Lucky Red Packet Event — Fish Shooting Engagement Campaign
Designed a special in game event that rewarded players with virtual bonus cash to boost engagement and retention in our Fish Shooting game.
The Problem
The Fish Shooter game faced a severe drop-off in player engagement. Analytics showed that many users left immediately after entering the main lobby, while others played only once and never returned.
Although the gameplay and aesthetics itself was solid, the lack of strong incentives or a clear reward system made it difficult to motivate players to stay. The challenge was to create an engaging event that encouraged repeated play and gave users a tangible reason to come back.
Solutions
To address the low player retention, we designed a “Lucky Red Packet” incentive system that blends game excitement with real-world value.
Players receive a $200 virtual red packet when they start the event, which can be used as in game credit for fishing.
As players continue to play and their total bet turnover reaches $1,000, the virtual balance becomes withdrawable real money, similar to a cashback system.
This mechanic encourages consistent engagement — players feel rewarded for returning and progressing rather than leaving after one session. It also serves as an effective way to attract new players, providing them with an immediate incentive to try the game and explore its features.
To ensure clarity and motivation, I also created a themed event page and in-game UI, highlighting progress, remaining balance, and milestone rewards in a way that feels both exciting and trustworthy.
Design Process
Research
Synthesis
Ideation
Low-Fi Design
High-Fi Design
Reflection
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01 Research
Finding the Real Cause Behind Low Retention
Before designing the new event, our team aimed to uncover why players were leaving the game shortly after entering.
We began by analyzing game performance data, including server stability, connection reliability, and loading times, to rule out technical causes such as lag or disconnections.
Once these factors were excluded, we shifted focus to player behavior and motivation — examining in-game activity logs and conducting short surveys with existing users to understand what discouraged them from continuing to play.
01
Player Exit Points
02
Gameplay Motivation
03
Reward Expectation
04
Session Experience
05
Re-
Engage Potential
Competitive Analysis
To design a more effective engagement event, I analyzed three popular fishing and slot-style games to understand how their reward and retention systems motivate players.
JILI GAMES
EEZE
POCKET GAMES SOFT
Royal Fishing
Bombing Fish
Jackpot Fishing
Initial Bonus or Entry Gift
✔
✔
✔
Progress-Based Rewards
X
X
✔
Cash Equivalent Incentives
X
X
X
Engagement Loops
✔
X
X
Reward Transparency
✔
✔
✔
Through the analysis, I discovered that while many games attract users with flashy visuals or short-term bonuses, few successfully maintain engagement beyond the first session.
Most systems either lacked clear long term goals or failed to make rewards feel tangible and valuable.
These insights led to the creation of the Lucky Red Packet Event, which connects real-value incentives (virtual red packet cash convertible after gameplay milestones) with continuous progress tracking motivating players to stay active and return consistently.
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02 Synthesis
Identifying the Core Problem: Why Players Leave Early
From the research and data analysis, we confirmed that technical issues such as server stability or loading time were not the reason players quit early. Instead, our findings revealed two key behavioral patterns:
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Lack of motivation and long-term reward.
Many players left after only one or two rounds because they didn’t feel a sense of progress or tangible value — the gameplay felt temporary rather than rewarding over time.
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Low trust in a new and lesser-known game.
When players try a game that doesn’t yet have strong brand recognition, they often hesitate to invest time or money. Without credible incentives or visible milestones, they leave quickly due to uncertainty and low confidence in the game’s reliability.
This insight highlighted the opportunity to design a reward-driven engagement system that not only motivates continued play, but also builds player trust through transparent, achievable goals and consistent feedback.
01
Low player trust in new games
02
Weak reward motivation
03
Lack of progression feedback
04
Missed re-engagement opportunities
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My research led me to wonder…
How might we design an event system that motivates players to stay longer, return often, and trust our game’s value?
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03 Ideation
Exploring ways to re-engage players through trust and rewards
The goal was to make players feel rewarded for staying — not just lucky, but confident that their time and progress had real value.
Ideation
The goal was to create a mechanic that feels exciting, fair, and rewarding transforming short play sessions into lasting engagement.
Some early directions included:
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Designing event-based systems that offer transparent reward conditions.
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Introducing layered progress milestones to sustain player motivation.
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Using real-world incentive logic (similar to cashback systems) to increase perceived value.
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Simplifying UI and reward feedback for instant clarity and accessibility.
Early Ideas
1. Daily Login Rewards
A recurring incentive system that grants small daily bonuses to keep players active and returning.
2. Milestone Red Packet System
Players receive a virtual “red packet” balance that grows as they play. Once their total play volume reaches a certain amount, part of it can be converted into real, withdrawable rewards.
3. Trust-Based Tutorial Onboarding
Introduce an onboarding experience that clearly communicates the event’s rules and credibility, helping new players feel confident to participate.
Selected Idea — Lucky Red Packet Event
The final concept focused on creating the Lucky Red Packet Event, a limited-time in-game activity that directly connects gameplay effort with tangible rewards.
This design encourages consistent engagement by rewarding continued play, builds credibility through transparent conditions, and attracts new players by lowering the entry barrier and offering an immediate sense of value.
I developed a modular event system where every component — from entry flow to reward redemption — works together to build trust and keep players engaged.
The structure is fully reusable, allowing future events to adapt the same framework while maintaining visual consistency and smooth user experience.
Building a Scalable Reward System for Player Retention
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04&05 Design
Designing a Reward-Centric, Trust-Building Experience
The goal was to merge the excitement of real-time gameplay with a clear, credible reward structure — allowing players to instantly understand how the event works, what they can earn, and why it’s worth returning.
Low-Fidelity is not available right now due to figma administrator restrictions, I will upload it shortly.
Moodboard: Defining a Trustworthy Yet Exciting Visual Direction
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To define the visual direction, I collected references from fishing and reward-based mobile games that combine vibrant celebration themes with credible UI presentation.
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I explored how color, motion, and lighting can evoke a sense of luck and excitement while maintaining clarity and trust — ensuring that players feel rewarded, not misled.
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The final visual direction uses warm reds and gold tones to emphasize rewards, balanced with cool blues to represent the oceanic theme, creating a cheerful yet reliable atmosphere that encourages continued play.
Hi-Fidelity
Main Interface
Setting
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Users responded positively, but there was room to enhance impact.
I collaborated closely with the product team to evaluate the design of the new “Lucky Red Packet” feature. The team appreciated the clear reward flow and straightforward logic, noting that the system successfully aligned with our goal of increasing player engagement and retention.
However, several key areas for improvement emerged during internal reviews:
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The reward wallet interface felt too similar to the regular game screen, which reduced the visual impact when players received rewards.
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The team suggested adding stronger visual feedback and motion cues to emphasize excitement and enhance the player’s sense of accomplishment.
Iteration
I introduced a distinct visual style for the Red Packet interface, featuring brighter and distinct frame, adding water element, and dynamic glow effects to distinguish it from the main game screen.
Final Design
06 Reflection
Outcome
The new Red Packet interface and event system have been fully designed and are currently in the implementation phase.
While player data is not yet available, early feedback from the product team has been highly positive, highlighting the improved clarity, visual contrast, and sense of excitement.
Once launched, the feature is expected to increase engagement and player retention, especially among new users who will benefit from clearer reward communication and stronger trust in the event system.
The Experiences
This project deepened my understanding of how to design event-driven experiences that combine creativity with player motivation.
Working closely with the product and marketing teams taught me how to balance visual appeal with behavioral goals — ensuring that every design decision supported player engagement, clarity, and trust.
Insight & Illustrations Improvement
Throughout the project, I refined my data-informed design process, learning how to turn gameplay and retention metrics into actionable UI decisions.
I also optimized my workflow in Figma, creating responsive, reusable components that streamlined collaboration with developers and simplified iteration during rapid testing cycles.
If I had more time
If given more time, I would expand the design testing scope to include A/B experiments after launch to measure how visual and interaction changes influence player behavior.
Additionally, I would further enhance the component documentation to make future event designs more modular and scalable across different game titles.