Mobile Gaming
Smart phones are making mobile games better for casual players, leading them to spend more time and money for improved gaming experiences.
The Goal
As a Product Designer, my goal is to create an exceptional mobile gaming experience tailored for casual players with the ambition to build long-term engagement and community growth.
The Results
Designing player engagement with strong community focus. Incorporating lifestyle and creative-driven features for lasting connections and habitual engagement.
How might we improve the casual gaming experience for more engagement and replay value?
The Challenge
Business Problem
The mobile gaming market faces criticism for microtransactions, gambling tactics, and customer exploitation through in-game purchases.
Player Problem
New gamers hesitate to commit to mobile games immediately. They like to explore and test the game first before buying anything. This helps them feel more sure and informed before spending time and money.
The Research
I conducted primary and secondary research online for game reviews and gauged the market for Diablo Immortal success since it’s release in October 2019.
In order to better understand the game, I spent time diving into each screen (UI Audit) to find areas of opportunity with the current experience.
To enhance my understanding, I'm testing the game dynamics and design principles through self-ethnography to empathize better with players, creating a more enjoyable gaming experience.
Player Spectrum
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Most new players are not committed to gaming. They typically invest little time and money and would just prefer to try the game before making an investment.
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Players with prior experience with the game and is more willing to purchase in-game items like cosmetics and/or loot item.
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Considered “Whales” in mobile gaming industry. They spend a considerable amount of time and money on a mobile game to be the best player on the leaderboard.
Experience Pillars
UI/UX Player Experience Audit
To understand the entire flow—we collected all the screens in the current UI and searched for areas of improvement in the current experience (end-to-end).
Key screens were selected within the current experience that can be improved. Each opportunity is evaluated using the 4 experience pillars (Usability, Desirability, Scalability, Feasibility).
Character Selection Screen
Character Loadout
Player Legend on Map
Character Dialogue
New Features*
Scope Prioritization
Bronze Experience
Enhance player experience by focusing on increase engagement.
Improving desirability by designing and scaling UI elements for more engagement.
Build transparency with players.
Silver Experience
Includes Bronze Experience
Enhance scalability by focusing on commitment and replayability.
Allow players to explore playstyles and in-game mechanics.
Increase engagement with in-game non-playable characters in dialogue.
Gold Experience
Includes Bronze & Silver Experience
Build community engagement with creative-driven mechanics.
In-game world experience by player choice in dialogue or story
Explore cross-class social mechanics..
Risk Management
For every new update, we analyze the risk, chance of occurrence, and impact. Then we create a plan to minimize it using these 4 options:
Avoid The Problem
Transfer for more information
Mitigate to Reduce Risk
Acceptance
Experience Recommendation
Character Selection
Scale up size of character for a more dynamic feel
Include important stats such as Combat Rate, Damage, etc.
Provide a short animation for character on-screen
Character Loadout
Moving elements to allow character “Front & Center”
Make Stats, Inventory, Equipment, & Cosmetics easy access
Provide zoom animation when selecting armor pieces
Provide Auto-Equip & Auto-Destroy inventory
(Optional) More choices for color outfit changes.
Map Legend
Providing an easier way for player to quick scan all icons
Quickly teach players what specific icons represents
Option to View/Hide Icons on the map when not in use.
Character Dialogue
Scale up size of NPC during quest dialogue
Provide reactionary animation to improve engagement
Auto Dialogue On/Off
Player choice and consequences
Beyond providing players with choice within game dialogue—players expect their dailogue options to have an impact in the game world. Player reward and consueqences can help increase player engagement over time.
Game bonding mechanic can be introduced to expand story arcs and new endings.
Playstyle Feature
Many players are looking for custom builds with specific playstyle. Gaining access to their builds is not instantaneous and requires players to travel to the nearest armory to access player loadouts.
This feature will allow players to quickly swap between 2-3 playstyles while in-game combat.
Unlock Player Creativity
Players know that mobile games foster casual playthroughs and they want more options for in-depth character customization.
A new customization mechanic is introduced to players to unlock more unique slots for hybrid-class builds in support of the playstyle feature.
Drive Online Community
Players who are serious about the game will not only create content around the best classes and hybrid skills for each character but also actively engage with the social community to share strategies, tips, and experiences, fostering a vibrant community.
The Solution
Provide players with a better learning experience, encouraging custom playstyles and habitual community engagement, season by season.
Project Retrospective
Business Impact
The success metrics of each new feature and update needs further validation with research usability testing and interviews to fully grasp unmet assumptions. The goal of successfully implementing needed UI enhancements within the bronze experience is to lay the foundation for further development in the silver and gold experience for players.
More research is needed to ensure player retention is always considered at every step of the in-game experience.
What’s Next?
Research data is crucial for gaining insights into the amount players invest in character customization and social gaming. Work with the Game Design team to create new game features without disturbing the player experience. These novel additions must undergo rigorous testing to validate their effectiveness and enhance player engagement further.