ELVTR - UX/UI for Gaming Coursework

Overview

This is the coursework from ELVTR - UX/UI for gaming. Throughout the course, I analyzed the designs of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I apply my learnings of the best practices of UX/UI where there can be improvements to the games interface.

Role & Responsibility

As a UX/UI designer, my responsibility was to review the current player journey and evaluate through the design process if there are improvements that can be applied. If so, then create flow charts, wireframes and mock ups.

Challenges

  • No prior UI/UX design experience and needed to learn and apply on the fly

  • Limit time and resources for usability testing

  • Creating new screen and designs to an already polished game

  • Juggling full-time job as a Program Manager while taking course

Timeline

7 weeks (11 Jan 2024 - 26 Feb 2024)

UX Design

Player Journey

Paper Prototype

Flow Chart

Wire Frames

Usability Testing results

About:

2 users (1 male, 1 female. Both between 30-40). Were tasked to evaluate the 3 wireframes above. Players were asked a series of questions relating to design clarity and understanding.

Results:

Overall both players found all screens, text and icons were easy to understand. There were a few areas of improvements that could be made

  • Home screen: Add a button for saved/previous games

  • Gameplay: Button icon to access map, “To do” button

  • Inventory: Sort options button

*These iterations can be seen in green below

Iterated Wireframes

UI Design

Art references and Style guide

Mock-Ups

Outcomes / Post Mortem

  • Successfully executed the courseworks with limited time & resources

  • Gain a deeper understanding of how to apply UX/UI in a gaming context

  • While changes seemed simple, learned how important user research is and how those results can impact game play

  • In future case studies, and with more time, would like to apply design decisions from different game design elements into another game type