The Art of Success: How Weiling Peng Helped Craft Two of Mobile Gaming’s Biggest Hits

When Peng stepped into a role with the team that helped create Good Pizza, Great Pizza, she was venturing into a game with years of history–one that not only possessed a built-in player base, but also one that had its original art style that she was tasked with learning.

“I closely studied the original art: its soft shading, warm palette, and expressive but simple character designs,” Peng shares. “By deeply understanding the style, I was able to maintain consistency while slowly introducing fresh content that expanded the game without disrupting its identity.”

Her work on Good Pizza, Great Pizza would inspire Peng to come up with a new game that would push her boundaries not just in the world of art and animation, but experience as well.

This idea led to the creation of the mini-game that would eventually become a main game feature in Good Coffee, Great Coffee, which would challenge Peng to transform her cozy game idea into something more playable.

“The goal was to capture the expressive, satisfying feeling of latte art and share it with players,” Peng explains. “The challenge was in making this simple yet artistic act accessible to all players, regardless of their experience with coffee.

Peng didn’t drink coffee before the idea, but she wanted to get it right. This drive to ensure an authentic experience inspired her to pitch the idea for her team to take a real barista course.

However, taking the barista course wasn’t the only thing Peng used to help create her game. She and her team also spent time studying cafe layouts and their real-world workflows, as well as talking to baristas and cafe owners to understand the perspective of working in such an environment. Combined with her love for sweets, cats, and relaxing vibes, Peng wanted the game to feel like everyone has the potential to be an artist. This allowed her and the team to create a mechanic that blended art and coffee in a way that felt both authentic and fun.

As simple as the story for Good Coffee, Great Coffee seems to be, there were multiple elements that Peng had to overcome, including the gameplay flow for the coffee-making that takes place within the game.

“Unlike pizza, coffee requires players to interact with multiple machines and ingredients across different zones,” she shares.

The Good Coffee, Great Coffee team reviewed over 20 layout drafts and collaborated with real baristas to refine the final design. The result was a kitchen layout that felt both intuitive and authentic, supporting gameplay while reflecting the real-life processes a barista goes through.

Peng views her role not just as an artist but as a connector across disciplines. In this role, she works to ensure that visuals support gameplay, narrative, and monetization.

What set Peng apart from many industry professionals is her understanding of the full production cycle—from ideation and concept art to technical implementation and live ops support.

This skillset allows her to innovate within constraints and propose creative and feasible solutions. By translating team goals and player needs into visuals, her designs directly impact monetization success. This helps shape systems and assets that support revenue while enhancing player experience. The big question Peng asks when she creates game art is: Can this art become something bigger?

While Peng’s immediate goal is to expand the world of Good Pizza, Great Pizza, she sees the potential to create even more cozy games that are in line with her work. She also wants to create her own game that will emotionally resonate with players.

“My ultimate goal is to show that art in games can be so much more than what people traditionally expect,” Peng says.

As someone whose designs shape visual identity and drive player engagement, Peng’s work has helped drive the growth and success of the franchises she has helped build, all while creating something that resonates with players worldwide.