From Burnout to Millions: The UX Designer Who Quit to Build Games

Fiegle spent nearly a decade as a user experience designer, a role that often demanded she manage ten different clients simultaneously. The environment was defined by shifting requirements and weekend crunches, leading to a profound sense of professional exhaustion. When her agency laid off two teammates and expected her to absorb their responsibilities, the mounting pressure became unsustainable. She resigned, determined to find a stable in-house tech position elsewhere.

Following a streak of 100 job rejections, Fiegle pivoted to a project she had been developing on the side: a 3D dress-up game. She launched "Vortella's Dress Up" on the browser platform Poki in December 2024. The title became an instant success, recording 10 million plays in its first month. Partnering with her husband, Wes Thorburn, she transitioned the game into a multiplayer format, which now attracts up to 15 million plays monthly and has amassed over 50 million hours of total engagement.

The shift has fundamentally altered the couple's lifestyle. They now leverage the flexibility of independent game development to travel, splitting time between family visits in Singapore and Australia while working remotely from locations like Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam. For Fiegle, the transition from corporate burnout to creative independence has rendered her former career ambitions obsolete.