01 Intro
Shoot is a simple wagering game depending solely on chance. The client wanted to mimic something similar to the popular “Degen Coin Flip” game built on the Solana blockchain. This game was a simple coin toss - heads or tails - so a player can either double or lose all their wagers.
After a few iterations with the client, I decided to use rock-paper-scissors as the basis for our wagering game. The guiding principle was simplicity and efficiency in user experience, to ensure accessibility for all players and because I knew that the core demographic was impatient and would exit immediately if there was so much as a lag or delay in the gameplay.
02 UX/UI & Game Design
The client’s asks were:
- Simple 2 screens. I made a main selection screen & the game screen. This made it extremely easy for players to follow and use, and allowed them to play again and again on loop in a tournament-style game.
- Vintage, retro style. I opted for a hand drawn-styled sports announcer that was inspired by retro americana ads. The rest of the graphics in the game are also in a hand drawn style.
- Fun, bright aesthetic. The color palette I picked was yellow, green, and orange. I wanted a warm palette with vibrant colors. The primary font I picked is a silly, sans serif handwriting style.
The user flow was the next thing I had to figure out. I mapped out the user flow in order to make it as simple as possible - players connected their wallet, placed their bet (the $ would be withdrawn from their wallet and placed on hold), and then selected their choice of rock, paper, scissors. After selecting their choice, the game would start counting down from 3 and then display the results. I wanted the countdown to add anticipation, mimicking how the game would be like in real life - similar to the rotating wheels of a slot machine. Players would then have the option to cash out or continue playing.
To make the game feel more competitive, I opted for a tennis-themed background to evoke a competitive atmosphere - to make players feel like they were playing a “match”. The graphics are hand-drawn representations of rock, paper, and scissors. I explored a few tennis screens (see below gallery) and settled on the green-orange horizontal layout for the cleanest visual presentation. Animation was identified as a key component to further enhance the game's aesthetics, to be integrated during the development phase.
See the gameplay logic brainstorm, the main user flow, and initial sketches below ︎︎︎
