01 / Context
01 / Context
About Kaona
The What, Why, and How
What Is It?
Kaona is a four-player tabletop RPG with a mobile storyteller app aimed at fostering youth wellbeing. Set in post-apocalyptic Hawaiian moku (realm), the game explores the six domains of the lōkahi wheel, drawing from moʻolelo, history, and local experiences. Players collaborate to restore balance by completing quests and healing corrupted rulers. The app guides new RPG players while promoting problem-solving, self-reflection, and community-building, using relevant moʻolelo and place-based stories to help players address real-life challenges.
Why Was It Created?
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) youth are experiencing a crisis of well-being - increased depression, anxiety, social isolation, and poor school performance - fueled by structural inequities in healthcare, the generational trauma of colonialism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, NHPI youth experiences dramatic disruptions in everyday life, while facing high rates of infection, morbidity, and mortality, especially in rural areas such as our community of focus: Waiʻanae and the Leeward coast of Oʻahu. Kaona is a response to this context, providing novel ways to restore well-being and peer-to-peer connection.
How Is It Unique?
Game-based and narrative-based learning are promising approaches to addressing wellness concerns, especially for Indigenous communities with deep storytelling practices. Kaona takes a de-centering approach to incorporating traditional practices into learning: uplifting Hawaiian ways of knowing and de-centering Western models of health. This approach is guided by the `Ōlelo No`eau (Hawaiian Proverb): “I ka wā ma mua, i ka wā ma hope” (“we look to the past as a guide to the future“) This proverb illustrates how looking into the past allows learning from ancestral knowledge and brings hope for the future. For Kānaka Maoli and Kama`āina (those who grew up in Hawai`i), this reflection comes through mo‘olelo: the stories and legends crucial to Hawaiian culture, displaying how the community builds knowledge.
Core Pedagogy
Core Pedagogy
Kaona’s core pedagogy is rooted in the Hawaiian value of lōkahi (harmony), emulating the Lōkahi Wheel wellness model which depicts six domains of health. The Lōkahi wheel promotes the balance of these domains, meaning that wellness is interconnected, both within oneself and one’s community, making introspection and community-building key learning goals of Kaona.
Kaona’s core pedagogy is rooted in the Hawaiian value of lōkahi (harmony), emulating the Lōkahi Wheel wellness model which depicts six domains of health. The Lōkahi wheel promotes the balance of these domains, meaning that wellness is interconnected, both within oneself and one’s community, making introspection and community-building key learning goals of Kaona.
01 / Context
About Kaona
What Is It?
Kaona is a four-player tabletop RPG with a mobile storyteller app aimed at fostering youth wellbeing. Set in post-apocalyptic Hawaiian moku (realm), the game explores the six domains of the lōkahi wheel, drawing from moʻolelo, history, and local experiences. Players collaborate to restore balance by completing quests and healing corrupted rulers. The app guides new RPG players while promoting problem-solving, self-reflection, and community-building, using relevant moʻolelo and place-based stories to help players address real-life challenges.
Why Was It Created?
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) youth are experiencing a crisis of well-being - increased depression, anxiety, social isolation, and poor school performance - fueled by structural inequities in healthcare, the generational trauma of colonialism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, NHPI youth experiences dramatic disruptions in everyday life, while facing high rates of infection, morbidity, and mortality, especially in rural areas such as our community of focus: Waiʻanae and the Leeward coast of Oʻahu. Kaona is a response to this context, providing novel ways to restore well-being and peer-to-peer connection.
How Is It Unique?
Game-based and narrative-based learning are promising approaches to addressing wellness concerns, especially for Indigenous communities with deep storytelling practices. Kaona takes a de-centering approach to incorporating traditional practices into learning: uplifting Hawaiian ways of knowing and de-centering Western models of health. This approach is guided by the `Ōlelo No`eau (Hawaiian Proverb): “I ka wā ma mua, i ka wā ma hope” (“we look to the past as a guide to the future“) This proverb illustrates how looking into the past allows learning from ancestral knowledge and brings hope for the future. For Kānaka Maoli and Kama`āina (those who grew up in Hawai`i), this reflection comes through mo‘olelo: the stories and legends crucial to Hawaiian culture, displaying how the community builds knowledge.
Core Pedagogy
Kaona’s pedagogy is rooted in lōkahi, or harmony, through the Lōkahi Wheel wellness model. Because the game connects personal reflection with community-building, the app needed to support orientation and pacing without becoming the center of attention. This became the throughline for the design: use technology to clarify the experience, then step back so the group could play.
02 / Problem
02 / Problem
The Digital Storyteller App
The core UX tension
How do you use a screen to guide a tabletop learning experience without making the screen the experience?
Why the app mattered
Why the app mattered
Not every student walked into the classroom feeling like a gamer. Some were new to roleplaying, while others felt unsure navigating long rules, quest prompts, and storytelling mechanics. The app needed to lower that barrier without turning Kaona into a screen-first experience.
Not every student walked into the classroom feeling like a gamer. Some were new to roleplaying, while others felt unsure navigating long rules, quest prompts, and storytelling mechanics. The app needed to lower that barrier without turning Kaona into a screen-first experience.
Target users
Target users
Our users were high school students on Oʻahu’s Waiʻanae Coast — some seasoned gamers, many brand new to RPGs. In playtests, some students jumped in quickly while others hesitated, often looking for structure before they felt comfortable acting. The storyteller app had to make play approachable for newcomers without slowing down students who were ready to move.
Our users were high school students on Oʻahu’s Waiʻanae Coast — some seasoned gamers, many brand new to RPGs. In playtests, some students jumped in quickly while others hesitated, often looking for structure before they felt comfortable acting. The storyteller app had to make play approachable for newcomers without slowing down students who were ready to move.
Final Result
Final Result
A shared guide that narrates quests, prompts discussion, and helps players understand what to do next — while keeping the primary interaction centered on the tabletop, the group, and the cultural learning goals.
A shared guide that narrates quests, prompts discussion, and helps players understand what to do next — while keeping the primary interaction centered on the tabletop, the group, and the cultural learning goals.
03 / Design Goals
Design Goals
To keep the app useful without letting it take over, we used four goals to evaluate every major design decision.
To keep the app useful without letting it take over, we used four goals to evaluate every major design decision.
01
Keep attention on the table
The app should support conversation, roleplay, and physical materials instead of becoming the main activity.
02
Guide players at the moment of need
Students should know what to do next without searching through long rules or waiting for someone else to explain the flow.
03
Make newcomers feel comfortable
The experience needed to be approachable for students who were new to RPGs while staying fast enough for confident players.
04
Protect the cultural learning goals
Digital guidance had to reinforce lōkahi, reflection, and group discussion rather than flattening the game into generic instructions.
04 / Exploration
Exploring the App’s Role
Testing the app’s role in the game
Testing the app’s role in the game
Before designing screens, we explored where the digital companion should live during play. The core question was not just what the app should do, but how close it should sit to the players’ attention.
Before designing screens, we explored where the digital companion should live during play. The core question was not just what the app should do, but how close it should sit to the players’ attention.
The Handheld Approach
The Handheld Approach
We first explored a version players could use on their own phones. It felt familiar and easy to prototype, but it created the wrong behavior: each student would have a private screen, which risked splitting attention away from the table, the group, and the shared story.
We first explored a version players could use on their own phones. It felt familiar and easy to prototype, but it created the wrong behavior: each student would have a private screen, which risked splitting attention away from the table, the group, and the shared story.
The Tabletop Approach
The Tabletop Approach
That pushed us toward a single shared device at the center of the table. Instead of becoming a personal tool, the app could behave like another game artifact: visible to everyone, used at key moments, and secondary to the physical and social experience.
That pushed us toward a single shared device at the center of the table. Instead of becoming a personal tool, the app could behave like another game artifact: visible to everyone, used at key moments, and secondary to the physical and social experience.
05 / Structure
Information Hierarchy
Because the app was meant to guide complex quests, we organized information by player need rather than by feature. The hierarchy prioritized what players needed right now: orient the group, introduce the current story moment, clarify the action, then move them back into tabletop play. This helped us define screen types, interaction logic, and narrative pacing without overloading the experience.
Because the app was meant to guide complex quests, we organized information by player need rather than by feature. The hierarchy prioritized what players needed right now: orient the group, introduce the current story moment, clarify the action, then move them back into tabletop play. This helped us define screen types, interaction logic, and narrative pacing without overloading the experience.
06 / Wireframes
Initial Wireframes
The initial wireframes focused on three moments where players needed the most support: entering the game, understanding the current moku, and following quest narration. Each flow was designed to reduce uncertainty while keeping the app lightweight enough that players could return quickly to the table.
The initial wireframes focused on three moments where players needed the most support: entering the game, understanding the current moku, and following quest narration. Each flow was designed to reduce uncertainty while keeping the app lightweight enough that players could return quickly to the table.
07 / Evaluation
Usability Testing
The Context
We tested how the digital app and physical rulebook worked together during onboarding. The key question was whether students understood when to use each tool, or whether the two sources of guidance created hesitation.
The Goal
Identify whether the app clarified the first moments of play, reduced reliance on the rulebook, and helped students move into the story with confidence.
The Process
The Process
We ran a two-part usability test: players first explored the rulebook, then transitioned into the app while thinking aloud. This exposed moments where the app, rulebook, and actual order of play were not aligned.
We ran a two-part usability test: players first explored the rulebook, then transitioned into the app while thinking aloud. This exposed moments where the app, rulebook, and actual order of play were not aligned.
Findings
Findings
1
The app was often skipped during setup — the rulebook felt more obvious and trustworthy.
1
The app was often skipped during setup — the rulebook felt more obvious and trustworthy.
2
There was no clear cue for when to switch tools, leaving players unsure how the app fit in.
2
There was no clear cue for when to switch tools, leaving players unsure how the app fit in.
3
Players bounced between rulebook and app, unsure which to follow — disrupting flow and focus.
3
Players bounced between rulebook and app, unsure which to follow — disrupting flow and focus.
4
Many thought it was optional or secondary, not the intended narrative guide.
08 / Iteration
Design Iterations
What testing revealed
Players were not following the journey we expected. Some started in the rulebook, some looked to the app, and others hesitated because both tools seemed responsible for similar guidance. The issue was not simply missing information; it was an unclear division of responsibility.
What changed
We clarified the relationship between the two tools. The rulebook now handles physical setup and character preparation, while the app enters when the group is ready for narration, quest guidance, and shared story moments. We also simplified onboarding screens and added clearer cues for when to move from one tool to the other.
Aligning with Real-World Player Behavior
Aligning with Real-World Player Behavior
The revised flow followed the real order of play instead of our assumed flow. That made the app feel more intentional: it no longer competed with the rulebook at setup, and it became useful at the moment players actually needed a storyteller.
The revised flow followed the real order of play instead of our assumed flow. That made the app feel more intentional: it no longer competed with the rulebook at setup, and it became useful at the moment players actually needed a storyteller.
09 / Final Design
Final App Experience
The final app flow
The final app flow
The final design streamlined the transition from setup into story play. It gave players clearer orientation, reduced duplicated guidance, and helped the group understand what to do next without making the app the center of the experience.
The final design streamlined the transition from setup into story play. It gave players clearer orientation, reduced duplicated guidance, and helped the group understand what to do next without making the app the center of the experience.
Game Introduction
Game Introduction
We moved character selection out of the app and into the rulebook, where it worked better as a physical setup activity. The app now begins after that setup, introducing the Ancestor narrator once players are ready to enter the story.
We moved character selection out of the app and into the rulebook, where it worked better as a physical setup activity. The app now begins after that setup, introducing the Ancestor narrator once players are ready to enter the story.
Lōkahe Wheel - Main Navigation
Lōkahe Wheel - Main Navigation
The Lōkahi wheel became a persistent orientation tool for the six moku. Rather than acting as decoration, it helped players understand progress and reinforced the theme of restoring harmony across the game world.
The Lōkahi wheel became a persistent orientation tool for the six moku. Rather than acting as decoration, it helped players understand progress and reinforced the theme of restoring harmony across the game world.
Quest Narration
Quest Narration
Quest narration was tightened around action. The app gives players enough story and instruction to feel grounded, then returns attention to the table so discussion, movement, and decision-making can happen between players.
Quest narration was tightened around action. The app gives players enough story and instruction to feel grounded, then returns attention to the table so discussion, movement, and decision-making can happen between players.
10 / Reflection
Reflection
What I learned
What I learned
Kaona taught me that a companion app is strongest when it knows when to step back. The goal was not to digitize the tabletop game, but to clarify the moments where players needed help and then return attention to the group. Working between Figma and Unity also helped me understand UX as something that happens in motion: pacing, transitions, and implementation details all shaped how the experience felt. The biggest lesson was restraint. Good digital support can make a physical experience easier to enter, but it should not replace the social, cultural, and collaborative moments that make the experience meaningful.
Kaona taught me that a companion app is strongest when it knows when to step back. The goal was not to digitize the tabletop game, but to clarify the moments where players needed help and then return attention to the group. Working between Figma and Unity also helped me understand UX as something that happens in motion: pacing, transitions, and implementation details all shaped how the experience felt. The biggest lesson was restraint. Good digital support can make a physical experience easier to enter, but it should not replace the social, cultural, and collaborative moments that make the experience meaningful.
Want to Learn More?
Check out our CHI PLAY paper for a deeper dive into the research, testing methods, and design decisions behind Kaona.
Check out our CHI PLAY paper for a deeper dive into the research, testing methods, and design decisions behind Kaona.
01 / Context
About Kaona
The What, Why, and How
What Is It?
Kaona is a four-player tabletop RPG with a mobile storyteller app aimed at fostering youth wellbeing. Set in post-apocalyptic Hawaiian moku (realm), the game explores the six domains of the lōkahi wheel, drawing from moʻolelo, history, and local experiences. Players collaborate to restore balance by completing quests and healing corrupted rulers. The app guides new RPG players while promoting problem-solving, self-reflection, and community-building, using relevant moʻolelo and place-based stories to help players address real-life challenges.
Why Was It Created?
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) youth are experiencing a crisis of well-being - increased depression, anxiety, social isolation, and poor school performance - fueled by structural inequities in healthcare, the generational trauma of colonialism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, NHPI youth experiences dramatic disruptions in everyday life, while facing high rates of infection, morbidity, and mortality, especially in rural areas such as our community of focus: Waiʻanae and the Leeward coast of Oʻahu. Kaona is a response to this context, providing novel ways to restore well-being and peer-to-peer connection.
How Is It Unique?
Game-based and narrative-based learning are promising approaches to addressing wellness concerns, especially for Indigenous communities with deep storytelling practices. Kaona takes a de-centering approach to incorporating traditional practices into learning: uplifting Hawaiian ways of knowing and de-centering Western models of health. This approach is guided by the `Ōlelo No`eau (Hawaiian Proverb): “I ka wā ma mua, i ka wā ma hope” (“we look to the past as a guide to the future“) This proverb illustrates how looking into the past allows learning from ancestral knowledge and brings hope for the future. For Kānaka Maoli and Kama`āina (those who grew up in Hawai`i), this reflection comes through mo‘olelo: the stories and legends crucial to Hawaiian culture, displaying how the community builds knowledge.
Core Pedagogy
Kaona’s core pedagogy is rooted in the Hawaiian value of lōkahi (harmony), emulating the Lōkahi Wheel wellness model which depicts six domains of health. The Lōkahi wheel promotes the balance of these domains, meaning that wellness is interconnected, both within oneself and one’s community, making introspection and community-building key learning goals of Kaona.