Encore!
Designing interfaces and gameplay for a rhythm game x visual novel
What makes rhythm games and visual novels fun?
How can we innovate upon both genres by combining the two?
Project Overview
Timeline
Sept. 2024 -
Sept. 2025
Team
23 student developers across four sub-teams
Roles
Project Lead
UI/UX Designer
Game Designer
Tools
Unity
Illustrator + Photoshop
Figma
Notion
Skills
Systems Design
UI/UX Design
UI Engineering
Project Management
Summary
“Encore!” was one of two pitches that won the pitch competition hosted by Amoriem Labs (Yale Game Developers) in Fall 2024 for the year-long projects.
You play as a new student at an inter-dimensional music school, and you must gather a band of quirky characters to win Battle of the Bands! Players switch between two distinct genres. a visual novel component and a rhythm game component.
I designed 9 UI screens end-to-end, from UI design to prototyping to in-engine implementation to user testing. I also guided game design concept development and project management, leading the game to its completion and publishing over a year.
The game is now fully completed and published on itch.io with 1 hour of playtime, with a Steam release currently underway.
Goals and Research
Seeking to innovate upon two established game genres, I took on this project with the team to create a unique experience and study the selling points of a hybrid game. Looking at other games and comments and discussions on online platforms, the team researched what was missing in the current market and how to take advantage of that.
Key Questions:
What do fans expect out of a good visual novel/rhythm game?
What would they be used to, and what do we need to teach them for a hybrid?
Inspirations
DDR
Rock Band 3
Persona 5
Monster Prom
Target Audience
Identified that many players play both visual novels + rhythm games, and that there was a gap in existing games.
Target fans of both genres, excited about fusion of systems and features.
Design Process
Ideation
Using FigJam, Notion, and Pinterest, I led the creation of sticky note boards, mind maps, and game design documents that guided the game’s later development through core principles and goals.
The team identified that it is challenging to innovate on the core gameplay of most rhythm games (tapping notes to the beat). Thus, our innovation stems from the supporting systems and rules of the game and how to best fuse a narrative component with a more active musical component.
Key Game Systems
The Spotlight System
Players can switch between characters to “spotlight” during each song play through, and the spotlighted character has different notemap (different patterns of notes) the player must hit.
Character Recruitment
The player can recruit 12 characters, each playing a different instrument, into the band. As the story progresses, the player meets more and more characters that they can try to recruit and play with by making the right choices.
Modular Music Tracks
Based on who the player picks in each rhythm gameplay segment, the music instrumentation will change. This ensures the visual novel will impact the rhythm gameplay as well.
User Flow and Game Design
Player Gameplay Flow
I created flow charts that mapped the player’s journey through the game and guided my design process.
With two distinct phases and multiple modes, I iterated upon player journeys by identifying key transitions and potential bottlenecks and frustrations.
Key Questions:
How can the game reward doing well in one half of the game to the other?
How can the game link two disparate systems with a unifying design?
Answer: the chemistry system.
Chemistry is a stat that aggregates the affection values of your band. If your band chemistry does not reach the threshold, then the player cannot continue into the song. However, this system had to be constantly iterated upon, as we ran into issues while testing.
Problem
Softlocking: players can be stuck with no band with a high enough threshold, leaving them stuck with no way to progress
Solution
Flexible Floor: I led the design and implementation of a flexible chemistry floor that calculates the lowest possible chemistry, and adjusts thresholds dynamically. I also designed UI popups and wrote supporting dialogue for this mechanic.
Problem
Unclear Scoring: players were often confused why they could not progress, with sliders and UI text not indicating the mechanic clearly enough.
Solution
Intuitive UX: Surveying pain points through flow charting led me to iterate on designs that incorporated clearer popups and text while not over-explaining with too many instructions and numbers.
UI/UX Prototyping and Implementation
I designed 9 UI screens end-to-end in the game. I start with sketching, then designing prototypes and UI assets, and then finally programming the interfaces in Unity and C#, I then collaborated with programmers to fully implement gameplay and functionality.
Guiding Questions
What was the key info the user should learn from the interface?
How do they proceed to the next stage in the user flow?
What dead ends would they encounter?
What information needs to be kept hidden from the player?
Pause Screen Design Process (Sketch -> Prototype -> Implementation)
Choice Buttons Process (Figma -> Unity)
Visual Language Cohesion
Creating the design guidelines for the UI, my primary concern was consistency between unique screens.
Each UI screen is unique within itself - that means, there are few repeatable components and tokens that I could use to establish a design system with the art team.
Thus, despite unique animations, layouts, and buttons, I worked on keeping a consistent style through typography, color, and movement.
Results Screen Design
Examples of UI Elements
Project Management
As Project Lead, I utilized Notion and Discord to organize the yearlong project, particularly using Notion's Kanban and Timeline features.
I updated documentation on Notion, providing a central source for design decisions.
As the team was a volunteer-based team, I focused on clear communication and accountability with regular check ins and deadline-based workflows.
Notion Organization Tools
Validation
Playtesting and Feedback
The team released for an alpha demo release in April 2025 for feedback on the first section of the game on itch.io.
We released a feedback survey, which received 11 responses, and also conducted in-person guided playtesting with new players to observe their behavior. This playtesting and further internal discussions with the team guided summer development and refinement.
Positives
UI style and flair
Music and art direction
Narrative style and character storylines
Negatives
Unclear instructions of more complex game systems and controls
Distracting sound design
Accidental closing of menus and screens
Iterations and Refinements
Based on the playtesting feedback, I made various UX improvements to illustrate the game design systems.
A revamp of choice buttons for clarity of information display and stylistic flair
Adding clearer icons to indicate key input controls (number keys)
New info popups on stats, warnings, and underlying systems
Warning messages to prevent accidental quitting and better guidance between screens
New in-game video tutorials replacing text-based tutorials to guide player understanding of mechanics
Results
Impact
The trailer of Encore! was submitted to the Rising Tide Challenge hosted by Blue Ocean Games, and scored at 590/1066 with more than 200,000 total votes from players all over the world.
The full release of the game, with a 1-hour campaign mode and a free play mode is available on Itch.Io in an alpha form with 700+ views.
Lessons Learned
Communicate clearly and facilitate discussion with care
This was my first time designing with such a large team of creative people, and I learned to incorporate various types of feedback and perspectives into my design process through active discussion, specific questions, and documenting our process.
Cohesiveness without sacrificing style and flair
"Encore!" focuses heavily on UI, with most of the game being communicated through menus and interfaces, so I learned a balance a striking style (that was popular with players!) with instruction and communication.
Players require direction, but not too much direction
With many systems, gameplay loops, and flashy UI elements, it can be confusing for some players to figure out which buttons to press and why something is not working. But I also learned that it's important for players not to feel like their hand is being held too tightly - balancing both clarity and freedom was an important lesson to learn.
Next Steps
A full release of the game is available on itch.io with an 1 hour campaign and free play mode, and has been submitted to the Independent Games Festival. We are also planning a Steam release.
