Executive Summary
Launched a Cross-Platform Social Game That Reached 3M+ Downloads in Year One
Company
Ellen DeGeneres
Timeline
9 months
Project
Mobile parlor games
My Role
Creative Director
The Problem
- Ellen Digital Ventures wanted to expand beyond the success of Heads Up! into same-room multiplayer mobile games
- Existing digital games lacked experiences that enhanced real-world social interaction rather than distracted from it
Outcome
- Psych! achieved 3M+ downloads in its first year
- Recognized as App Store Editor’s Choice in the word puzzle category
- Frequently used on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as guest engagment content
My Role
- Creative Director, Design & Dev Team Manager
- Translated brand ethos into game design principles
- Led concept development and guided cross-platform gameplay decisions
Detailed Case Study
Context and Challenge
Why This Problem Mattered
- Many mobile games capture attention but fracture social connectedness in the same room
- Fans of Ellen’s brand wanted digital experiences that felt fun together, not isolating individually
- Prior games lacked mechanics that encouraged players to interact with each other, not just with screens
- Cross-device technology for seamless multiplayer was still nascent and inconsistent
- Without a compelling connected game, the franchise risked missing opportunity to engage the large Ellen fanbase
Constraints and Complexities
- Needed games that facilitated real-world interaction rather than screen fixation
- To ensure ease of gathering a group of players into a game, the apps needed to be cross platform.
- Third-party frameworks (like Qualcomm’s AllJoyn) lacked sufficient bandwidth for smooth play
- Game had to feel authentically Ellen and resonate with same-room social play, not generic game mechanics
My Role and Decision Ownership
- Defined parlor-game design principles rooted in real social interaction
- Translated brand values into actionable design criteria
- Directed and curated multiple game concepts (e.g., Hide and Seek, Draw It, Luck of the Draw)
- Championed Psych! as the first concept to develop
- Guided design and technical decisions to ensure cross-platform compatibility
- Managed the team delivering concepts and final game designs
- Oversaw play-testing and faciliated requested refinements as the project unfolded
Concept Exploration
Experience Principles
I faciliated workshops with the client to understand their brand values, their business objectives, and the types of experiences they wanted to inspire in their audiences. From that I developed a simple set of guiding experience principles that would guide our ideation:
Known Game Mechanics:
Leverage familiar gameplay to minimize any learning curve
Digital Enhances, Doesn’t Distract:
Tech should enhance play without complicating social flow
Drives Immediate Social Interaction:
Focus on moment-to-moment player-to-player engagement
Translates Well to Media:
Game visuals and rules had to work for TV highlight and promotion
Game Concpets
We presented a number of game concepts that we had prototyped to the Ellen executive producer team. All of them had been extensively game tested to ensure they were entertaining and technically viable.
Draw It
Classic speed game where players guess what is being drawn
Hide-N-Seek
Favorite neighborhood game but augmented with connected devices that help track hiders and throw off the scent from the seekers
Luck of the Drawn
A game that plays to the judge rather than a right answer.
Psych!
Create a fake answer to the question. If others guess your answer is the real one, you win!
Design & Development
Two of the concepts, Psych! and Draw It, were chosen to move forward to production design.
We staggered the development timelines starting with Psych! for iOS first, establishing our final interaction/feature set before translating to Android. Then development of Draw It quickly followed.
Psych! App Design
Deck Selection
Trivia used in the game are grouped by "decks", each with their own topic. The app came with 2 free decks and additional decks could be purchased in app for $.99
Write a fake answer
The gameplay is everyone in the game is presented with the same trivia question. The first step is everyone would secretly write their own answer to the trivia trying to make their made up answer as believable as possible
Choose Your Answer
After all the answers had been submitted, they are presented to all the players. Everyone must then choose what they think the real answer is.
Psych!
If you chose a fake answer by another player you've been "Psych'd!" and a point goes to the person that created that answer. If you chose the correct answer you get points! Player with the most points at the end of 5 rounds wins.
Draw It App Design
Deck Selection
Like Psych, the games start by selecting a deck of prompts which is centered on a topic.
Drawing the prompt
Only the player selected to be this round's drawer sees the prompt. All other players only see what the drawer is drawing in real time.
Skip or Got it
If one of the players calls out the right answer, the drawer signals someone got it and they move onto the next prompt with the team earning points. Or the drawer can hit "skip" to move on but no points are earned!
Round Replay
Rounds only last a certain amount of time. The goal is to get as many right in the alloted time. After the round is over the team can go back and review the timeline to see what prompts they got right.
Round Results
Special badges are unlocked and presented depending on the players' performance
Launch and Impact
Psych! was the first game to launch generating enormous buzz.
Intergrated Campaign with the Ellen Show
On Air
A variation of the game was used on the show with guests and staff
3M+
Downloads 1st Year
12+M year to date
9
Months
Top 5 Puzzle Game
I was incredibly proud of the work done by the team and the client was ready to launch the 2nd game, Draw It. As it turned out the agency I was working for, Sequence, was acquired by Salesforce and we never got to continue this great effort and see the entire suite brought to market.