Synapse Games is a developer of mobile-based games and had begun work on a game that featured the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The game had various features including single- and multi-player game modes, and social-based functionality like chat. Among these features was the Clash, which allowed players to compete in a tournament against other players (PvP) online.
When I joined the team, the game was at an early stage of development and some features had been implemented to allow for navigating to the main mode of play for the purpose of testing and presenting to Nickelodeon for approval. A preliminary UI visual style had already been established by the Art DIrector, so I would work within that style and make any recommendations for changes as needed.
Product Goals + Player Priorities/ The product owner had developed a design document outlining the goals, requirements and desired outcomes of the feature. After reviewing the document, I prioritized the various functions of the feature based on the desired outcomes of player engagement and retention which were tied to monetization.
The prime motivation for a player would be to play the core game. Due to the limited number of battles allowed per day, the added motivations (rewards, competition, etc.) would need to be surfaced while not making the path to monetization central to the player’s experience.
Competitive Analysis/ To best address the product goals and player priorities I also created a Competitive Comparison to see how other game developers were presenting information and functionality to the player. This would allow me to see if there were common solutions that players had come to expect from similar game features.
Sketches/ I started brainstorming different layout options to see which achieved greater efficacy and fulfilled the features goals.
Wireframes/ I took some of the sketches that I felt best addressed the feature’s goals and created wireframes that I could share with the team for feedback. After various iterations, we settled on a design we felt best met the those goals.
Mock-ups/ I created mock-ups with the current art style so the screens could be implemented into the game for player testing. As a way to get more feedback from the team, I updated the approved low-fidelity prototype with the final art before the screens were put into the game.
Updated Mocks/ Now armed with more insights from the prototype and play testing I went back to updating the mockups. During this time, based on feedback from Nickelodeon, the Art Director of the project had updated the aesthetics of some of the UI elements so new art assets would be used.