Pet · Product · 0 → 1 · 2025—2026
Design RPG
10 discovery artifacts, 50 levels, 7 skill trees — a full product cycle, solo.
TL;DR
A full cycle: from concept to a working React app
- 0110 discovery artifacts before the first line of code: industry research, RPG mechanics, a level system with an XP formula, 7 skill trees, achievements, quests
- 02The system is tied to real activity (shipped features, research, mentoring) — a reflection tool, not another course
- 03Stack: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind + Zustand; clean architecture (data/domain as pure functions, store, screens)
ROLE
TIMELINE
PLATFORM
PLATFORM
The idea
A designer's career progress is opaque. No metrics, no levels, no clear answer to "where am I now, and where do I grow next." If you've spent 10 years playing role-playing games, you already understand levelling systems, skill trees, achievements. What if you applied that to a real career?
A personal project, from idea to working app — entirely solo.
Discovery: 10 artifacts before the first line of code
Before writing any code, I designed the system. 10 discovery artifacts: roles in the process, research into the real industry (grades, competencies, salaries, what seniors actually do), a study of RPG mechanics (XP curves, skill trees, achievements), a character concept, the final level system, 7 skill trees, an achievement system, quests, and supporting mechanics.
This phase gave the game a formal foundation: if the mechanics don't hold up against reality, the player feels the emptiness fast.
The system: 50 levels, 7 acts, an XP curve
The final system: 50 levels across 7 acts, from Aspirant (pre-first-job) to Luminary (Distinguished, 5+ years in). The XP formula 80·1.18^(L−1) + tier_bonus — early levels come fast (dopamine), later ones bottleneck. That mirrors reality: many designers reach Senior; few reach Principal.
7 skill trees: Craft, UX & Interaction, Research, Systems, Product & Strategy, Leadership, AI Fluency. You can't max out all of them — specialization is required.
XP is earned from real activity: shipped features, research conducted, cases reflected on, mentoring sessions, talks. Not courses — activity.
The product: from discovery to working code
A working app: Dashboard, Profile, Skills, Achievements, Quests, Chronicle, Onboarding screens. At the start — a choice of character style: Manga, Pixel-JRPG, Cyberpunk-Neon, Vector-Flat, Dark-Fantasy-Ink.
Stack: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind + Zustand. Clean architecture: data and business logic as pure functions in data/ and domain/, a Zustand store, screens. Built with Vite.
Insights
Gamification only works when the system is honest — matching reality, not flattering it. The gap between "I thought I was Senior" and "I still need two more years" is easier to accept when the logic is transparent and you understand why yourself.
The hardest part wasn't writing the game logic — it was designing the XP curve correctly: the balance between "accessible enough that you don't quit in week three" and "hard enough that the final level still means something."