Coco’s Afro Bounce

Role

Game Design, UI/UX Design, Unity UI, Character Animation, Particle Effects

Platform

Mobile Game (iOS)

Year

2014–2015

Team

Creative lead, 1 developer, 1 PM

Tools

Unity, Photoshop, After Effects

Overview

Coco’s Afro Bounce (released as Coco’s Fro Patrol) is a quirky, casual baseball game: slide Coco side to side and catch baseballs in his giant afro, dodging trash, gum, and the dreaded shears. Three shears is three strikes.

I handled the game design and UI/UX, wrote the game design document, and directed the character designer. I also built much of it in Unity myself: I set up the UI, animated the characters, and created all of the particle effects.

01The game

Catch baseballs, with an afro

Players drag or tap to move Coco and catch baseballs, curve balls, and grand slams. Mystery chests transform Coco mid-game, and the innings keep coming until he catches three shears.

Coco’s Afro Bounce App Store screenshots

02Particle effects

Every catch, celebrated

I built all of the particle effects in Unity: bursts of baseballs, sparkles, gum splats, and power-up effects that make every catch and every hit feel good.

03Stages

Changing scenery

The game rotates through stages as players progress, including the stadium, a dusty sandlot, and the streets of Afroland.

04Store

A card collection to unlock

The store works like a stack of collectible cards: outfits, stages, and powers each have their own card, unlocked with baseballs earned in play or from the concession stand.

05UI/UX

Get to the action quickly

The design goal was to get players into the game fast. The title screen leads with Start, the Umpire lets players resume from their highest inning, and pro tips explain what to catch and what to avoid.

06Costumes

10+ outfits, all animated

Coco gets over ten outfits, from pirate and magician to Robocop, wizard, banana, and zombie. I directed the character designer on the costumes, then animated the characters in Unity.

07Flow

Mapped from load screen to results

The wireframe maps how players move from the load screen and main menu into gameplay, customization, and results.

08Game design document

Every ball, strike, and costume

The GDD defines controls, ball types and point values, the combo system, bad items, mystery chest powers, stage and costume changes, sounds, results, the shop, and Game Center integration.

09Outcome

Released on iOS

The game launched on iOS as Coco’s Fro Patrol.