Design Work Breakdowns
AKA: Case Studies , Deep Dives
I document because production moves fast and lessons get lost.
Future-me needs to remember why we made these choices.
Future teams need to understand what worked.
And you need to see how I think.
How I solve design problems, iterate on systems, and ship games.
These aren't polished portfolio pieces—they're honest breakdowns that show mechanical analysis, iterative problem-solving, and the thinking behind shipped work.
The mess, the pivots, and what I learned.
Filter : Category
Interaction Polish: From Playable to Shippable
Life is Strange: Double Exposure | Systematic UI/UX Polish
The Challenge: Late in production, player-facing interactions were inconsistent and confusing—UI clutter, misplaced prompts, and unclear verb usage were causing players to miss critical content and feel lost in progression. Playtest pain scores flagged these issues as blocking a shippable experience.
My Role: Contributed to a 3-person strike team tasked with polishing every interaction point in the game. Personally addressed ~400 of the ~1200 hotspots, establishing systematic standards for volume tuning, verb hierarchy, and UI behavior while mentoring junior contributors on best practices.
The Solution: Developed location-based workflow that built spatial intuition, created a three-tier proximity system (dot → dot+name → full UI) using breadcrumbing principles, and established consistent verb language ("Examine" for critical path, "Look" for optional). Iterated through extensive playtesting to tune each interaction's feel while documenting pipeline inefficiencies for future improvement.
Impact: Dramatically reduced playtest pain scores and hotspot-related bugs. The systematic approach created cohesive player guidance across the dual-timeline narrative. Documentation of workflow pain points positioned me to advocate successfully for pipeline improvements on the next project—hotspots now auto-create during script import, saving weeks of designer time.