2013
THE PROBLEM
At the beginning of the project, Akurey (the company) had some screens designed and the logic of the game in a document, made by a third-party. It was necessary not only revise all the screens, but also trying to match the information in the document with their wireframes, and of course, analyze the usability of the application.
The project was very challenging because, by that moment, there wasn't material or documentation about how to analyze the usability of a game.
ACHIEVEMENTS
This project was selected to participate at the Madrid Design Biennale, Spain, in 2014.
Official Certificate
THE PROCESS
Understanding
The first step was "cleaning" the concept. Trying to understand the document, the idea behind the game and matching this information with the wireframes they already had.
Content Inventory
The content inventory for a game is slightly different from the ones made for tools, websites or apps, probably because the wording will be for captive niche, so it is peculiar, for example, the word Stamina. The UX designer needs to have a full domain of the meanings to build an appropriate IA, and all of this should be in the content inventory.
Content inventory with the words and their meaning
References - Benchmarking
This step was crucial. By doing this, it was possible to find design patterns and the 'minimum common' features between games.
Three Role Play Games were analyzed: Turf Wars, Urban Rivals and Life is Magic
Alpha (α) Information architecture
“Personas are the representation of a user, typically based off user research and incorporating user goals, needs, and interests- definition from ”
Paper Protyping
Applied to five potencial users
Moodboard
The recommendation of the look & feel the app should have, after analyzing trends, other games, and the user's preferences.
Wireframes (some of them)
According to with how far the fingers can reach, the elements were displayed on the screen depending on the importance of the feature. This is because, the app should work just with one hand, according to with the personas analysis.
Look & Feel
The UI designer in this project was Melina Obando.
