Overview

Wallflower is a digital toolkit for anxiety relief, targeting panic recovery, social anxiety, and confidence-building. Mid-project, I stepped up to lead both user research and UI design. By adopting an agile UX cycle and letting go of personal creative attachments, I helped the team pivot from overstimulating minigames to a calm, accessible app—with a 27% reduction in user-reported stress at launch.

🎯 Problem

Our team originally pitched Wallflower as a joyful “toybox” of minigames, puzzles, and playful nature animations to support anxious users. As a game designer, I joined the team excited to build those playful tools.

But early research challenged our assumptions.

Challenge:
Could we rethink Wallflower from a stimulating experience into a truly calming one—without losing appeal or accessibility?

🧭 My Role

Originally brought on for user research, I pivoted into lead UX designer mid-production, taking over both research and UI design responsibilities due to team bandwidth issues.

🔍 Research Process

1. Audience Definition

We focused on three high-need contexts:

• Panic attack recovery

• Social anxiety in daily life

• Confidence building

Our user group was primarily college students navigating stress, identity, and emotional overwhelm—especially during high-pressure times like finals.

2. Biweekly UX Testing Loop

To manage scope and ensure quality:

• I ran one-on-one usability tests every two weeks with ~5 users

• Synthesized findings into a prioritized UX change proposal

• Presented to stakeholders for feedback and approval

• Implemented updates in Figma prototypes for dev hand-off

This became our core agile loop: research → recommend → iterate → build.

3. Emotional Safety Redesign

Early tests revealed that our toybox pitch—while creative—was overstimulating for anxious users. Many reported:

• Decision fatigue

• Confusion around navigation

• Frustration with “cheerful” feedback loops during distress

This was a major turning point for me. As a game designer, I had to kill my darlings—cutting interactive features I loved—in order to respect user needs.

4. Key UX Pivots

• Replaced saturated colors and microanimations with flat, neutral visuals

• Prioritized low-effort content like guided meditations, affirmations, soft sounds, and journaling

• Simplified flows to support users under high emotional load

• Introduced emotional valence charts to track user mood across sessions

This was a moment of real growth: I learned to value effectiveness over novelty, and led our team toward calm by letting go of drama.

🧪 Final Validation

I proposed and ran a real-world A/B test to evaluate impact during finals season:

• Initial survey: All users rated resting anxiety levels

• Split into test group (with app access) and control group (no app)

• After two weeks, follow-up survey measured change in anxiety

Results:

• 🎯 Test group reported 27% lower stress levels than control

• ✅ We verified not just usability—but emotional impact

• 🎓 This went above standard student project scope, but we felt it was ethically necessary to validate our work

💡 Outcome

• Re-scoped Wallflower from toybox to toolkit

• Designed and validated a calm-centered UX strategy

• Completed on time despite major mid-project role pivot

• Delivered a functioning app that measurably helped users cope with anxiety

🛠️ Tools & Skills Demonstrated

• UX Research & Usability Testing

• Agile Sprint Planning

• UI Design & Prototyping (Figma)

• Accessibility & Cognitive Load Reduction

• Emotional Valence Mapping

• A/B Testing & Experimental Design

• UX Strategy & Scope Pivoting

• Cross-functional Communication & Management

Overview

As project manager and lead researcher for Charming Folks, a fantasy romance visual novel, I led a cross-disciplinary team to develop characters and themes players would actually love. By combining live user feedback with large-scale fandom trend analysis, we created a data-backed, emotionally resonant cast—delivered on schedule, with 90% internal satisfaction in testing.

🎯 Problem

Visual novels live or die on character appeal. But personal taste is subjective, and our small indie team couldn’t afford to waste time on content that didn’t land.

Challenge:
Define a scope-friendly cast and game theme with a high likelihood of audience connection—before full development began.

🔍 Research Strategy

1. Live Character Testing

We began with twelve sketched character concepts from our writers and artists. I organized a public “playtest” feedback event where:

• Participants rated each character from 1–7 (interest level)

• Open-ended comments were collected on appeal and tone

This gave us direct player sentiment data for early visual and personality cues.

2. Fandom Trend Analysis

To go beyond our existing circle and explore broader tastes:

• I compiled a list of popular video games with romantic companions from the past 15 years

• For each, I scraped fanfiction databases to find characters with the most stories written about them (a high-signal indicator of fan investment)

• I created a spreadsheet of 100+ characters with game, name, and popularity rank

Using AI, I generated standardized descriptions for each character to:

• Normalize tone and length

• Create clean data for text analysis

From these, I generated a word cloud of dominant traits across the most beloved characters in fandom, revealing high-frequency emotional tones, aesthetics, and archetypes (e.g. “mysterious,” “wounded,” “gentle,” “clever”).

3. Market Validation via Steam Tag Data

To ensure the game would also match monetizable genres, I:

• Pulled the top 500 trending Steam tags

• Analyzed them by median price per game

• Filtered for narrative and cozy vibes that aligned with both our values and target players

💡 Synthesis & Design

I led a group affinity mapping session with our team to align on:

• Top character traits and archetypes by player desire

• Design patterns from successful games

• Scope constraints and dev capacity

Together, we decided on a story-rich, cozy fantasy romance featuring three central characters:

• A charming, mysterious jester

• A strong, rugged hunter

• A moody, bookish cleric

Each was designed with intentional androgyny, supporting both romantic and platonic routes to maximize emotional inclusivity.

📅 Outcome

• 🎯 Character set locked before asset production began

• 🛠️ No major pivots or late-stage cuts during dev cycle

• ✅ 90% internal satisfaction in final playtesting

• ⏰ Project completed on time and fully scoped

This research foundation directly contributed to smooth development, clear character writing, and strong team alignment throughout.

🛠️ Tools & Skills Demonstrated

• Mixed-Method User Research (Quant + Qual)

• Trend Analysis & Secondary Data Mining

• Affinity Mapping & Team Facilitation

• Project Management & Scope Planning

• AI-Assisted Synthesis for UX

• Inclusive Character Design Strategy

• Product-Market Fit Framing

Overview

In Fall 2024, I conducted a user research initiative to explore an emerging opportunity in the tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) industry. With the launch of a disappointing new Dungeons & Dragons edition, I asked: could a smaller, story-driven game meet the unmet needs of a neglected audience segment? My research led to a validated niche, defined product values, and successful marketing tests that now shape my upcoming game, LOOM.

🧭 Problem

The tabletop RPG market is saturated, dominated by D&D. But dissatisfaction was growing—players were vocal about its shortcomings, yet solutions and preferences seemed contradictory.

Challenge:
Identify an underserved audience within the TTRPG space and determine what kind of game would truly meet their needs.

🔍 Research Process

1. Audience Segmentation

I began by investigating D&D’s own research (2024 Dungeon Master's Guide), which outlines nine player archetypes. I focused on the Storyteller—a user driven by narrative, emotional arcs, and meaning-making.

2. User Interviews & Persona Creation

I interviewed five players who fit the Storyteller profile, learning:

• Many enjoyed mechanical systems—but only when mechanics supported narrative momentum.

• Rules often felt intrusive or obstructive when they dictated outcomes that broke story logic.

• The desire was not fewer rules, but empowering ones.

This led to the creation of a Storyteller persona that guided further development.

3. Comparative Product Analysis

To quantify vague labels like “story-rich” and “rules-lite,” I:

• Collected acclaimed indie games aligned with narrativist values.

• Broke each down into feature sets and design traits.

• Created a framework to score games on a Story/Rules scale.

• Returned to my users to validate criteria through feedback and ratings.

This framework became a comparative map of design patterns that resonate with narrativist players.

🧪 Prototype & Validation

4. Concept Testing via Marketing

To test demand and refine messaging, I built a fake product campaign for LOOM:

• Designed a webpage and fake cover.

• Created two posts for my 19k-follower TikTok audience:

  • A stylized ad (high-fantasy scrapbook visual identity)

  • A casual video discussing the game’s premise and appeal

This let me:

• A/B test tone and format

• Control for familiarity bias

• Track signups and conversions via the webpage

5. Metrics & Results

• 📢 Ad Video: 41 likes / 763 views = 5.37% engagement

• 💬 Narrative Post: 158 likes / 1263 views = 12.5% engagement

• 🧭 Website: 4 signups / 67 views = 5.97% conversion

All exceeded benchmarks for marketing content and demonstrated strong intent among viewers.

💡 Outcome & Impact

• Validated a strong niche in narrative-focused, emotionally resonant TTRPGs.

• Identified core product values for the LOOM system: rules that empower story, low barriers to entry, and a welcoming tone for casual players.

• Informed product decisions across multiple small game releases (Imagine, Sevens) and the upcoming LOOM release.

• Aligned with real-world industry trends (e.g. Wanderhome acquisition shortly after).

🛠️ Tools & Skills Demonstrated

• User Interviews & Persona Development

• Competitive Analysis & Feature Mapping

• UX Research Strategy

• Content Testing & A/B Validation

• Brand Framing & Messaging

• Data-Driven Decision Making

• Community Engagement & Signal Tracking

Consent tools, or safety tools, are a mix of tips and tricks to make sure everyone playing a tabletop RPG is comfortable with the game they create together. This is a wonderful idea. If a movie is too upsetting, it's easy to turn off or leave. Games with friends or strangers, not so much. Consent tools are necessary and worthwhile. You should use them.

But consent tools are not perfect. Now, 5-10 years after their introduction, we should give them another look. It's a hard topic to breach, and my intent is certainly not to do away with them. Rather, for the sake of doing the best we can for ourselves and our players, we should be critical of the options we have -- and consider if there's a better way.

This is the first in a series of articles exploring different safety tools, what they do right, where they fall short; a case study about their most infamous failure; and finally, my proposal for new ones.

Note: This series is only possible due to the bravery and brilliance of designer Jay Dragon of Possum Creek Games first broaching this topic from a place of caring. She's opened a safe, good-faith door to talk about this topic for the sake of better player experiences. Thank you. And if you have not played Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast, you absolutely should.

Consent Checklists

A consent checklist is the most practical, widespread, pre-session problem-focused, GM-aiming tool in the space. The Monte Cook version is a gold standard. Before play, reach consensus on a list of on-screen, off-screen, and banned topics from play. While it should apply to all players' actions at all times, its biggest use is typically for the GM to plan content-appropriate sessions for the table.

As a session zero, collaborative campaign designing tool, it is the best idea we have. Myself and every GM I know use it every time. It's becoming as core to RPGs as rolling dice, and that's great! But "the best idea we have" is not to say it's perfect, and its age is starting to show. Standard PDF templates can be a time sink for topics never on the table. Custom ones take time to make, while the biggest themes are usually already present in a campaign pitch.

Fearing the Zero

Recently, I've noticed session zeros have started to feel bad to me. I've started to notice an unintended consequence. It feels related to the good intent but underwhelming results of trigger warnings, that similarly made navigating Tumblr feel emotionally taxing for a time. As checklists get more thorough, I often find myself morally and socially required to consider more horrors in rapid succession than any GM or player has ever asked of me over a whole campaign.

Starting a new campaign, with a new group of people, by meeting over an exhaustive gauntlet of creatively upsetting topics, feels bad. It feels like work. If you're a survivor of trauma like me, it can even feel triggering. But bringing that hesitation and stress to session zero goes against the whole point. Movies don't make you mentally engage with every upsetting topic that isn't in it first, and I think we know that would be a bad way to do things. I know we have to tell TTRPG stories ourselves, but this can't be the only way. So how can we protect the value while mitigating the harm?

Less is More?

To address this problem, I've started to put in the effort for custom-made checklists of the darker topics that will be in my campaigns, that players can narrow down based on their limits, alongside a general movie-style rating. If there's an upsetting topic fully outside the reasonable scope of our game, and someone goes out of their way to bring it up, there's probably bigger problems with that player that we would need to address right away anyway. But we realistically wouldn't need to make everyone think about that topic as a general rule at the top of every new game.

I also make the checklist available before the session zero, so players can pace themselves in a judgment-free zone. In session zero, we simply review what we already established so everyone's on the same page. This also improves player anonymity and makes those decisions firmly settled before we even start.

I think the reduced psychic damage of this method is worth it, but it does have a cost. A less-extensive process does open your table to more risks if unchecked content emerges in play. So, make sure you introduce something like the X-Card to supplement in-session play should anything come up. We'll talk about the X-Card and more next time. Stay safe, and good luck.

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As I come to the end of many projects and prepare to start another, I want to share one of biggest regrets. Scope is hard to manage. I've grown enough to make sure projects are finished, but I'm still working on making them good. How do you budget for delays, mistakes, and polish?

With some wonderful advice from Write, Publish, Repeat (affiliate link) I am moving to a three draft system. I quite like it so far. Maybe you will, too. Budget time to make your project three times, instead of once. This may mean a smaller scope, but you will get a better result.

Draft 1: Make It Real

It's easy to have ideas. If you've ever been called "creative", you're full of them. A few might even be good! But ideas aren't a useful form to anyone else. We have to convert them into something physical. This is the hardest part.

Whether it's written, typed, coded, or recorded, you have one job: get it on paper, as much and as fast as you can, by any means necessary. It's okay if it's terrible. If it helps, require it. This overcomes the static friction of getting started. Any material form is enough to start getting feedback, from others and yourself!

Draft 2: Make it Finished

Now it's time to make it complete. Your first draft is riddled with obvious broad-stroke errors and blanks for details. Your job now is to pave it over. Make a complete, full-detail pass written to an acceptable "finished" quality. Make changes where they need to be made. Your prose should be readable. Your art should be rendered. Your code should be complete and functional.

Your work does not, however, have to be perfect. If you find yourself freezing from perfectionism, set that part of your project aside. Settle on a quick solution: not leaving it blank, but a quick and bad answer. Your work does not need to meet your own wonderful standards. It just needs to reach a lowest-common denominator level that someone might publish.

Draft 3: Make it Good

Now it's time to shine. Sand and polish. Now is the time to fuss over word choice, or lighting, or optimization. Now, you get to play for style points. Play to your strengths. Make your work enough to make you proud.

Keep in mind, however, this phase is also a sprint: this is a test of your current skill ceiling, your instincts. Be aware of what your best is, for now. If you do not know how to improve something, that is okay. Make a note of it. You can always take some time practicing on other projects and make an updated version of this one later. Fans of your original will be happy to see it.

Thank you for reading. If you'd like to support my work and get exclusive shop discounts, please consider joining as a member.