Hop Raider — Javier Rodriguez, Product Designer

The Challenge

The brief was ambitious and open-ended: design and build a mobile game that is simple, fun, free of predatory practices, works offline, and runs well on low-powered devices. I built a research plan to narrow down this ambiguity into actionable design constraints.

Research & Insights

I framed four research questions to define the product direction:

What is our target audience?

What are the mobile gaming habits of our potential users?

Which similar games have succeeded, and how?

What makes a mobile game good?

I conducted four research methods: market and competitor research, interviews with regular mobile gamers, interviews with industry specialists, and surveys of potential users within the target demographic.

Key findings

Mobile gamers in our target demographic are willing to pay a small amount for software but dislike ads and microtransactions.

Players do not want to pay to progress. Monetization gating is a top reason for uninstalling.

Players stop playing when the game feels repetitive or when they have completed all content.

Not all devices are high-end. Many users experience performance issues with 3D graphics.

Design Process

From research, I concluded that a one-hand, one-finger game was ideal — something fast-paced that invites the player to improve with each attempt. I started working on a 2D platformer inspired by classic Game Boy-era Mario games.

Paper sketches exploring different game orientations including horizontal and vertical layouts — Exploring horizontal vs. vertical orientations and level structures

Paper sketch of the vertical portrait approach showing platform placement and character movement — The vertical portrait approach won out for one-handed play

I studied different possibilities — levels vs. endless, vertical vs. horizontal, fixed vs. procedural generation. I settled on a combination of Mario and Flappy Bird: a platform game reminiscent of Mario that can be played with one finger and is infinitely generated until the player fails.

This solved two key research findings at once: infinite generation prevents content exhaustion, and one-finger controls ensure accessibility across device sizes and usage contexts.

Testing & Iteration

I built several prototypes to evaluate gameplay mechanics separately from visual style, and mockups to test art direction independently.

Very basic geometric prototype of the game showing colored rectangles as platforms — First prototype: pure mechanics, no art

Early high-fidelity style test showing a pixel art character in idle animation — Early high-fidelity style tests for character and environment art

Style test showing NPCs and lava animation in the game world — Early high-fidelity style tests for character and environment art

Prototype testing revealed several key decisions:

Industry professionals emphasized eliminating friction between games — restarting after failure should be near-instant. I designed a prominent restart button that appears immediately upon elimination.
Players lacked motivation after initial sessions. I introduced unlockable skins and varied level environments to sustain engagement through novelty and collection.
Technical testers suggested features like in-game recording and friend leaderboards, which I incorporated into the final design.

Score screen over the jungle map with a prominent restart button — Instant restart: one tap to play again after failing

Game over screen showing score, best record, and one-tap restart — Instant restart: one tap to play again after failing

Character selection screen showing the Candy skin — Unlockable skins sustain engagement through collection

Character selection screen showing the Grunt skin — Unlockable skins sustain engagement through collection

Final Solution

The final product is an infinite runner with procedural generation — each session is unique. The player jumps between platforms to avoid lava, water, and obstacles while collecting coins. The gameplay is extremely simple: the character walks automatically, and the player taps anywhere to jump. Press duration controls jump distance — a challenging but accessible mechanic that anyone can learn in seconds.

Tutorial screen showing the one-finger tap-to-jump mechanic with visual instructions — The player only needs one finger to play

Close-up of the in-game interface showing score, coins collected, and level indicator — Clean in-game UI: score, coins, and level — nothing extraneous

Earned coins unlock new maps with distinct visual styles and gameplay dynamics. Each map supports normal and hard modes — the latter adds impassable rock platforms for experienced players.

Full view of the Cave map with dark tones and stalactite obstacles — Three distinct environments: Cave, City, and Jungle

Full view of the City map with building-themed platforms and urban environment — Three distinct environments: Cave, City, and Jungle

Normal mode gameplay on the pirate ship map — Normal mode vs. hard mode: impassable platforms add challenge

Hard mode gameplay showing additional rock platforms blocking paths — Normal mode vs. hard mode: impassable platforms add challenge

Critically, I made deliberate ethical decisions throughout: no ads, no pay-to-progress mechanics, and no dark patterns. Every unlock is achievable through gameplay alone. This aligned with our research finding that our audience actively avoids predatory monetization.

Grid of all unlockable character skins showing the variety of customization options — Every skin is unlockable through gameplay — no paywalls

Impact & Legacy

Hop Raider was well received across every community where it was shared, including Forocoches (the largest Spanish-language forum by active users) and Product Hunt, where it earned game of the week.

Product Hunt listing showing Hop Raider's upvote count and game of the week badge — Product Hunt game of the week

Since launch, Hop Raider has maintained a five-star average rating on the App Store with a consistent stream of positive reviews.

App Store reviews showing multiple five-star ratings with positive comments about gameplay and art style — Sustained five-star App Store rating

This project validated that research-driven design principles apply beyond enterprise software. User interviews, rapid prototyping, and iterative testing produced a polished product in just two months — and the ethical monetization decisions proved that respecting users is not at odds with building a successful game.