OOPSIE!
Parenthood is messy for everybody. Let’s normalise that.
Oopsie! is a mobile collection of gamified short comics designed to reduce self-blame among new parents by turning everyday mistakes into funny, relatable stories. Built around short sessions, one-handed play, and easy pausing, the experience fits into the small pockets of time parents actually have.
Roles
Project Lead · Game Designer · Illustrator · Prototype Developer
Areas
Game Design · Product Design · Interaction Design · Illustration · Prototyping
Recognition
D&AD New Blood Awards — Wood Pencil | 2023
Featured by RMIT University, Culture Newspaper,
Capital Education, and Vietnam.vn | 2023
New parents already have enough things to feel bad about
The project responded to the D&AD New Blood 21GRAMS brief around post-natal depression. Through our research, we identified self-criticism as an important stress factor for new parents.
Instead of creating another tool telling parents how to do things better, we took the opposite approach: what if everyday mistakes could feel more normal?
Oopsie! reframes those little disasters as funny, shared moments — helping parents see that they are not the only ones figuring things out as they go.
Designing for people with no time — or free hands
One of the biggest design constraints came directly from the context of early parenthood.
Parents may be holding a baby, multitasking, or only have a few spare minutes before being interrupted. So the experience needed to fit around their routine rather than demand dedicated playtime.
The final concept uses bite-sized chapters, one-handed interaction, simple mechanics, and easy pausing, turning practical limitations into core product decisions.
"Bite-sized playable chapters combine comic storytelling with simple interactions that can be completed quickly and paused at any time."
Turning little disasters into playable comics
Before reaching the final direction, our team developed and tested several game concepts, but many felt too impractical for the audience.
We eventually settled on short interactive comics: simple enough to pick up immediately, but still playful enough to make the reader part of the story.
I led the project, developed the game prototype in Unity using C#, illustrated the comic content, and designed mechanics around each narrative situation rather than forcing every story into the same interaction.
"Simplified character designs and expressive illustration give the experience a warm, humorous tone while reinforcing its message around embracing mistakes."
Messy stories deserve a messy-looking interface
For the visual direction, I drew from the simplified, expressive qualities of UPA animation, using loose forms and intentionally imperfect illustration.
I paired this with a scrapbook-inspired UI to capture both the chaos of parenting and the feeling of preserving small personal memories.
The visual system deliberately avoids looking overly polished — because a project about accepting imperfection probably shouldn’t look obsessively perfect either.
"Hand-drawn assets and layered scrapbook visuals turn parenting mishaps into memories worth keeping rather than failures worth hiding."
From one parent’s mistake to another parent’s reassurance
The initial comic stories were adapted from anonymous parenting confessions found online, but the concept was designed to grow through player-submitted stories. Parents could share their own experiences, which could later be adapted into new chapters for others to play.
Rather than treating community participation as an extra feature, it becomes part of how the experience continues to grow.
