I am a huge fan of Bungie’s Destiny games, having played countless hours of the original, released back in 2014, and even more so of their 2017 sequel. The deep, immersive lore and second to none gunplay keeps me coming back day after day as well as the game's regular updates and seasonal content keeping it feel fresh.
CHALLENGE
I find the majority of UX/UI work within this game to be fantastic, with HUD and GUI interactions that feel second nature and incredibly intuitive to use. However, one of the problems that I find to be a regularly occurring issue myself and feel could be improved is the navigation through the ‘Destinations’ screen. The game has a heavy focus on completing weekly objectives marked by circular gold star icons. These icons appear next to locations that have these objectives currently available to them. Selecting the location on the ‘Destinations’ screen will take you from this overview style map to a local version called the ‘Map’ screen. From this screen, you can see all the available activities and objectives available within this location. But trying to find these activities can quickly become its own challenge due to the lack of any list or legend. This is especially problematic with the larger locations in the game, such as the planet ‘Europa’ which itself can have upwards of 15 activity icons covering it at any one time.
I find the majority of UX/UI work within this game to be fantastic, with HUD and GUI interactions that feel second nature and incredibly intuitive to use. However, one of the problems that I find to be a regularly occurring issue myself and feel could be improved is the navigation through the ‘Destinations’ screen. The game has a heavy focus on completing weekly objectives marked by circular gold star icons. These icons appear next to locations that have these objectives currently available to them. Selecting the location on the ‘Destinations’ screen will take you from this overview style map to a local version called the ‘Map’ screen. From this screen, you can see all the available activities and objectives available within this location. But trying to find these activities can quickly become its own challenge due to the lack of any list or legend. This is especially problematic with the larger locations in the game, such as the planet ‘Europa’ which itself can have upwards of 15 activity icons covering it at any one time.
A strong example of this problem in action; Destiny 2 has specific locales on each planet called ‘Lost Sectors’. These activities present players with cavernous areas full of enemies, with a small boss fight and loot chest at the end. These areas are marked on the map by a small icon which when hovered over shows the name of the Lost Sector. Finding the actual entrance to these areas can be challenging without a guide, but that feels like the intent as they are meant to be “hidden” areas. However, 2 lost sectors in the game (changing on a daily rotation) will be clearly marked on the map with an icon, one as a ‘Master Lost Sector’, and one as a ‘Legend Lost Sector’. These are harder versions of the basic Lost Sector runs and provide players with desirable loot upon completion. Though they are represented boldly by their unique icons, finding them within the constraints of the game is often a scavenger hunt, needing to manually search each planet, slowly scanning the map until you spot the icons. As a specific endgame activity to be completed daily, this does not feel like the intended action, leading most to look to the internet for quick answers.
My challenge will be to provide players with a solution to quickly and effectively identify quests, challenges and activities currently available at each of the game’s locations. I believe this will greatly benefit players, saving them time plus unnecessary and unintended frustrations.
PLAYER PERSONAS & USER STORIES
I wanted to see how many other Destiny players either shared my own opinions or had different views, as well as discover any other pain points experienced by users within the community. I created a 16 question survey asking players about their Destiny playing experience; their favourite ways to play, how much time they have available for the game, what features of the game they feel are done well, and what could be improved upon.
Using the data collected, I created 2 player personas, each representing a distinct player group; The Hardcore Player (Full-Time Guardian), and the Casual Player (Part-Time Guardian). To accompany these personas I also created a user story, each defining the player Group, their Need, and their Goal.
Using the data collected, I created 2 player personas, each representing a distinct player group; The Hardcore Player (Full-Time Guardian), and the Casual Player (Part-Time Guardian). To accompany these personas I also created a user story, each defining the player Group, their Need, and their Goal.
Full-Time Guardian User Story
As a Hardcore Player, I want to view all available activities in one place, so that I can track my in-game goals completions with less confusion.
Part-Time Guardian User Story
As a Casual Player, I want to identify next quest steps more easily, so that I can make more game progress during my limited gaming time.
Via these personas and analysing the remaining results, I can clearly see that the majority of other players feel the same way towards the current map and quest management systems within the game with the two rarely seeming to work in tandem. They find that important quests are easily lost within the quest log, with a lack of substantial filtering options or quest organisation doing the system no favours.
With my proposed need validated by my research, I moved on to generating ideas to help potentially improve the current in-game map and quest management systems.
To ensure my ideas remain in keeping with the game’s already established design and creative identity, I have focused mostly on attempting to repurpose the game’s ‘Milestones’ side menu. This menu is rarely utilised by the game once at the endgame stage and therefore, in my opinion, provides an effective, already implemented solution.
DIGITAL SKETCHES
Utilising in-game screenshots I had taken, I proceeded to create low-fidelity digital sketches of the ideas from above to see how each could work out in practice, layering my designs over the top of the screenshots.
LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
Taking what I believed to be the ideas with the highest potential while maintaining a sensible level of project scope, I created a user flow diagram and low-fidelity prototype for both the 'Destinations' and 'Map' screens.
INTERACTIVE LOW-FI PROTOTYPE
Destinations Screen Tasks:
- Open side menu, Switch to pinnacle tab, Switch to timed events tab, Close side menu.
Open pinnacle icon menu, Select pinnacle activity, Close pinnacle icon menu.
- Switch to the 'Map' screen.
Map Screen Tasks:
- Open side menu, Switch to strikes/raids tab, Switch to timed events tabs, Close side menu.
- Switch to the 'Destinations' Screen.
(Hotspot links shown on click)
USABILITY STUDY (LO-FI)
After producing a fully functioning low-fidelity prototype, I recruited participants to undergo a usability study to help discover potential flaws and improvements that could be made, as well as identify any aspects they feel work well and are particularly useful.
IMPLEMENTED CHANGES (LO-FI)
Having gathered and analysed the data generated by my usability tests, I began implementing changes to the low-fidelity prototype according to the test results to improve its performance where possible.
HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
After making the improvements to the design, identified through testing, I proceeded to create a high-fidelity version of my prototype. For the designs, I utilised icons and imagery from the game, as well as manipulating and adding my own to produce the desired outcome.
USABILITY STUDY (HI-FI)
With a complete high-fidelity prototype, I conducted a final usability study to help identify any further improvements to be made to increase ease of use and a positive user experience.
IMPLEMENTED CHANGES (HI-FI)
With the aid of these additions findings I proceeded to implement further solutions, creating the project's final high-fidelity prototype. I feel that this prototype has fulfilled the brief and goal I set myself; to create a user friendly solution to the game's lack of UI help in navigating it's numerous activities and rewards.
OUTCOME & LEARNING
Even though this has been a personal passion project of mine, I have found great joy in working on a piece with the intent of improving the overall experience within a video game that I greatly enjoy myself. Because of this, I have further learned and now personally experienced the importance of avoiding and not falling prey to the false-consensus effect. I do indeed possess my own pool of domain knowledge and opinion when it comes to 'Destiny 2', hence the decision to undergo this work, however as with any project, it is essential to keep my users as the focal point and at the forefront of my design choices.
This project was also my first opportunity to work within an established design style. This added the additional challenge of ensuring my choices remained in keeping with the game's creative identity while providing users with a familiar, yet new and improved experience.
