Project Overview

In early 2017, I collaborated with some friends to create a trivia game based upon the Netflix series Stranger Things and we published the finished product to the Google Play Store. Our passion project was available for download from September 2017 - September 2018, during which it grossed over 15,000 downloads.

My Role

Since I was the only person on my team experienced with writing code, I was the sole designer and developer for this app. As a team, we did collaborate throughout the project to review progress, discuss design ideas, and gather trivia content.

My Design Approach

For this project, my app design approach was based upon an agile methodology, including weekly sprints focused on building out specific app pages/functionality. Being a first-time app developer, and still learning throughout the process, I often had to iterate back and forth between the following phases:

Development Strategy and Training

The first major decision of the app development process was that we decided to build the app natively for mobile Android devices. This decision was largely made for two reasons:

• Java is the official coding language for Android, and the language I (the sole developer) knew best

• I had my own Android phone, and was able to use it to run live tests of the app throughout the process

In order to build for optimal performance on Android devices, I used Android Studio as my platform for writing the codebase. While it was prior to this app build, it may be also worth noting that my initial training for working with Android Studio came from completing a popular YouTube beginner course.

Stranger Things Theme

As all our team members were major fans of the Stranger Things series, we decided early on that getting the right style to match the series’ tone was very important to us.

In particular, overall design scheme was largely based upon the series’ iconic intro theme font (ITC Benguait Bold) and colors (red and black).

Initial Designs

Considering the app was mostly text-based, the bulk of the design work was done within the code of Android Studio. When it was necessary to create advanced graphics, I used an open-source alternative to Adobe Illustrator called Inkscape; such as for header images, quiz complete screens, and trophy icons.

Final Designs

The final design’s biggest updates were related to more detailed stat-tracking and trophy reward systems. These updates were made to enhance the single-player experience, as the app didn’t support online competitive play.

Coding

When writing the codebase in Android Studio, the coding languages that I utilized were Java and XML. The XML code was used for formatting and user interface (UI) sections of the app, while Java handled the functionality such as checking whether the selected user answers were right.

Testing and Troubleshooting

Being the only developer on our team, and the most familiar with the app’s functionality, I was tasked with all of the testing prior to the app’s release. Over several days, I developed a test scenario for each piece of functionality, and ran live tests on my own Android device. For troubleshooting any issues that I found, I utilized Android Studio’s debugging tools and Stack Overflow’s online coding forums.

App Demo

App Release and Results

After months of hard work, the app was successfully released on schedule in September 2017 – just prior to the release of season 2 of Strangers Things in October. Following the release of season 2, we launched an app update in November to include trivia content for the new season.

The app was listed on the Google Play Store from September 2017 to September 2018. During the year it was on the market, the app had over 15,000 installs and an average rating of 4.36 (out of 5). While there are surely improvements that could be made, the results were far better than I could have hoped for on my first ever app release - making the project a success to our team.

Lessons Learned

This was an incredible learning opportunity as I was able to experience every aspect of an app build from early ideation all the way through to product release. During this time, I feel I grew significantly as a developer and as a leader on a small, successful development team.

Additionally, this was my first experience with a major creative design project. Having enjoyed the experience greatly, I believe this was a factor in helping me make the decision to move into UX Design later in my career.

For further reflections I have on the project, after having completed my UX Design bootcamp program the following year, you can read my blog post linked below!