Context
What is Summon Worlds?
During my internship at OpenForge, I had the opportunity to design for Summon World, a platform where users can generate custom characters by simply writing a prompt. Each prompt produces a unique character with its own personality, appearance, and abilities.
To help promote the app and showcase its creative capabilities, the team planned a special livestream event where users could submit the characters they created to compete in a live battle. All submitted characters were organized into Team Light or Team Dark. While the interface was originally created for this one-time event, the long-term plan was for Summon World to refine it further and make it a public feature.
Challenge
One of the biggest challenges was designing a fully functional battle interface within a very limited timeframe. We had only two weeks to create the design before passing it to the engineers for development. The interface also needed to be ready for the livestream, where facilitators could easily add characters, display their stats, and manage live battles in real time.
Solution
The design featured a battlefield layout divided into three main sections. The left panel allowed facilitators to add and manage user-submitted characters, the center area served as the battlefield, where facilitators control live interactions, and the right panel displayed a battle log that captured all real-time updates. Our team focused on clarity, smooth navigation, and engaging visuals to ensure the interface performed reliably during the livestream.
My role
My primary responsibilities included user research and competitive analysis, where I conducted research within the Summon World Discord community to understand player expectations for battles and livestream experiences. I also analyzed existing D&D and RPG platforms to identify best practices and uncover opportunities for improvement. I also partnered with engineers and product stakeholders to ensure alignment on feasibility. During concept development, I developed the visual layout and interactive prototype.
User research
Conducting competitive analysis to learn how other AI character-creation apps emulate D&D-style battles
Based on the competitive analysis, I identified several opportunities for Summon World and aligned them with engineering timelines and goals during team calls. Because we’re building the feature under a tight deadline, we chose to simplify the combat system.
To keep the experience approachable, we limited player choices to three core actions of Attack, Defend, or Support.
To address the text-heavy experience of AI Dungeon, our competitor, we designed a visual battlefield interface with each character card on the battlefield, allowing players to clearly follow the battle and make it more engaging than purely text-based encounters.
Concept exploration
Character card state exploration
In collaboration with my design manager, I explored multiple approaches for how a character card could appear on the battlefield. We had an initial direction of presenting the cards horizontally, but also tested more realistic, tabletop-inspired placements, which is similar to physical trading cards. We also looked at ways to visually distinguish light characters from dark characters.
From there, we focused on defining the card states. For example, how a card looks when idle and unselected, how it changes when selected as the user prepares an action, and how it appears once the character is defeated and no longer usable. These explorations shaped a clear visual language for every stage of the battle experience.
Final prototype
Future considerations
Because we were on a tight deadline to prepare the interface for the livestream handoff to engineering, much of the design work had to move quickly. With more time, we would enhance the battle experience by incorporating dynamic animations for attacks and defensive moves to create a more immersive, visually engaging sense of combat.
Looking ahead, we also plan to offer both manual and auto-battle modes. The auto-battle option would generate a narrative-style playback for users who prefer a streamlined, story-driven experience. Meanwhile, the manual mode would let players control every action for a more interactive, hands-on encounter
