I led the design of Apophis 2029 at Fun Bits Interactive, a collaborative mobile game project bringing together NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), astronauts, Verizon, and McGarryBowen, the New York marketing agency. The ambition was to turn interest in space into engaging play and participation in asteroid science.
Science, creative direction, and game development
The collaboration connected NASA’s scientific expertise with Verizon and McGarryBowen’s creative and communications work and Fun Bits’ game design and development. Starting with a Verizon/NASA brief in 2014, I developed game concepts and design documentation, then worked with the teams to shape the player experience.
JPL discussions helped the team refine how asteroid data and classification would be represented. The design goal was to make that science approachable through short sessions of mobile play, combining asteroid defense, match-three gameplay, and classification activities. Scientific accuracy and an inviting experience both mattered: the classification needed to feel like a meaningful part of the game.
Leading the player experience
I created flow layouts and worked with the team on the pacing of rewards, feedback, and transitions between gameplay modes. That meant thinking through what players understood, how their accomplishments were acknowledged, and what would draw them into the next activity. My role connected the project’s scientific and creative ambitions to concrete game systems and interactions.
Sound in the game
Alongside leading design, I created sound effects, brought audio into Unity, tested it through playthroughs, and worked with engineering to add and refine sound hooks. We adjusted the asset workflow so I could integrate and test audio alongside the rest of the team.
Mobile audio review
I tested the team’s music on phone speakers and earbuds, analyzed clipping and headroom with iZotope, and demonstrated mastering adjustments in Ableton Live. I provided guidance to the music creators on playback clarity and distortion.
Planning the next iteration
I also proposed improvements to onboarding, progression, social features, the game economy, and post-launch analytics and tuning. These were proposals for additional development, not a list of shipped features.
