WordGotchu!
“WordGotchu! is a pixel pet battle game that takes inspiration from Wordle and Pokémon. Compete against your friend using a unique Gotchu in a fast-paced Wordle solving match!”
Introduction
For this interdisciplinary project, I worked with 2 designers before handing the project off to 4 developers to code the game.
As the game designers, we were tasked with creating a game design that was familiar to Wordle users as during this time, Wordle was extremely popular and we wanted to take inspiration from the puzzle game. We also took inspiration from Pokémon and decided to go with a pixel style art to go with 8-bit music to create a fun experience.
Timeline
January - May 2022
Role
UI/UX Designer
Game Designer
Project Manager
Skills
User Research, Competitive Analysis, User Flow,
Prototyping, Player Persona, Usability Testing
Tools
Figma, Adobe Photoshop
Problem Statement
For this project, we thought about how we could create a game that was a fun and easy experience for users to navigate and play through. Given the premise of taking inspiration of Wordle and Pokémon, we had to re-design the concepts into a way that merged the two ideas together in harmony. With our users in mind, we asked how we could present this concept in a well thought-out design and functional game?
Research - Competitive Analysis
User Story Map
User Personas
Lo-fi & Hi-fi Prototype
Solution
We created a web app game by first conducting a competitive analysis of similar games to get an idea of actionable items which we can take to improve and implement into the game design and flow. We then created player personas to discover their pain points and ensuring that we take those into account when designing WordGotchu!.
We conducted user surveys to potential demographics that would play WordGotchu! and wrote a report of our user findings. Then through using a lo-fi prototype and hi-fi prototypes on Figma, we performed usability testing of our users to improve the design and user flow. We created the game with custom pixel designs and user interface that were based on all these findings to ensure a cohesive and intuitive experience for our player base.
Challenges and Takeaways
The outcome of this project has made me realize that designing a game is challenging! It was ambitious of the team to do pixel art as none of us were experienced with it, and it took longer than expected to create the game assets. We also had to consider the user mental model when it came to game design, as we wanted to ensure that our players are able to properly navigate and to play it for a good experience.
All in all the experience was fun and eye-opening of the amount of work and passion that goes into game design.
