A pocket-sized gacha game about pulling weird little guys and selling them to even weirder collectors.
type
Mobile trading game
role
Game, character & UI design
platform
iOS · SwiftUI
status
In development
fig.01Machines, the pull, and a picky collector: the whole loop in three screens.
overview
Gacha Gacha Mayhem is a mobile trading game where every capsule hides a wobbly, two-tone creature.
I designed the game loop, the 31-character cast and the interface around one idea: luck gets you a capsule, but smart play gets you rich. The art uses two inks, faces cut out of the shapes, and hand-made wobble on everything, and the UI borrows the same hand-cut look so the creatures stay the star.
In development for iOS.
the capsule crew
31 creatures, 3 machines, 2 inks. Every item in the game is a character, from a soggy french fry to a crown that rules by causing trouble. The brief: make players want to keep the junk.
fig.02Eight of the 31, from Soggy Fry (common) to Crown of Mayhem (legendary).
design rules
Two inks only. Black, white and paper grey. Rarity is shown with pips instead of color, so the silhouettes do all the talking.
Faces cut from the shape. No outlines. Eyes and mouths are punched out in the opposite ink, like paper cut-outs, so each creature reads at any size.
Made by hand, on purpose. Edges wobble, poses tilt, paper grain sits on top. Nothing looks factory-made, which suits a game about junk-shop treasures.
designing the loop
The problem. The first prototype worked, but it got boring fast: pulling was pure luck and selling was a lookup table. The redesign had to give players real decisions without burying a light, silly game under menus.
The approach. Make every screen a small decision. Machines show what is left inside, collectors have tastes and moods, and the market changes daily, so knowing when to pull and who to sell to beats luck.
The look. The interface borrows everything from the creatures: hand-cut cards, brushy type, paper grain and zero color, so the art stays the star.
fig.03The loop in five screens.
the loop
01 Pick a machine. Each machine has a mascot and a live hint, like "Epic still inside, 12 left," so you know when it's worth a coin.
02 Read the odds. Machines hold a fixed set of capsules. Odds shift as they empty, and the last capsule wins a bonus prize.
03 The pull. A manga speed-line burst sells the moment. Holo, misprint and low-serial pulls get their own callouts.
04 Sell smart. Collectors love some themes and hate others. Today's market tells you who's buying what.
05 Show off. Your best pulls sit on a hand-drawn shelf, built so friends can visit it later.
