Crash iPad Gameplay
01 Project Overview
Crash is a collection of themed casino games built around a simple premise: place a bet and cash out before the game crashes. Players can also see other participants' bets and when they cash out, adding a multiplayer element to the experience.
The project began as Bull vs Bear, a stock-market-inspired betting game, before I was briefed to develop a more traditional crash experience with a stripped-back, no-frills visual style. The resulting Crash game initially featured a chicken theme, playing on the idea of a game of chicken, before being adapted into several other themes.
I was responsible for the UX/UI design and animation, developing the interface from early concepts through to final production assets. This included creating responsive layouts for different devices and orientations, as well as designing and animating the game's visual elements using Figma and Spine.
Original Bull vs Bear designs
02 Responsive Design
Unlike our previous canvas-based games, Crash was designed around a fully responsive HTML interface, adapting to different screen sizes and orientations.
I designed the layouts in Figma, covering mobile, tablet and desktop in both portrait and landscape orientations. By making extensive use of Auto Layout and shared styles, I could demonstrate how the interface adapted to different screen sizes while maintaining a consistent visual hierarchy and functionality.
An overview of the responsive layouts and design explorations within Figma.
Demonstrating the responsive interface in Figma
Figma designs covering different gameplay states
03 Motion & Theming
I created character animations and gameplay motion using Spine, bringing movement and personality to the experience while providing visual feedback during gameplay.
The original Chicken game also served as the foundation for several themed variations, including a troll, lottery ball, ice hockey and Mustang aircraft version. Each retained the same core gameplay and interface, with different artwork and animations giving the games their own identity.
By making extensive use of Figma's shared styles, I could quickly reskin the interface for each new theme, streamlining the design process and handoff to our web developer.
I also contributed to the animations of these variations, developing initial concepts for the troll-themed game and producing the animations for the Mustang aircraft version.
Concept & WIP Animations
04 Themed Variations
Troll Variant
Mustang Variant
Concept Variant
I also designed promotional thumbnails for the various Crash titles, combining my own design work with illustrations produced in collaboration with an illustrator.
05 Reflections
One frustration with this project was that the final HTML implementation didn't always match the original Figma designs as closely as I'd hoped. Despite extensive responsive design specifications, device testing and ongoing feedback throughout development, some discrepancies persisted.
Working with a small team, some of whom were relatively new to the technologies involved, may have contributed to these challenges, alongside the project's resource constraints.
Looking back, I'd aim to establish clearer visual acceptance criteria and ensure sufficient development time was allocated to refining the interface, helping maintain greater consistency between the original designs and the finished product.