Game Design App

PARA VIDA

A playful app for designing casual games, testing ideas, and studying how people create rule systems.

Paravida invites players to explore pre-designed game packs, remix mechanics, and build compact arcade-like experiences through an approachable visual interface.

Paravida is a casual game design app for mobile devices. It turns game creation into a direct, tactile activity: players can inspect small game systems, change rules, and immediately play the results.

Platform: iPhone and iPad
Status: Preparing for Apple App Store release
Audience: Players, students, researchers, and curious game makers

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Research

Participate in Our Research Study

We are studying how people understand, adapt, and evaluate casual game systems when the design tools are embedded directly inside play.

Your Task

Participants will install Paravida, play a short set of included games, then use the design panel to adjust rules such as scoring, movement, difficulty, timing, and win conditions. THe main task is to explore the design space and creating casual games you like or think somebody …

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Guide

How It Works

Onboarding

When you arrive in the app, after a brief introduction to the Pause feature (2-finger vertical swipe), you get to the gamepack screen. You can always pause the app when in game mode by doing a 2-finger swipe down the screen. This will take you out of an active game back to the design interface.

Controls

In study mode, you only have the study pack available that shows you the four selected starting points you can play and alter. Tap on one to get to the game, for example Keepy Uppy.

Design Interface

Either when Pausing a game or when picking a game from a game pack, you will end up at the design interface for the game. Game rules are exposed as readable visual parameters. Players can adjust values, toggle mechanics, and compare variations without leaving the app. Game rules are split into a 3x3 grid. If you tap on STUDY PACK you will go back and see all games within a game pack and leave the design screen.

In Game

During a game you will see the score, the remaining lives and the time at the top edge of the screen. When pausing with the 2+finger swipe the design interface will come back. If no change is made the game will continue but if there is a change, the game will restart.

Reflect and Share

The study asks participants to share how they rank certain aspects of the game they played, which could be either a game they designed or changed or already existing. This is crucial for the research to understand the design space.

Apple App Store

Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Paravida is designed for research and game design exploration. The app does not require users to create an account for regular play. If you participate in a research study, we provide an in-app consent form informing you that we will collect demographic …

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Acknowledgements

Credits

Paravida builds on research, design, code, visual, and audio contributions from the project team and collaborators.

Graphics

Dolce Vita font by Muraknockout. Lexend by Bonnie Shaver-Troup, Thomas Jockin, Santiago Orozco, and Hector Gomez. App imagery and interface visuals are used for Paravida communication and research material.

Audio

Music by Steven Johnson. The app also uses selected sounds from Freesound.

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