01 0→1 Product · Social UX · Game Design

Pecking
Order

From a fragile Google Sheets prototype to a full web application — designing week-long social dynamics that created real human connection. Two strangers who played the game are now engaged.

Role
UX Designer, Game Designer,
Technical Contributor
Duration
~1 year, concept
to web app launch
Tools
Google Sheets · Figma
Laravel · Tailwind CSS
Status
Live — adapted as
conference engagement tool
Impact

Results

~50
Total Players
Rotating cast across multiple seasons
95%+
Completion Rate
Full week-long games finished
2
Players Engaged
Strangers who met through gameplay
Live
Still Active
Now a B2B conference tool
Challenge

The Problem

During COVID-19, my friend with a board game background recruited a group of us for playtesting. We quickly identified a gap: existing digital social games fell into two extremes — shallow party games that lasted 20 minutes, or MMORPGs requiring massive time investment.

No game captured the strategic depth and genuine social dynamics of Survivor — the week-long relationship building, alliance formation, and strategic gameplay that creates authentic human connections.

Initial Constraints

  • Limited dev resources — friends working spare time
  • Real-time social interaction and voting required
  • Complex game economics and player progression
  • Week-long engagement without losing player interest
Process

Three Phases

01

Google Sheets Prototype

Real-time collaboration, zero dev overhead. One player served as "Probst" — the game master — managing the master sheet while others accessed individual sheets with 4-digit password protection. Fast to iterate, immediately revealing.

02

Web App Migration

Sheets became too fragile — a single typo could crash the entire game mid-session. Migrated to Laravel with proper error handling, real-time updates, and authentication replacing the clunky password system.

03

Full UX Redesign

Designed the entire user experience in Figma: auth & onboarding, daily mechanics interface, live scoreboard, social feed. Discord kept for social strategy; the app stayed focused on game actions.

04

B2B Pivot

Adapted for John's product consulting company as a conference engagement tool — stripped complex economics, kept core voting and challenges, made Blood Oaths an optional expansion mode.

The Product

Pecking Order logo — a Catacombian Game

Pecking Order — a week-long social strategy game built mobile-first, designed around daily voting ballots, tribe challenges, and a token economy that drove real social dynamics.

Core Gameplay Screens
Three core Pecking Order screens: Create a Game, Game of Cones round view, and social feed

Left: Game creation flow. Center: Daily round view showing Twist, Tribe Challenge, Quiz, and Ballot actions. Right: Social activity feed with Amass Powers overlay.

Live Scoreboard + Ballot
The Coop screen showing scoreboard, tribes, and ballot

Real-time scoreboard with tribe affiliations, round scores, and ballot submission — the core daily interaction loop.

UI Component System
Pecking Order UI components including Blood Oath, Ballot, Quiz, and Advantages panel

Blood Oath modal, voting ballot, quiz submission, Amass Powers — the full token-economy action system designed for mobile.

Key Design Decisions

Game Economics

The currency system created strategic depth through offensive actions (vote blocking, amplification, public shaming), information warfare (identity spying, intelligence gathering), and defensive tools (immunity, counter-intelligence).

Early versions suffered from runaway leaders. The fix: diminishing returns on consecutive actions, preventing any single player from snowballing their advantage.

Social Scaffolding

Rather than forcing social features, the design created natural interdependencies. Players needed alliances for challenges, votes to avoid elimination, cooperation to maximize position. The challenges became a "cradle for mutual need."

The most powerful validation: two strangers met through the game and are now engaged to be married. Not a designed outcome — an emergent one. Proof the mechanics created real conditions for genuine human connection.

Engagement Rhythm

  • Morning Challenges — new objectives every day
  • Daily Ballots — core voting determining rankings and eliminations
  • Winner Announcements — public celebration and status updates
  • Tribal Challenges — team competitions requiring real coordination
Challenges & Solutions

What We Solved

Technical Fragility

One spreadsheet typo crashed the entire game. Migrated to Laravel with proper validation, error handling, and scalable architecture.

Economic Imbalance

Last-place players could rocket to first in the final round through currency deployment. Simplified automatic vote mechanics and added diminishing returns.

Security & Identity

Players hacked 4-digit passwords; others leaked their own. The "HugeInfoDumps" fake account incident forced proper authentication systems.

Onboarding Complexity

The economic system was overwhelming for casual players. Addressed in the B2B pivot by removing complex advantages entirely for the professional context.

What I'd Do Differently

  • Tier the complexity — basic mode for casual players, advanced mode for strategists, rather than one system for all
  • Address king-making mechanics — competitive players securing votes from trailing players by promising future reciprocity excluded others from the meta-game
  • Clearer behavioral guidelines — preserve emergent social chaos while setting guardrails for inclusive participation
Skills

Demonstrated

Game Design UX Design 0→1 Product Social Systems Design User Psychology Figma Prototyping Data Analysis Technical Implementation Business Pivot Strategy Stakeholder Management
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