Sacred Geometry: A tribute to LEGO creations inspired by Monument Valley [Guest Feature]

With an account called “Dunesplained,” you can be sure that I look to the sci-fi worlds of Frank Herbert for inspiration for my LEGO creations, but I look to other places too, like video games. And perhaps no game has made an impact on my imagination like Monument Valley.

In what I’d confidently call the best game made for mobile phones (though now there are ported versions for Nintendo Switch and Xbox), developer Ustwo Games created a meditative puzzle experience where the user guides Princess Ida through an ever-shifting geometric landscape. Clearly inspired by the art of MC Escher, the games feature many optical illusions of stairs, archways and other architecture that shift as you rotate or move.

The game’s aesthetics, which it refers to as “sacred geometry,” translate remarkably well to Lego building. I first noticed this in a monochromatic, nicely layered moc from Dicken Liu:

Seeing this and reminiscing over playing the game, I felt inspired to build a series of MOCs of some of the most striking moments from the game. I took inspiration from Dicken’s design of Ida while modifying it slightly.

Personally, I felt this was a perfect use case for designing digitally in Bricklink Studio—firstly, I don’t have the physical inventory to build at the necessary scale, and secondly, Studio offers so many possibilities for lighting that help bring the builds to life.

Of course, I’m not the only to be inspired by these amazing games of late.

In the case of syrdarian (whose captivating MOC inspired me to finally post the builds I’d had in my backlog), they built their M.V.-inspired post physically from actual LEGO bricks, which always looks best. I asked him about his process, which involved a rough “sketch” in Minecraft axiom / world edit.

Dunesplained: it’s cool how you combined multiple levels and elements of the game into one build. Can you talk about why you chose to depict what you did?

Syrdarian: To be honest, I’ve never played the game, simply because it’s an enigma type of game, which I don’t really appreciate, yet I’ve seen a lot of pictures of the game on Pinterest. I chose to combine them to design my own version, making it fit the theme of Summer Joust and my liking, while remaining buildable. So yeah, you’ll probably never see a level like this one in the game, or if you do, you can be sure it’s a lucky coincidence. As I’ve not tried the game, it’s possible that among the details I’ve included, some don’t make sense in the game, yet my idea was to do something similar, not exactly like the game – at the beginning, I wasn’t sure I’d include the character.

D: it’s cool how you used the Minecraft software to rough out your build. Can you talk about that process more? Do you typically do that with mocs?

S: Since I was a child, I’ve been playing Minecraft, so I know the game quite a lot. My drawing skills are far from being good, so to help with making sketches, Minecraft is a great alternative, even more so because it’s in 3D, so I can visualize things in space. To make things even easier, plugins/mods such as WorldEdit or Axiom are particularly useful; they save a ton of time.

D: in particular I love how you did that tree with the yellow cubes. Was that tricky to figure out? How’d you make those angles work?

S: To stay in the aesthetic of the game, I decided to make a cubic tree – not the most logical, yet very cool nevertheless (and also because I’m terrible at making realistic trees). Even though I had already done one in a previous MOC, it wasn’t easy in terms of composition, and it easily took a whole hour… To mimic the blocky look, and to avoid it being too big with simple bricks, I used a lot of Minecraft heads, most color-swapped – with the Blaze one then. I designed it with the angle of the camera in mind, so I guess it’s looking “great” only from a particular angle, but yeah, it’s built with a bunch of techniques to set the heads in different positions.

D: anything else you want to share about the build?

S: Even though I usually like the process, the editing wasn’t really fun as I had a lot of technical difficulties and creative blocks. At the end of the day, even though I feel it’s better than the RAW picture, I think it’s over-edited.

In the case of GLAT mocs, he went with an even looser take on “Monument Valley-inspired,” creating his own parallel version called “Obsidian Meadow” with main character Snogwyn.

Dunesplained: What inspired your build and original character Snogwyn?

Glatmocs: The build was definitely directly inspired by Monument Valley, but I thought it would be fun to make an “offbrand” version, hence “Obelisk Meadow. For the character of Snogwyn, I have really enjoyed using the Bricklink studio parts creator to make new parts based on classic animal parts. So the head from the classic dragon masters dragon (originally named Ogwen ) somehow became Snogwyn when used as a minifig head. He seems like a friendly whimsical guy ready for adventures.

D: Is it a render or photo of a physical build?

G: It is 100% a digital render. These days about 50% of my Instagram posts are digital, made in Bricklink Studio. I love taking advantage of the digital format to play with lighting and customized fictional parts.

D: I do love how yours combines classic LEGO (looking at that printed rocky baseplate) and clean modern aesthetics. Anything you want to say about the style or process?

G: I was a 90s kid, so anything I build is always going to have a strong influence of 90s LEGO parts. And from a creative standpoint, I love working with constraints. The asymmetrical structure of the raised baseplate forces you to make choices like “hmm how does the tower connect to this ramp?”

Lastly, and maybe most impressively, is this video from YouTuber @nerdsforprez who most effectively translates the moveability of the game by creating a MOC that transforms before your eyes! It’s truly mind boggling watching the build literally unfold, much as the levels do in the game.

Personally, I’d love to see a one-off LEGO set of this game that combines some of the colorful aesthetics with the functionality of a puzzle build that can evolve and transform! A big thank you to The Brothers Brick for allowing me to write this feature, and continue to spotlight the most interesting creations in the AFOL community.

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