Have you ever noticed how the best moments in games, movies, and even software aren’t just the big reveals themselves, but the buildup right before them?
That’s what I call the “Anticipation Parade” (Game Design Technique #15). It’s one of the most underused techniques in gamification design, and one of the most powerful when done right.
An Anticipation Parade is a deliberate buildup that leads to a climactic moment. It’s that pulse-quickening period right before something exciting happens, generating curiosity and excitement.
The power of this technique is that it prepares the audience mentally and emotionally for what’s coming.
It creates eagerness, maybe even a bit of impatience. And that buildup often makes the actual moment hit much harder than it would on its own.
The Anticipation Parade is Game Technique #15 in the Octalysis Framework, channeling Core Drive 7 (Unpredictability & Curiosity).
⚡ Speed Run Notes
- The Anticipation Parade is designed to make waiting feel like entertainment. Most products fight waiting. Great ones monetize it. Every hint, teaser, and countdown that precedes a reward can be engineered to generate more engagement than the reward itself delivers.
- Anticipation is CD7 (Unpredictability) under a leash — users know something good is coming, they just don't know exactly what. Pure unpredictability is stressful. Pure predictability is boring. Anticipation is the controlled middle, and the single most pleasurable state the human brain can sit in.
- The parade metaphor matters — sequence of hints, not a single reveal. One big reveal peaks once. A parade peaks multiple times, each smaller than the last, with the climax still ahead. The multiple peaks are what make the experience unforgettable.
- Anticipation design fails when the payoff undershoots the buildup. Over-promising is the ruin of the technique. The parade must be calibrated so the final reveal is at or above what users imagined. Under-delivering here poisons trust for the next parade.
- The deepest insight: humans remember the waiting, not the getting. The weeks before Christmas are vivid; the morning itself is a blur. Designers who understand this invest in the runway, not the landing. The runway is where the memory is made.
Table of Contents
About the Creator of the Octalysis Framework
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
The Jaws Effect
One of the best examples is the theme music in “Jaws.” That music builds an enormous amount of tension, setting the stage for the shark’s appearance, which might only last a few seconds.
But the orchestrated buildup of sound and tension, often lasting minutes, makes the shark’s appearance feel way more significant than it actually is.
The music signals: something is coming.
Dragon Ball’s Power-Up Sequences
In the anime world, “Dragon Ball” uses this technique constantly. Characters like Vegeta have these extended power-up sequences with distinctive background music that amplifies the gravity of the impending attack.
In the popular parody YouTube series “Dragon Ball Z Abridged,” viewers love to joke about this. When Vegeta was full of rage and building up his powerful attack, his allies would try to stop him from destroying the earth, but since the piano score had started to play, there was no going back.
Aladdin’s Magic Lamp
Disney’s “Aladdin” does the same thing. When Aladdin discovers the magic lamp, it isn’t simply the Genie popping out and offering wishes.
There’s a deliberate buildup, a spectacle that signals something big is about to happen. That buildup makes the Genie’s eventual appearance more significant and delightful.
Loot Boxes and Card Packs in Games
In the gaming world, Anticipation Parades play a critical role. When Overwatch first launched, its loot box opening animation was a textbook example: glowing orbs rising, color-coded to signal rarity, building a few seconds of tension before the contents were revealed.
Interestingly, when Overwatch 2 removed loot boxes entirely in 2022, players actually missed that moment of anticipation. The replacement (a direct-purchase shop) was more consumer-friendly, but it stripped away the buildup that made every reward feel like an event.
Today, Genshin Impact’s “Wish” system is perhaps the most polished Anticipation Parade in gaming. The shooting star animation, the color of the meteor trail (purple for 4-star, gold for 5-star), the dramatic pause before the character is revealed. Millions of players record and share these moments precisely because the buildup makes every pull feel monumental.
Even if the rewards don’t always match the buildup, the Anticipation Parade ensures that the process feels eventful.
The Role of Sound
Sound is a huge part of creating this buildup. In many games, a spinning wheel is used to heighten the anticipation. The sound escalates in intensity and serves as an auditory cue for the impending reward.
This auditory buildup, combined with visual elements, makes the eventual reveal feel more rewarding.
Beyond Entertainment
This technique isn’t limited to entertainment. A simple drumroll preceding an announcement serves the same purpose: a brief moment of heightened anticipation before the reveal.
This connects to Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness, drawing people into a communal experience of shared anticipation.
In the business software world, MailChimp cleverly integrated this into their platform. Before sending out a newsletter to a large audience, a figure is depicted nervously poised to press the send button, visually echoing the sender’s own apprehension.
This builds a brief moment of tension, followed by a congratulatory message, transforming a mundane task into something more engaging.
Putting It Into Practice
The Anticipation Parade is a useful tool in human-focused design, a methodology centered around human feelings and motivations, not just functionality and efficiency.
I’d encourage you to take notice whenever you spot an Anticipation Parade, and think about where you might incorporate it into your own projects, whether in media, software products, or even classroom settings.
Share your examples and insights in the comments. I’d love to see how our community can use this technique to make experiences more engaging.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design
- Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges & Leaderboards
- Exploring Appointment Dynamics
- Applying Evil Egg Design
- Master the Art of Streak Design
- Decoding the Mystery Box
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