APPROACH
I wanted to design an app that was quick to design, develop and test. My other consideration was that by avoiding a complex game mechanic it would allow us to refine and add additional functionalities in the future.
I was keen of doing a rhythm based game as they are mostly linked to speed, are quite linear, can be randomly generated and have nice music to accompany it!
The goal of the game was to tap shapes as they entered a specified area of the screen. The player fails if they don’t manage to tap a shape on time. The game gets increasingly faster with time. The goal is to tap as many shapes as possible and achieve a high score.
The design had to be simple enough to allow the programmer to replicate most of the assets in game and allow for a more lightweight app. I was inspired by 90s shapes that are fun, geometric, simple and colourful.
To begin I created a simple user flow that would allow us to visuals the main steps that needed fleshing out.
This was followed (after discussion with a senior designer) by a more detailed wireframe of the main visuals and gameplay.
Sound was created to accompany the app and give it a more whimsical and fun tone. The main theme had a playful tone that reminded me of games I used to play in my childhood. It was a great hit in the office (we even used it as hold music on the agency’s phone!).
User and bug testing the app allowed us to fine-tune the game