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Yesterday's headliners
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Entry editor
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Entry animation
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Entry description
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Parade view
Inspiration
I wanted to make something that felt at home on Reddit without making it literally about Reddit. Pocket Parade came from the idea of a tiny shared celebration that gets better as more people add to it. A parade felt like a natural fit: it is public, silly, creative, and built around seeing what everyone else brought.
What it does
Pocket Parade gives players a new parade theme each day. Players build one custom marcher or float from sticker-like parts, arrange the pieces however they want, and send it into today’s parade. Other players can cheer for entries by rating their Wackiness, Charm, and Creativity. The next day, the best entries return at the front of the parade as Yesterday’s Headliners.
How we built it
The project was built with Devvit Web as an interactive Reddit post. The editor uses a compact web UI where players combine modular 2D assets, move them around, scale them, rotate them, flip them, and layer them into a finished entry. The parade view renders those saved entries back into a shared animated scene, mixing player creations with built-in parade characters so the world feels alive even early on.
Challenges we ran into
The biggest challenge was fitting a real creator tool into the Reddit mobile app. The available space is tight, and relying on a tall scrolling layout made the editor hard to use. We had to compress the interface, keep the live preview visible, move name and caption into a second step, and make part selection work without forcing players to scroll away from what they were building.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I’m proud that Pocket Parade gives players real creative control without requiring drawing skills or uploads. Even with a curated asset library, people can make entries that feel personal because they can move, resize, rotate, and layer every piece. I’m also proud of the daily loop: players get the instant payoff of seeing their creation today, while the Headliners give them a reason to come back tomorrow.
What we learned
The biggest lesson was that a Reddit game needs to be immediately understandable and rewarding. A delayed payoff sounded good for retention, but it was much stronger to let players see their entry right away. We also learned how important mobile-first design is for interactive posts. Every bit of wasted space matters.
What's next for Pocket Parade
Next I’d like to add more themes, more sticker packs, and more ways for the parade to change over time. I’d also like to expand the Headliner awards, add special weekly parade events, and give players more fun ways to discover, celebrate, and revisit the best community creations.
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