ region and the diverse games it produces, as we are also a winter showcase, I also wanted to spotlight the regional weather differences between us and our northern hemisphere counterparts. With this in mind, after many notebook scribbles, I landed on Frosty lounging by a fireplace (inspired by many a Australian home I have been in), surrounded by consoles, chilling out and playing games. Another goal for our illustration was for it to have the potential to be animated by our incredible editor, Ted Darling, and this was taken into account while designing the composition.
For the rendering process I went back to our art direction values for 2026, I wanted the illustration, even though for logistical reasons it had to be created digitally, to FEEL hand-made and to embrace any imperfections that arose in the illustrating process. To achieve this I used brushes and texture effects to give our illustration a traditionally printed look, and forced myself to leave any human looking errors in the art (leaving small perspective mistakes alone was particularly difficult for this perfectionist digital artist). The end result is a stark contrasts to last years slick vector brand, and one that the team felt was incredibly successful in demonstrating our values and love for the ANZ community.
Logo Re-works
For year two we wanted our pre-existing logos to be given a printed make-over. Keyframes were also produced for these so Frosty could wink at the viewer in the showcase and in potential animated assets.
Social Assets
To fit with our human made aesthetic, our social assets took inspiration from paste-up band poster design and junk journaling. I wanted our Instagram and Bsky to feel like it was advertising a cool, indie rock show rather than a traditional, slick video game showcase.
Steam Event
Assets created for the 2026 Steam event. Each showcase has a corresponding Steam event showcasing games included in the showcase, recently released ANZ titles, and showcase alumni with significant marketing beats. Assets include the event page capsules, sponsor assets, banners, and a special badge for participating developers to put on their games Steam Page.
Participant Assets
Every showcase Frosty partners with a number of folks across the ANZ video game community in a variety of capacities including co-host segments, co-streaming, and, of course, developers. So that they can share that they are apart of the showcase, a series of modular assets are created. For co-hosts we create a bespoke tile that can be used across social media with the hosts headshot and requested username, and for developers and co-streamers, we created a PNG template for them to insert their own avatar or participating game key art.
