Having seen Hotel Mario 's initial version - which Venola called `` mechanical '' and `` visually no fun '' - , she and art director Jeff Zoern decided to use elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien to enhance the game 's visual style .
After seeing Hotel Mario 's first version-which Venola called `` mechanical '' and `` visually no fun '' - she and art director Jeff Zoern decided to use elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien to improve the game 's visual style .