Making a Capicúa Feel Like a Capicúa

I wanted the Capicúa celebration in MesaDura to capture something I love about playing: that quick, excited moment when you can slam the tile on one end, then the other. Capi!

That was the idea I brought to the animation work. I wanted the movement to have personality and impact. I wanted it to feel connected to the dominoes I enjoy playing.

Then came the questions that are much easier to miss when you’re only imagining an effect. What happens after the celebration? How long does the title stay? When does the next shuffle begin? Does the player know the game is continuing?

In one of my testing notes, I pointed out that after the Capicúa animation and title card left, the game could linger before shuffling. To me, it looked like the game was stuck. The celebration was only one part of the experience; the pause afterward mattered too.

I also reported rounds that took too long to move on, and movement that could become jittery before speeding up. Those were observations from playing the builds, and they became part of the work we needed to examine.

Another issue was especially strange to watch. A tile could slide toward its place showing the previous domino, then change to the correct face when it landed. I noticed it on desktop and mobile. The motion itself could feel smooth, but I still needed to see the right tile moving across the table.

That’s a very specific kind of challenge: getting the movement right and getting the information right at the same time. A domino has to remain recognizable while it moves. The effect has to fit what the player just did.

The creative side gives me plenty to be excited about. I can picture a celebration, a sound, or a little piece of character that makes the game feel more alive. Testing asks me to follow that idea through the whole moment, including the part after the exciting bit ends.

I’m learning to pay attention to those connections. The slam, the sound, the result, and the next hand all contribute to how playing feels. A few awkward seconds can change the impression of everything around them.

This is one of the struggles I want to share while making MesaDura. There’s enjoyment in coming up with an idea, and there’s work in discovering what it needs once it’s moving on a screen.

I still love the idea of that quick double slam. Getting it to sit naturally inside a game is the challenge—and it’s part of why I’m enjoying making this.

Prepared with AI editorial assistance from Lu’s own notes.