Overview
Tail Tap is a Breakout-style game where Dee the Squirrel collects nuts for the winter.
Dee must gather nuts to survive. There’s just one problem, they’re high up in the trees and Dee is deathly afraid of heights. The good news is that he can use his tail to tap an acorn into the branches to knock nuts loose. Players control Dee as they move along the bottom of the screen to keep the acorn in play. Each level is harder than the last, but there are power-ups along the way to help.
Android (Amazon Appstore)
Visual Studio
Long Drop Games
May 2015
Project Role
UI Designer
Serving the Core Goal
While working on this game, my main role was to design the game’s interface. Everything from the loading screen to the HUD that appears during gameplay. Tail Tap’s core goal is getting as many nuts as possible and the UI helps drive this point home. The HUD incentivizes achieving high scores with a multiplier and the level select tracks medal collection, which shows the player’s mastery throughout the game.
Visual Design
Nature is Tail Tap’s central theme. Specifically, the life of a tree-dwelling squirrel. As such, I used wood as the UI’s defining visual component. The art style is cartoony, but the UI also feels physical, as if it were actually made of wood. Buttons push into the background when tapped, panels have engraved depressions where elements fit in, and the lock icon handle is reminiscent of a squirrel’s tail.
Iteration
I worked remotely on this project, separated from the core team. Good communication was essential to sharing a cohesive vision and providing necessary feedback. While I designed the UI, I regularly received notes from my teammates. I incorporated these notes into an iterative process; improving upon the interface’s feel and function as shown by the level results screen above.
Learn More
Download Demo
Play the Tail Tap Alpha demo. PC Only.