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Time: 3 weeks
Role: User Research, UX/UI Designer.
Challenge:
Have you ever installed a bunch of games, just to end up playing the same old one?
Overview:
This case study talks about an app that can help you easily know which game to play that can meet your expectations through a questionnaire.
For whom?:
More than 40% of the world’s population plays video games. They are between 18 and 54 years old. Therefore my audience is everyone between 18 and 50s who often play games.
ETNOGRAPHIC INTERVIEWS
Qualitative Research
I conducted ethnographic interviews with four open questions to five different people who often play video games. I wanted to understand more about the problem and how they feel when do not know what game to play, and how that inevitably affects them.
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What do you like most about video games?
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Have you ever felt frustrated when you didn’t know what game to play?
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Do you know any application that helps you to know which game to play?
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If there was an app that could tell you which video game it would be best for you to play now, what would be something you would and wouldn’t like to have?
Some user’s answers I recieved from my interviews.
Quantitive Research
In this part, I created a demographic survey with 20 people to collect data that help me get more information about my target audience.
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Have you ever wondered?
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How much time does it take you to decide which game to play?
Over 50% of my interviewees would spend 60 minutes to a whole month trying to figure out which game to play, but that does not mean that they are satisfied with the game they have chosen since it may not meet their expectations.
INSIGHTS
From the research I conducted with several users I was able to better understand the key to the problem.
PERSONAS
Then, I created two personas, which are archetypical users whose goals and characteristics represent the needs of all interviewed. This help me to know the expectations, concerns, and motivations of my users to develop a good design.
SCENARIOS
The most effective way of understanding what works and what doesn’t in an interface is to watch people use it, so I made scenarios, which are short stories about specific users with a specific goal. I created three different scenarios based on the research I did to understand how to make a better design and communicate ideas about user actions.
1.
You just finished midterms and are trying to get ready for finals. You feel like there has not been enough time to relax lately. You want to find a game to play because you have been playing the same one since the beginning of the semester and you are bored with it.
You downloaded Gamedo that will help you explore new games to play.
• Use the app to explore new games.
2.
Your partner complains that you don’t spend time with her. You love to play video games and want to show her that both can have a great moment playing video games. You know she is a little bit competitive, so you want to make sure the game is good for both of you, so she doesn’t get bored and complain.
You downloaded Gamedo that will help you explore new games both can play.
• Use the app to explore new games both can play.
3.
You have been using this app for weeks to learn more about what games you should play. However, you don’t quite remember your results of previous quizzes and you want to try a game that you read about a week ago in Gamedo.
• Use the app to explore your results of the quizzes from a week ago.
START DESIGNING
This is the breakdown of the questions that I used to design the questionnaire.
Video Game Genres Breakdown
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Action
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Sports
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Sci - Fi
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Simulation
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Strategy
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Action - Adventure
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Survival
Paper Prototype
I created a series of paper prototypes to help me test my scenarios. These are sketches that help me study users' reactions from early. They can be quickly modified if it becomes evident something doesn't work. This is the last paper prototype I made after several changes thanks to usability tests that helped me improve the interaction of the app.
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1st Round of Usability Testing
To check if my design makes sense, I conducted usability tests with three users, which helps me to evaluate my design and identify any shortcomings in the flow, and the interaction. I take note of everything they said and actions.
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Something I learned:
The simpler the app looks, the more will encourage people to explore it.
Lo-Fi Prototypes
I started to create a digital low-fidelity prototype that help me to have an early visualization of my app and test functionality rather than visual appearance.
Sign In
Home Page
Menu
Quiz
Quiz
2nd Round of Usability Testing
This time I conducted an usability testing with my lo-fi prototype to keep improving my app. I wanted to understand their thoughts and asked them to complete a task: “know what game to play”. Pretty much I wanted to see how would they use the app
Outcomes
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They want to see the hi-fi prototypes.
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The 3 buttons remind them of a game pad, even though it may seem confusing at first since the pad has 4 buttons.
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They expect them to be able to scroll down and up while solving the questions and not just switch screens because it feels like they are interacting with a PowerPoint slide.
1st Hi-Fi Prototypes
This helps me to have a clearer idea of what the final product will look like and thus be able to conduct more realistic usability testing.
3rd Round of Usability Testing
In this round I tried to notice any other usability problems, and see if users get 'lost' or confused.
Outcomes
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Make it more interactive.
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Background may be overwhelming due to the contrast of it with the buttons.
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The first icons are not clear what are they for.
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The "see more" option helps to lose the objective of the app.
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IMPLEMENTING FEEDBACK
I have tried to make the experience more like “playing a game”.
People are used to the generic design of an app, that's why I wanted to do something different. Since it is an app that helps you to know which game to play, I wanted the experience to be like a “mini-game” where if you pass it, you will know which game to play. (I hope it makes sense)
Improvements
Based on various feedback, I continually iterated my design with 4 major improvements.
Home page Interaction.
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I removed the two lower buttons and include them in the menu option ( ), so it is more clear what is each icon for.
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I also included a short animation where the knight starts to advance by getting rid of the fireballs when you press “start”.
“Skip” make it easier.
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It is not necessary to answer the question: How many hours are you planning to play weekly? if you have an idea of how long the game you want to be. That's why I included the “skip” option, which makes the interaction easier while moving through the questionnaire.
Keeping the main goal of the app.
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The reason why I got rid of the “see more” option is because the user will be ended up seeing an infinite list of games, and it would be lost the main purpose of the app which is recommend games that meet your specifications to the fullest.
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I added the name of the games, so you have an idea while exploring the results.
Change the background.
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Another improvement I did was changing the background. I made it less overwhelming since it can be hard to focus on the survey if you have the drawing of pixels in the back.
2nd Hi-Fi Prototypes
4rd Round of Usability Testing
I wanted to ensure that the features and overall purpose of the application are in line with what users want by observing how they interact with the final prototype.
Outcomes
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They found it fun that the knight advanced when you press "start".
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They were also able to answer questions more easily. Unlike the first design, in this one, they found more order, especially in the menu which is one of the most important options as it covers all the essentials features of the app.
TESTING AN SCENARIO
Let me walk you trough how this product works:
You just finished midterms and are trying to get ready for finals. You feel like there has not been enough time to relax lately. You want to find a game to play because you have been playing the same game since the beginning of the semester and you are bored with playing the same.
You downloaded Gamedo that will help you explore new games to play.
• Use the app to explore new games.
1. You open the app and press “Start” to start resolving the quiz.
2. You start resolving the quizz.
3. Keep answer all the questions and then submit your answers.
4. You wait for the results to load (I’m not a fan of waiting, so I thought about a dragon throwing fireballs).
5. It will appear games that match your inputs. You choose which one would you like to try. Also, it says is any of your friends like any of those games.
6. When you choose a game, it will give you information and core game mechanics.
STYLE GUIDE
FINAL PRODUCT
LEARNING OUTCOMES
What I learned and will do better next time.
Functionality rather the visual appearence.
If the application is not functional, does not fulfill the main objective, then a solution to the problem has not been found. Visual appearance is also important, however I learned that it should be used in a way that benefits the interaction.
Usability Testing is VITAL.
While learning more about how people interacted with my prototype, I realized that it is almost mandatory to keep in mind what I want to measure. That's why having a clear goal for the project was key. I ended up learning that in the end, what matters most are the people since you are designing for them, and not for yourself.
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