GoGames
Designing a tournament feature for a mobile games app.
Designing a tournament feature for a mobile games app.
GoGames is a subscription-based mobile games app that provides users with access to a curated library of the top games on the market. For this project, I conducted research to understand market opportunities, and helped create a “casual mobile esports tournament” feature which allows users to win real prizes for playing games.
GoGames noticed that despite paying for a monthly subscription, many users would stop playing after a couple of days. Their goal was to retain consistent player engagement and believed having new tournaments each week for players to compete in would solve the problem.
GoGames app interface
I conducted a remote survey of 25 users from one of GoGames’s target regions to gauge interest for this feature.
never heard of mobile games that offered real prizes before.
expressed that prizes would incentivize them to play more.
wanted to be able to compete against their friends.
The survey responses supported the addition of the tournament feature, so the next step was to determine how we would execute it. I performed a competitive analysis of other mobile game companies to learn how they structured their tournaments and reward systems.
Competitive analysis graphic showing the regions other tournament-based games are operating in.
None of the competitors operated in the same regions as GoGames, which explains why 96% of the surveyed users were unfamiliar with winning prizes from mobile games. This means the tournament feature would need to be simple enough for new players to understand, since most would not have a pre-existing mental model for reference.
After discussing the research findings with stakeholders, we established 3 primary goals we wanted to achieve with this tournament feature:
With these goals in mind, I created a flow diagram to figure out how users would navigate around the app and sketched out key screens to establish the layout of UI elements.
Flow diagram
Sketches
I designed multiple versions of the home screen and game info screens because they were going to be the most viewed screens.
Home 1
Home 2
Home 3
I showed the three versions to users, and they all preferred the first one because everything was consolidated on a single page, and it also made more sense to have the user profile displayed at the top of the screen.
Game info 1
Game info 2
I went with the second version because it always highlights the player's score regardless of where they are on the leaderboard. This allows them to compare themselves with anyone on the leaderboard without having to scroll back and forth. Additionally, they can tap on the hovering bar to jump to their place on the leaderboard.
This is where players can customize their profile and view any achievements they earned.
Here players are able to cash in their winnings for real prizes. I want them to be able to see the prizes on display, as well as how many points they need to get what they want, just like at arcades.
This screen helps players keep track of their rankings for different games. The difference from the compact view in the home screen is that players can click on the expanded game icon to jump straight back into that game.
Each time the game ends, the player can see how they stack up against other players. The “retry” button is also conveniently located around the neutral thumb position for right-handers, encouraging players to make another high score attempt.
Lastly, I compiled the screens into a clickable prototype.
From this experience, I learned what it was like to work with a client 100% remotely in a completely different timezone. Due to time difference and coordination of each party’s schedules, scheduling video calls once a week was a challenge. As a result, communication was primarily in the form of Slack messages. This helped me understand the importance of clarity in communication and planning ahead, since it would often take 1-2 days to receive a response to a question. Despite these barriers, this project with GoGames was a success. I provided insights into their target market and produced a high-fidelity prototype in the span of just 4 weeks.
Because of my 4-week deadline for this project, I didn't get a chance to run usability tests for the prototype, but that is definitely what the next step would be. I would be curious to know which parts of the interface users interact with the most, and if there are any confusing or frustrating parts of their user experience. Additionally, further development of social features such as direct challenges would be beneficial for engagement, since the competitive aspect might motivate people to play more.