Shaping a playful mobile puzzle game—from market research and product strategy to user flows and developer-ready prototypes.
THE CHALLENGE
Create an engaging puzzle experience that connects the brand with players, while balancing fixed mechanics, business requirements, and a three-month timeline. The design needed to work for casual players with an interest in Asian culture and support both iOS and Android.
HOW I APPROACHED IT
Build a grounded view of the market, players, and constraints.
Compared three puzzle games for interface ideas and mechanics, reviewed the 100 most recent App Store reviews for each, then brought the findings together in a market analysis.
OutputMarket analysis
Turn research into a shared audience and product direction.
Turned the research into user personas and a shared product direction: progressive gameplay, a soft visual identity tied to the brand, and monetization that connects in-game rewards with snack-box discounts.
OutputPersonas + answer statement
Validate journeys first, then shape the visual system and prototype.
Mapped the login, tutorial, gameplay, navigation, shop, and settings flows. We tested those journeys in low-fidelity wireframes, then applied the Figma design tokens to high-fidelity screens and interactive prototypes.
OutputFlows + Figma prototypes
Hand off a connected design foundation for development.
Shared the wireframes and prototypes with developers as the foundation for a playable game, then continued iterating with the team after handoff.
OutputDeveloper-ready design handoff
PROJECT DETAILS
ABOUT
Tiger Snack Box is an ecommerce platform focused on delivering international Asian snack boxes to customers worldwide, with popular snacks from Korea, Japan, and China.
The company set out to create a mobile puzzle game to increase brand engagement and customer retention. A co-designer and I were hired to lead the game’s UI/UX design. It was planned for iOS and Android, for casual puzzle players interested in Asian culture.
DISCOVER
The shareholder supplied a mobile-only puzzle game with levels of increasing difficulty. It needed to feel cozy and friendly, and generate revenue through paid features, ads, or purchases connected to real-world snack boxes. The visual identity had to reflect Tiger Snack Box’s red, orange, and yellow brand and pay homage to Asian culture. The three-month timeline had a hard deadline so development could begin.
The gameplay was given to us by the shareholder: a puzzle game with levels of increasing difficulty. It is a mobile-only experience and needed a cozy, friendly vibe and aesthetic.
The game needed a way to generate revenue, whether through paid features, ads, or purchases through real-world snack boxes.
The game needed to strongly reflect Tiger Snack Box’s current brand identity (red, orange, yellow) and pay homage to Asian culture.
This was a three-month project with a hard deadline to get development started.
Create a mobile-only experience; keep hand ergonomics and sizing in mind. The game will be touch- and swipe-based.
Revenue would be generated through increased game revenue or increased sales of real-world snack boxes.
Create a visual identity that satisfies both the playful feel required and the Tiger Snack Box brand identity.
Separate design into sprints to allow feedback and timely delivery.
How can we design a mobile puzzle game that engages users and reflects Tiger Snack Box’s brand identity while respecting business requirements, fixed gameplay mechanics, and the three-month deadline?
Success meant delivering a PACK! prototype ready for developers to turn into a playable game.
To understand the mobile puzzle market, we compared Puzzles & Dragons for its progressive gameplay and collectible characters, Cats & Soup for its cozy hand-drawn presentation and rewarded-ad model, and Candy Crush for its animations, haptics, and ergonomic interaction patterns.
We reviewed the 100 most recent App Store reviews for each game and aggregated responses into a stat box. The app was the independent variable and review responses were the dependent variable; the source and collection method were controlled by using the same 100 most recent App Store reviews. Since all three games were available on both platforms, platform was not expected to confound the comparison.
DEFINE
The review data showed what players valued and where friction appeared: the cozy, illustrative style of Cats & Soup, reduced frustration when monetization stays optional, and progressive mechanics that continue to evolve.
78%
Loved the illustrative and cozy feel of Cats & Soup.
40%
Heavily disliked the interstitial ads in Candy Crush.
36%
Heavily disliked Candy Crush’s pay-to-win mechanics that stopped progress at harder levels.
34%
Loved the progressive and constantly updating gameplay mechanics in Puzzles & Dragons.
We translated those findings into four directions for PACK!: preserve a cozy, approachable look; choose rewarded ads rather than interruptive interstitials; connect in-game rewards with real-world snack-box coupons; and make progression engaging by evolving difficulty and mechanics over time.
Users preferred hand-drawn textures and pastel colors because they feel more approachable and engaging than other colors.
Users preferred rewarded ads because they are less intrusive and more engaging than interstitial ads.
Offer in-game customization, purchases for currency and gems, and challenges that give discounts on real-world snack boxes.
Increase difficulty as users progress by making the game faster, increasing penalties, and manipulating game mechanics in interesting ways over time.
We used four personas to turn the research themes into recognizable player needs.
Age 16 · Female
Sarah loves cozy idle games like Cats & Soup. She prefers hand-drawn visuals and soft colors, and often keeps games open while listening to music. She avoids intrusive ads and gets attached to charming characters or collectibles.
Age 17 · Male
Steven plays games like Candy Crush and Puzzles & Dragons to challenge himself. He enjoys games that reward skill and persistence, but dislikes difficulty spikes or monetization that blocks progress.
Age 20 · Male
James values visually minimal, intuitive games that don’t demand constant attention. He enjoys background play loops and appreciates rewarded ads when they feel optional and balanced.
Age 18 · Female
Emily gravitates toward games with a strong visual identity and personality. She enjoys discovering how design connects to brand storytelling.
We can create an effective mobile puzzle game by engaging users through progressive play with the given mechanics; building a soft, pastel visual identity from colors, textures, and design tokens that still reflects the brand; and supporting app revenue and real-world snack-box sales through rewarded ads, in-app purchases, and discount challenges.
DEVELOP
Before designing screens, we mapped the user’s journey through login, tutorial, gameplay, app navigation, shop, and settings. Registration was also part of the broader flow work. Mapping the journeys first helped us understand how the screens connected.
With the user flows established, we created low-fidelity wireframes to test whether the journeys were valid. We explored different screen variations and focused on understanding the app’s structure before adding visual polish.
Once flows and low-fidelity wireframes were in place, we moved into Figma. The token board brought together the typeface, mobile type scale, brand palette, and four-point spacing system.
After defining the design tokens, we applied them to high-fidelity wireframes. Texture, noise, and gradient strokes helped create an illustrative, hand-drawn feel.
With the high-fidelity wireframes finished, we returned to the user flows and created Figma prototypes for each flow, connecting the screens into experiences that could be reviewed and handed off.
DELIVER
The final preview showcases the app’s visual design, gameplay mechanics, and user experience. We handed off both wireframes and prototypes to the development team to begin building a playable game.
INSIGHTS
PACK! is not a finished game. We continue working with the developers and iterating through the design process toward a more complete version of the game.