THE CHALLENGE
I was charged with developing the UI/UX for a new multi-player basketball game using emoji characters original created for the top rate Basketball Emojis-Nation app.
This basketball game had many layers and customizable components, including custom players, uniforms, game environments, exclusive VIP member perks, as well as an integrated game currency eco-system. This large array of custom features and functions added an increased level of complexity to the UI design that I was responsible to organize and streamline as much as possible without compromise.
I managed a small team of designers and game developers throughout the scope of this project, to its completion.
GAME PLAY RESEARCH & PLAN
Player Research - We started by conducting in depth analysis using surveys and interviews to determine the type of audience who play multi-player sports games like Basketball Game ON!
We wanting to examine the typical player's usage patterns, and learn what drives and motivates them to play and what factors, turn them off the game and reason for quitting or leaving.
Based on our findings we determined that players were motivated to play more by wins and near misses. The players like free perks and levelling up to best their opponents, but were discouraged to play if they continually lost and could not advance further in the game. With this in mind we devised a plan and started our initial user flow and wireframe.
DESIGN
After constructing the initial wireframe prototype and using the information collected during our user and competitor research, we started the final visual design using Adobe Illustrator. The mobile game interface was a sleek 2D design but with a 3 dimensional look and feel. The original emoji characters were revised, so they would be better in tune and match the overall UI look and design.
Also, during the visual design process, we referenced game features from other similar apps and exploring their feasibility and function in the basketball game before finalizing our game and UI design.