What needed to change
Most social games ask for a lot of time. I wanted to explore whether a daily challenge could be completed quickly but still give people a reason to come back and compare results with friends.
How I worked through it
Keeping the daily loop short
The concept uses compact question-based rounds, daily attempts, a leaderboard and challenge links. The question is whether one minute of gameplay can produce a memorable competitive moment.
Protecting fair scores
The backend includes server-side score handling, daily attempt records, challenge creation and rate limiting. The goal is to make rankings less dependent on what somebody can manipulate in the browser.
Designing for sharing
A friend challenge should be understandable even to somebody who has never used the site. I have been exploring guest journeys, streaks and reward badges without making account creation the first thing a visitor sees.
What I learned
I would rather test whether people enjoy a daily challenge before adding more systems around it. The replay loop is the product; everything else should support it.