Finding game titles quickly and efficiently is challenging. Most sites and apps organize the information by date leaving the user on their own to sift through endless blocks of text to pinpoint what they want to know.
The Problem
Finding game titles quickly and efficiently is challenging for users. Most sites and apps organize the information by date leaving the user to sift through endless blocks of text to pinpoint what they want to know.
Point of Entry
The first research point I needed to identify was where video gamers are having problems and their gaming preferences. Initial key interview takeaways were as follows:
• “Websites are too hard to find games for just my system.”
• “There aren’t any apps I’ve found that allow me to quickly find games I want to see.”
• “I don’t want to buy games through a smaller unknown app. I want to buy through established places.
• “Make navigation easy!”
• “Sometimes I like to browse and sometimes I just want quick bits of my information.”
• “There aren’t any apps I’ve found that allow me to quickly find games I want to see.”
• “I don’t want to buy games through a smaller unknown app. I want to buy through established places.
• “Make navigation easy!”
• “Sometimes I like to browse and sometimes I just want quick bits of my information.”
Deeper Research
After discovering the users pain points, I needed to identify their gaming habits. What I found was pivotal figuring out how to shape GameDrop.
Research told me that such a small sector of users were playing old consoles and on PC that GameDrop would serve people best by focusing on the three major consoles they are playing; PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
Now I needed to sift through the data and find which features were most important. What I found, though, was that people kept saying what they didn’t want. It became clear that this was going to be a task in taking a reductive approach.
Features for which people had no interest
Feature priorities from research data
Our Persona
Speaking of the users, let’s meet the face of those that were interviewed.
Marcus is a cool guy, isn’t he? Now that we know more about him, let’s take a look at what and how he currently finds games.
Comparative Competitive Analysis
Let’s look at a big site in gaming which is Metacritic. While they have great feature stories, finding games is a text word search. Have a look at a sample from their site. Try finding a couple PlayStation 4 games titles and their release dates within a quick glance.
The app is much better, isn’t it? There are still a number of problems, however. For instance, by looking at the screen, the user has no idea if a game is made for their console, the release or what genre the title falls under.
It’s only after tapping on a game, the user might be disappointed by discovering what peaked their interest is unavailable to them. No one likes that feeling!
Sketching to evolve
Now that we have insights and a clearer idea of Marcus’s needs, let’s get some ideas down to serve him. After much thumb-nailing, these were the initial candidates.
In addition to paper sketching, I also like to work out problems with digital sketches and a mood board that are by no means hi-fi but a but help to be more clear before hitting initial wires.
Digital sketches
Time to Wire and Test
Initial wires and user test result
During prototyping testing, the following were issues for people.
• Users didn’t know the logo served as a home button
• Search bar text was not visible enough
• The game box images were too small to tap
• The main navigation was intuitive and easy to use
Further Refinement
With what I found from testing and refining the interface was the next step.
Refined wires based on user testing feedback
I tested yet again and the subjects were able to complete scenario tasks without a problem. The testers said:
• “Love the simple layout. Tells me what I want and takes out what I don’t.”
• “Love the simple layout. Tells me what I want and takes out what I don’t.”
• “I have this same problem! What an easy way to find what I want to see.”
• “I really like that I can buy direct or Amazon.”
• “When is this app coming out? I want to use it now.”
Hi-Fi Prototype
Now comes the fun. Let’s breath life into GameDrop.
Let’s see a user test in action!
Users were asked to preform these tasks:
• Tap on the game system of their choice. Navigate through new, pre-order, current then go to the back home.
• From the PlayStation tab, mark detroit as a favorite, view favorites then navigate back.
• From the PlayStation tab, choose Resident Evil Biohazard to buy from Amazon. Back.
• From the PlayStation tab, choose Resident Evil Biohazard to buy the digital download.
User Results and Feedback
All users completed tasks without incident. Here are some comments from the users:
• “So clean and simple.”
• “I love the easy navigation.”
• “I like that GameDrop is exactly what I need. I dislike it when apps try to be and do way more than people need them to.”
• “I like that the logo acts as a home button. I’ve gotten used to that from web pages.”
• “I felt better about purchasing through Amazon and the manufacturer. They are both trusted sources for me and would feel safe with a financial transaction.”
• “Feels idiot proof. Anyone could use this app.”
