Project
ALT Games Lab
Transform your nights into adventures with our smartwatch app - where better sleep unlocks heroic quests and battles against the shadows of restlessness.
Info
In this project, I helped design a smartwatch game that motivates students to build better sleep habits by making sleep both rewarding and interactive. Through collaboration and leadership, I developed the Hero’s Sleep Journey game concept, guiding its transition from ideas to actionable prototypes.
Role
Gameplay and Gamified Interactions Designer
Timeline
09/2023 to present
Involvement
Game Design, UX/UI Design
Platform
Android Pixel Smart Watch
Tl;dr
In summary, here is what I accomplished:
01
Collaborated in a cross-functional team to create an innovative gamified smartwatch app aimed at improving sleep hygiene for university students.
02
Designed the core gameplay concept and mechanics for the Hero’s Sleep Journey, a game that transforms sleep into a battle for health and well-being.
03
Took a lead on creating both paper and digital prototypes for user testing and refinement.
Problem
Lack of sleep is hurting college students' health, focus, and overall academic performance
College students struggle with sleep, with 70% not getting enough and 50% facing daytime sleepiness (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Traditional sleep apps fail to sustain user engagement, leaving students unmotivated to improve their sleep hygiene.
Solution
A smartwatch game, where players become heroes who defeat monsters by improving their sleep
The better they sleep, the stronger they get. This engaging experience motivates students to build healthy sleep habits while enjoying a fun, interactive quest.
Final Prototype
Prototype 01
Wake Up and Battle
Wake up to a sleep report, then use your rest to power up and fight a monster. A good night’s sleep means stronger battles and in-game rewards.
Prototype 02
Power Up with Daily Exercise Quests
Complete daily exercise quests to gain extra strength for your hero, combining physical activity with in-game power boosts.
Design Process
First things first:
Why a game on a smartwatch?
Students love games, and we needed something engaging to motivate better sleep habits.
A smartwatch is the perfect platform—loaded with sensors that track sleep quality in real-time.
By combining these elements, we created an interactive experience that wasn’t just fun, but practical.
The Octalysis Framework: Designing for meaning, not profit.
The Octalysis Framework is a model for analyzing motivation in game design. The upper part represents positive elements, driving long-term motivation, while the lower part focuses on short-term motivators, which can lead to manipulative behaviors.
01
We centered the game around epic meaning, accomplishment, and empowerment to create a positive user experience.
02
Unlike typical games, we avoided using scarcity or unpredictability to manipulate players. Our goal was to build trust and sustainable habits.
03
The framework helped us ensure that players were motivated for the right reasons—personal growth, not just quick reward.
Now for the fun part: Brainstorming!
We knew that different concepts would appeal to different user types, so brainstorming multiple ideas allowed us to explore various ways to engage students.
Hero’s Sleep Journey:
A hero who battles monsters using the power of sleep.
Sleep Tamagotchi:
A virtual pet that grows as you sleep better.
Sleepland:
A village that you rebuild with your sleep efforts.
Time to bring it to life: Designing
I took the lead in designing for Hero’s Sleep Journey, focusing on how to combine storytelling with game mechanics that encourage better sleep.
01.
Game Flow
We mapped out the initial flow to test key elements like onboarding, sleep reports, battling nightmares, and completing daily exercise quests, ensuring the game mechanics were engaging and connected to better sleep outcomes.
02.
Paper Prototypes
After that, we developed and tested a paper prototype to validate the concept and initial user experience.
03.
Digital Prototypes
We created a digital prototype to test real-time interactions, including sleep data integration, hero progress, and monster battles. This helped refine the game flow and improve user engagement based on feedback.
Testing time: Let’s see if it works!
We tested all three game concepts, and Hero’s Sleep Journey emerged as the favorite, with 24 out of 43 participants voting for it as the most engaging and motivating option.
Workshop in Japan
We conducted a workshop at Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Japan where we collected valuable feedback from 43 college students.
What's Next
Future Focus
Currently, we're using the feedback gathered to refine our ideas and develop a minimum viable product (MVP) for the app. This phase is crucial for enhancing the gameplay and ensuring it meets the needs and expectations of our target users.
