Happy pop

— llustration, Character Design & AI-Assisted Prototyping Combined to Create a Joyful Pop-and-Score Mini Game

Role: Creative Lead, Illustrator, & Interaction Concept Designer

Duration: 1 week

Platform: Web (Interactive Prototype)

Tools: Procreate · Gemini · HTML/CSS/JS

Overview

As Illustrator, Creative Lead, and Interaction Concept Designer, I created Happy Pop — a playful, interactive mini-game built from my original illustrations. The project explored how hand-drawn characters, vibrant visual storytelling, and lightweight AI-assisted prototyping can come together to create a simple, joyful experience.

I designed all characters and visual elements, then used generative AI (Gemini) to prototype the interaction logic, transforming static artwork into an engaging pop-and-score game.

Key Contributions

  • Illustration & Art Direction: Created all original characters, backgrounds and visual assets, establishing a warm, playful and cohesive illustration style.

  • Creative Concept & Game Design: Developed the game idea, rules, scoring logic and user interaction pattern with a child-friendly, joyful tone.

  • AI-Assisted Interactivity: Used AI prompting to generate and refine the game behaviour, converting hand-drawn artwork into an interactive HTML/JS experience.

  • Visual Storytelling: Ensured clarity, delight, and personality through expressive character design, colour styling, and motion cues.

Challenges

  • Translating Illustration into Interaction: Ensuring characters retained charm and clarity once animated and made tappable.

  • AI Prompt Engineering: Iterating prompts and logic to achieve smooth, bug-free behaviour, while keeping the game lightweight and browser-friendly.

  • Maintaining Visual Consistency: Extending backgrounds, effects, and animations while staying true to my hand-drawn style.

Happy Pop real experience