Hatter’s Hand - Crazy 8s

Mobile Game

Hatter’s Hand – Crazy 8s is an epic card game set in the whimsical world of Alice in Wonderland! The world’s color has been mysteriously drained, and you’ve been asked to help restore Wonderland. This game features a twist: rule-bending Jokers that players can draw and use strategically. There are also mini-games that aid players on their quest to fix Wonderland.

The game was released in June 2025 in select international markets and has yet to make its debut in North America.

My Role

Major Feature Work

I was brought on at the tail end of pre-production to assist the Artist in developing the UI art direction. While I was still able to flex my UX skills, I was primarily tasked with creating a unique UI style for the game. I created most of the assets in Adobe Illustrator, then added hand-drawn elements and finishing touches in Adobe Photoshop. I then exported and implemented the assets in the Unity Game Engine.

What’s the DEAL?

The Deal Button Cluster - Case Study

The Deal button cluster saw many iterations before a reaching its final state. There were a few key points and actions that I needed to communicate to the player. Those being:

Make the button desirable to press.
It needed to communicate to the player, what the reward multiplier was, and how it’s connected to the energy spent.
Any external variables that would influence the reward multiplier (Like ad watch or joker influences).
The current earn rate/breakdown of gold per card played.
Auto play and auto deal states, and how next hand changes were surfaced to the player.
Had to be thematic to the Alice in Wonderland world, while respecting game rating for marketing purposes.

An exploration of how a physical card deck can help explain to players where said cards are coming from, and association of any existing card game mechanics. In this very example, a ‘poker chip’ of sorts was used to help explain to players that the higher the ‘bet’ the more your stack of chips (energy) would deplete per hand. This was initially well received internally, but was ultimately shelved due to gambling connotations and the desire to pull away from a skeuomorphic design.

I thought of the Hookah design shortly after. The crystal and smoke fumes can help clarify which reward multiplier the player is currently on, while having a distinct visual connection through the energy bar and button itself, tying everything together thematically. This particular iteration was extremely well received, but unfortunately would affect the Entertainment Software Rating Boards (ESRB) game rating, which was thought could jeopardize the potential success of the game.

A cat was thought up as a replacement, but it just didn’t feel the same.

The design was then stripped and pulled back. Opting to reference the success of Monopoly Go, the design became just a simple frame with buttons attached to the sides. This iteration lived the longest in game, and was fairly successful in communicating all the necessary points. With the intended idea of strobing arrows to indicate the direction/flow of energy and information, this design resolved one of the earlier pain points of players not understanding the multiplier and energy spent relation (Something the physical card and chips did).

With the addition of Autoplay tokens, the deal button cluster got even more busy, and was taking up more valuable space at the bottom of the screen. A Round cluster was then thought of and the deliberate disconnection of multiplier and energy relation was made. This was strictly a monetization effort to burn through player energy so that the game could surface more energy bundles and promos.

Who would have thought that a simple DEAL button would have to go through so many iterations before finally settling on the image above! Even though there were some favorites that came out of the initial iteration (mine was the hookah), but with art and business constraints, I had to be flexible and willing to continue altering the design.