Buchibi
UX/UI DESIGN
Telegram based hyper casual idle battler and collector mobile game. File size constraints of 2mb of all art assets including ux/ui.
01. pROJECT bRIEF
Buchibi
Onenet, a video game development studio, was in need of a UX/UI design help with their new upcoming game called Buchibi, a hyper casual idle battler and collector mobile game. Some restrictions that was noted was that the file size constraints for this game was 2MB. This constraints included UX/UI elements, music, and any additional art assets such as the backgrounds, characters, and enemies.
Here is a description of Buchibi: Assemble your team, grab your sword and bow, and journey through the world of Bushi in this thrilling Idle Battler. Cultivate your team of iconic Bushi characters by fighting, dueling, and obtaining powerful sigils called emblems. Train, level up, and cultivate your familiars for the epic final showdown in Bushi's upcoming Serpent Boss Battle.
My role as the UX/UI designer was to take on the design process and craft a fun, cute, and exciting experience for users on Telegram (Mobile).
My Role:
UX/UI Designer
Responsibilities: User Research, User Experience Design, User Interface Design
Tools Used: Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop.
Timeline: Aug 2024 - Jan 2025 (6 Month Timeline)
Buchibi Launch Trailer
02. Discovery & research
The Start
Stakeholder Interviews
To better understand the scope of the project, I decided to start the first round of interviews with a group of users that comprised of 45 trusted alpha testers as well as some members of the Onenet development team. The purpose of these interviews were to identify current pain points, collect general feedback with a diverse group of trusted users, as well as to define the future wants/needs that the team will want to implement as the company grows.
Takeaways:
Interviewees were found to have very specific opinions of what a kind of gaming experience users will engage in. The information architecture that the focus group had defined seemed to be widely accepted in the industry as later competitor research would reveal. With this information being recorded from the participants, moving forward I designed the game's UX to represent the hyper casual player base associated with the game's gameplay design.
User Personas
The next step in my design system was to narrow down our target audiences by creating some user personas for some of the users within the hyper casual mobile game ecosystem. Doing these personas helped the team understand some of the most basic information about our current users and pin point some of the challenges that our users have faced in the past.
By using the data obtained from the stakeholder interviews, we were able to identify some personality traits and habits of our audience.
Persona 1: Emma Tran – The Commuter Gamer
Type: Casual Time-Killer
Emma is a 29-year-old marketing coordinator living in a bustling metropolitan city. Her daily commute takes about 45 minutes on public transportation, and she fills that time with hyper-casual mobile games like “Stack,” “2048,” and “Color Switch.” For Emma, gaming is a brief escape—she wants simple, low-commitment games that are intuitive and engaging without requiring long tutorials or deep mental focus.
She’s drawn to clean visuals, quick rounds, and satisfying mechanics that help her feel a small sense of accomplishment during her downtime. While she enjoys leaderboards and unlocking cosmetic rewards, she avoids anything that feels pushy about microtransactions or ads that disrupt the flow. Emma’s biggest frustration is when a game becomes too complex too fast or tries to trick her into purchases. She values a smooth, polished UI that respects her time and makes it easy to jump in and out on the go.
Persona 2: Marcus Delgado – The Score Chaser
Type: Competitive Optimizer
Marcus is a 17-year-old high school student who treats hyper-casual games as bite-sized arenas for personal challenges. He’s heavily motivated by high scores, rankings, and perfecting his timing and reflexes. His favorite games include “Flappy Bird,” “Jetpack Joyride,” and “Crossy Road.” Marcus plays during school breaks, between classes, or when winding down at night.
He loves the minimal commitment but maximized competitiveness of hyper-casual games. He follows leaderboard trends, watches short TikToks for game tips, and frequently restarts games just to shave a fraction of a second off his run. While Marcus is not against ads, he wants them to feel fair—watching one to earn a revive or double points is fine, but being bombarded ruins the experience. He enjoys sleek UI, fluid animations, and intuitive tap/timing-based controls. Any social element that helps him flex his score—like sharing to a story or screenshotting a leaderboard—is a major plus.
Persona 3: Denise Palmer – The Distracted Parent
Type: Stress Reliever / Passive Engager
Denise is a 42-year-old working mother of two who plays hyper-casual games in short bursts between tasks—while waiting for dinner to cook, during TV commercials, or before bed. She gravitates toward games like “Candy Crush,” “Ballz,” and “Woodoku” because they offer a soothing blend of puzzle-solving and repetition that helps her unwind.
For Denise, the ideal game is calming, satisfying, and doesn't penalize her for pausing or getting distracted. She enjoys soft sound design, pleasing visuals, and progressive challenges that feel rewarding without becoming stressful. Denise isn’t concerned with competition or scores—instead, she seeks comfort and momentary detachment from her daily responsibilities. She dislikes busy interfaces, confusing menus, or being overwhelmed with options or pop-ups. Clear onboarding and gentle feedback (like satisfying sound effects or visual sparkles) make a game more enjoyable for her. Subtle UX decisions that reinforce her control and ease of use keep her coming back.
Accessibility
A major flaw in the original design of Buchibi was the accessibility issues that were apparent throughout the entire game. There were numerous issues that were not allowing the product to be accessible for all types of users.
This was absolutely necessary to correct for the future of the product to grow. Within the industry, making sure that all demographics of people are thought of and cared for will only allow us to separate ourselves from other competitors that skip these smaller details.
03. High Fidelity Wireframe
The Design Process
**Sketches and low-fidelity wireframes not shown for privacy reasons**
This design process for the user interface was relatively smooth. I strongly believe this is due to the intensive research that the team was able to obtain previous to starting the design.
The key design decisions here were really focused on making sure that new users are able to maneuver through the product and easily find everything that they need. Through different flows, tooltips and other informative/educational details are available for everyone whether they are new or a seasoned user.
The information architecture was already laid out during our research which allowed me to really focus on implementing current popular design trends within the industry.
High-Fidelity (Homepage/Landing Page)
High-Fidelity (Various Modals)
High-Fidelity (Pair matching Gameplay)
Accessibility - Tackled
The team and I worked tirelessly to make sure that certain accessibility measures were taken when working on Buchibi. Font sizes, text contrast checkers, and even a help center were designed and delivered to the engineering team to implement on the day of launch.
04. Evaluation
Usability Testing/Summary
Alpha testers have responded well to the new design. Feedback has been consistent throughout the months and should continue to streamline to us as the days go by. Overall, there has been an overwhelming amount of support from the users and the challenges we were faced with have been approached and will consistently be revisited to bring the best product to our audience.
The future of the product is bright and as more feedback comes to our attention, we as a team will continue to design with purpose. Always adapting, open to new trends and suggestions, and backing our design decisions with data will be only some of the driving factors behind Onenet.