AdHoc Studio discovered its lead character and concept artist, Lap Pun Cheung, on ArtStation as a “last resort” solution during the high-pressure pitch phase for their game, Dispatch. Faced with the challenge of balancing comedy and drama, the developers initially viewed the hire as a temporary fix to secure funding, only to find the visual anchor that would define the game’s acclaimed art style.
The Struggle to Find the Right Look
During a panel at this year’s GDC, AdHoc Studio co-founders Dennis Lenart and Nick Herman opened up about the frantic early days of Dispatch. With only a script in hand and no in-house art team, the studio struggled to visualize a tone that sat perfectly between comedic beats and serious drama.
“We started with a shotgun approach, working with a bunch of talented artists to help us find a style that felt right,” Herman explained. However, the team found that many artists leaned too heavily into one extreme—either making the game feel like a pure comedy or skewing toward a mature, serious tone that didn’t capture the full scope of their vision.
From “Last Resort” to Defining Vision
Desperate to secure funding, the team turned to ArtStation. “As a last resort, we did what every artistically challenged indie developer did,” Herman admitted. “We went to ArtStation.” Despite Herman’s cynical aside about the platform’s current state due to AI-generated content, the move proved pivotal.
Co-founder Pierre Shorette discovered Lap Pun Cheung’s portfolio, and the team brought him on for what they expected to be a quick, temporary arrangement. “We thought he might be able to do some quick and dirty concepts,” Lenart recalled. “And all these are the actual first things he drew.”
The results were immediate. Cheung provided the concept for what would become the game’s most iconic promotional image: Robert Robertson III at a urinal between characters Phenomaman and Royd. This breakthrough not only solidified the game’s aesthetic but also proved that sometimes the most essential creative partnerships begin with a simple, last-minute search on a digital marketplace.
