Tinybop — GAME Design
Tinybop—Things That Go Bump
Inspired by Japanese yōkai folklore, Things That Go Bump is a game where ordinary household objects come alive after dark.
It started as a small experiment between a developer and me: what if kids could invent strange creatures by combining interchangeable heads, bodies, limbs, and objects?
That idea eventually became the foundation for a much larger game.
CHALLENGE
Making the unexpected work
How do you create a system that allows for unpredictable combinations while giving every creature a place in the same world?
The parts needed to work together without making every possible combination feel overly planned.
01 / CREATURE SYSTEM
Designing for endless combinations
We built a modular system where ordinary objects could become weird, funny, or surprisingly expressive once combined.
I worked closely with illustrator Adrian Fernandez to establish how the parts connected, what could vary, and the rules that held everything together.
Some of the best results came from combinations that probably shouldn't have worked.
02 / ART DIRECTION
Finding the visual language
The premise needed a visual style that could make a lamp, shoe, vase, or piece of furniture feel like it belonged to the same strange universe. From level to level, including hidden worlds, the pieces needed to be quickly legible, revert to their colored versions when detached, and to be pieced together but feel unified.
Adrian's illustrations brought personality to the creatures, while the modular structure gave us a way to keep adding to the cast.
03 / WORLD BUILDING
Giving the creatures a world
The game takes place in a house after dark, where familiar rooms and objects become part of a hidden supernatural world.
I helped shape how players explored the house, how the creatures belonged within it, and how the environment could feel recognizable and strange at the same time.
04 / GAME DESIGN
From toy to game
What began as an open-ended creature builder grew into a game with battles, exploration, discovery, and progression.
Creature parts became more than visual choices. They affected what a creature could do, introducing new decisions about abilities, behaviors, and how players understood the system.
05 / INTERACTION DETAILS
Inanimate objects coming to life
A creature's movement, reactions, attacks, and timing could completely change its personality, even when the underlying parts were the same.
We used animation and interaction to make the assembled creatures feel like little characters rather than collections of interchangeable pieces.
outcome
Launched on Apple Arcade
Things That Go Bump launched on Apple Arcade.
timeline
2018–2019
platforms
iOS · MacOS · Apple TV
Role
Lead Designer
focus
Product Design
Game Design
UX/UI
Art Direction
Interaction Design
Artists
Adrian Fernandez
Francesca De Vivo
Collaborators
Robert Blackwood, Engineering
Raul Gutierrez, Product
Kendall Noble, Animation
Adrian Fernandez, Artist & Illustration
Francesca DeVivo, Artist & Illustration