Competitor Research
To begin, several competitors were tested including: Love Nikki, Picrew, and various indie mobile dress up games such as Vlinder Princess, Shining Star, and Coco Anime Princess, to explore what did and did not work across the UX and UI of each game. Screenshots were taken and organized by UI type, while experiences were recorded via a Pros and Cons sheet.
After going through the competitor games, a simple mock-up was drawn based on the pros and cons found from each game, blending various game elements to create what the current idea of a cohesive dress-up game would look like.
For bonus research, a massive moodboard collecting screens from various female-oriented video games, anime dress-up illustrations, and other relevant images was organized to help understand the tone and layout options.
User Research
A survey was sent out and interviews were completed under the topic of casual gaming, with sub-questions about the appeals of dress-up games. Some discoveries made were that most prefer casual gaming as a form of low-commitment distractions, less than 15 minutes per gameplay, while fans of dress-up games tend to enjoy them out of a sense of nostalgia.
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The most common reasons for deleting games were: too many advertisements, too many required in-app purchases, confusing interface, and bad rewards.
Building
Based on user research and testing, concepts were made for a game that encouraged longtime user engagement on top of short, low-commitment daily gameplay. The concept combined gacha RPG-style mobile gaming with a casual dress-up minigame: one focusing on resource collecting, story, and goals, while the other focused on creativity and a personalized experience. The gacha and shop would exempt the need for excessive advertisements.
A feature list was drafted that included all of the potential assets that would make the game: the dress-up game itself, the story and casual modes, homepage UX, user profile features, currency and resources, social aspects, shopping and collectibles, menu, items, ect. Daily resource collecting and task completion should take no longer than 15-20 minutes per day, while engaged gameplay would be rewarded.
A storyboard was also created to both map out a possible user experience, as well as explore a user mindset concerning details of the game’s features and goals. After that, concept drafts for the homepage features were re-explored and cleaned.
"Trendsetter" Gameplay
Before I designed the layout of the dress-up game in detail, I needed to understand its game design.
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A tentative name, Trendsetter, was given to the game to highlight its core experience: tasks and challenges given by the game would have the player dress the model in clothes that carry point values to meet certain requirements.
However, by leveling up their favorite clothes and character cards as buffs to bypass type-requirements, the user can slowly shape their gaming experience to align with their preferences. This would allow the player to, over time, shape the game's mechanics to their own style, or personal taste.
For example, a challenge may require a player to choose a piece with high Cool points. In the beginning, they may only be able to choose clothes that come with high Cool points, but later, they may have upgraded one of their preferred clothes to have the Cool points required, and can now use it over previously suggested items.
Character cards collected through gacha may also contribute buffs such as changing points of one attribute to another.
Designing
A lofi draft of the flow was created with some of my old art and boxes to map out the general experience of one story-mode dress up challenge.
The flow featured a login screen, homepage, story menus, chapter selection, a short VN (Visual Novel) segment, along with gameplay of a challenge tutorial to guide the user through the experience. This helped explore any confusing gameplay details, as well as solidifying an aesthetic and overall experience.
Gameplay was heavily based on a combination of the several tested dress-up mobile games, various mobile gacha-RPGs, and Picrew.
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Initial UI featured bright colors and soft edges that overlaid over a customizable background to emphasize fun, creativity, and boldness. Thick black outlines, large words, and pop-out buttons encouraged confident styles while at the same time being able to stand out over a variety of potential backdrops.
Hifi Prototype
Later, the homepage style was tweaked to be more unified and less distracting from the backdrop elements, while story exploration kept its bold attitude. Title of the game was also changed again to Personal Taste, to emphasize the player’s identity and creative freedom.
The dress-up tutorial was made near-fully functional in Figma, guiding the tester through a single dress-up experience along with teaching gameplay elements and goals. This helped hash-out both UI/UX, as well as game design in one prototype.
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Feel free to play through the tutorial in Figma by clicking View Prototype!
Testing
The most standout feedback came from users navigating through the dress-up gameplay. While there were some comments on navigation of the homepage and clarity of the menu options and rewards, the majority of changes went into getting rid of tutorial roadblocks.
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Adding “tap to continue”, changing the wording of numerous captions and explanations, tweaking graphics, adding more responsiveness to buttons, adjusting the flow, ect. "Free Dress" was also renamed into "Free Style" as one participant thought it would be easy to confuse the term with a free in-game dress.
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In general, positive responses went to the overall graphics, creative potential, interesting gameplay, and smooth flow.
Conclusion
This is a project that helped me personalize my design process through my concept illustration background. Visualizing my thinking process helped a lot in developing goals, research points, and UX ideas. It also presented the challenge of creating an end-to-end game flow experience through Figma prototype only.
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Unlike client-based projects, this personal project helped unleash my creative freedom on a niche topic that intrigued me. I could start bold, and tone down the aesthetic as needed. The true challenge came through researching, building, and implementing game design ideas. It’s a difficult job to wear every hat, but it allows me to approach the problem while considering multiple angles.
