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Game Master Guide

Introducing an end-to-end design to help guide users in their tabletop game experience.

Project Overview

Challenge

Having a long interest in tabletop games myself, I’ve found the market for tabletop games has been increasingly popular, growing faster than even since the pandemic.
I wanted to discover opportunities to help those interested in tabletop games to make their game play even better.

I found that tabletop players were spending a lot of time learning the games and still having questions. They were wasting precious time when they could be playing their game.

 

My challenge is to find a solution that will help players find the direct answers they are looking for in a faster manner.

 
Objective
  • Design a logo for the company that fits with game play and learning

  • Design a responsive website that is easy to use and that allows users to browse through game information

Scope

Responsive Website

- Branding

Tools

- Figma

- FigJam

- Notion

- Procreate

Role

- UX Designer

- UI Designer

Team

- Self Directed, with feedback from a mentor and peers

Duration

- 80 hours

What was my process?

Want to go directly to a certian process? Just click to where you want to go.

1. Empathize

2. Define

3. Ideate

4. Design

5. Usability Test

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Let the Research Begin!

EMPATHIZE

To help me stay focused, I started by making a research plan. I found that the target audience is people in their early 20s to mid 30s who enjoy playing tabletop games often.

Goals

  • What problems do tabletop players face when playing games?

  • How are those problems being handled currently?

  • What opportunities exist to solve those current problems or improve a current solution

Methodologies

​Following up with my goals in mind I broke down search into:

  • Secondary Research - Market Research and Competitive Analysis

  • Primary Research - Interview Users

Market Research & Competitive Analysis

What I found during competitive analysis was there were not a lot of options out there to help users with any other their questions about tabletop games. The competitors that did offer help to users gave a wide variety of games to select from and users especially liked that they had access to videos and scans of the rulebook available. 

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Participant Interviews

Using an interview guide, I spoke with 6 participants over Zoom and in-person interviews.

  • 1 woman and 5 men

  • Age range from 26 to 38

  • Interview time from 40 min to 1 hr

That's what they said

“I ask friends who may know the rules better then I do or are better at reading and comprehension of the rulebook.”

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“But the difficult part is figuring out how to use those rules to our advantage.”

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Clarifying User Goals & Needs

After grouping similar insights together, I synthesized common categories users shared. 
From these categories, I narrowed it down to the three most common insights and corresponding needs.

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Rulebook First 

6/6 participants

rely on the rulebook first to understand the game

User's Goal

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Video Tutorials

4/7  participants  

like when there are tutorials of the games available

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Easy on the Eyes

3/7 participants

take interest in a game because of the art work

User's Frustrations 

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Long Time Learning

6/6 of the participants

take a long time to learn a game

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Understand the Rules

4/7 participants

feel rules are not clear & find games pieces hard to understand

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Missing Information

3/6 participants

think that videos and rulebooks are missing information

Empathy Map

I created an empathy map made from all the observations and statements that were given during the user interviews. The below findings show what Ken will need to find the answer he is looking for.

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Now Introducing Our User:  Ken

With all the information gathered so far, I was able to create Game Master Guide target customer persona:  Ken, our tabletop player. 

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Storyboard

I drew a story board to help understand how Ken and other users would come across Game Master Guide and how it would help with their gaming experience.

Empathy
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DEFINE

How Might We . . .

1.  . . . help Ken be able to simplify the rules so that he can learn the game easier and more efficiently?

2.  . . . help Ken have access to watch and add videos so he can learn the game?

3.  . . . help Ken be able to narrow his question about game play?

Through competitor analysis, I already found that most companies offered ways of learning game play with copies of the rulebook added to their sites and allowed users to ask questions on forums. Only a handful of companies offered a narrow search for specific questions about the rules. 

Time to Strategize the Project

Using the Venn diagram put me in the shoes of the company, consumer, and IT. I determined the best way to categorize the vital information that would contribute to the best experience for Ken's game play. 

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Site Map

Focusing on simple navigation was important so that I could prioritize solutions. I found key navigation features for Ken - finding a game, access to the rulebook, and forums to ask for help from other players. 

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Defne
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IDEATE

Mapping Out Ken's Experience

Focusing on helping Ken find detailed information about a game piece, I created task and user flows. I found that Ken can access the information he is looking for through forums, videos, images, and the rulebook divided into easy to navigate, specific tab selections.

Task Flow

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User Flow

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Low-Fid and Responsive Wireframing

Designs were made to help users find the answer they are looking for in a game quickly and easily because time was an important factor to Ken when learning and wanting to play the game.

The challenge here was to cover the different aspects of game rules that Ken can easily access and understand, as well as having the ability to make live forums to ask gamers for their input. My goal was to allow the users to get more specific about their choice of learning. 

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Ideate
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Branding

DESIGN

I designed the logo with the intention of matching the aesthetic that fits with Game Master Guide of learning new games as well learning game play, that would fit well in the true treasures of learning of users findings.

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Responsive UI Design

Designs were made to help users find ways of answering any questions they may have about a game in a timely manner, which was an important factor for Ken. 

 

The task here was to find information about a game piece the players were having a hard time understanding for a select board game, "Betrayal at the House on the Hill". My goal was to see if users were able to find the answer they were looking for and if not, what other ways would they go about finding that information. 

Design
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PROTOTYPE & TEST

Time to Test the Site 

5 participants close to the same age as Ken were given the task of finding information about a game piece they are having issues with for the game "Betrayal at the House on the Hill." 

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Test Game Master Guide  

Prototype

Get quick information about any game you are playing with just a click.

Test

The Results are in!

Usability Testing

Using the mid - fidelity and testing to measure its usability and identify any areas of improvement

Overview

  • Participants:  5

  • Age:  28-36

  • Time per Interview:  25 min - 45 min

  • Method:  1-on-1 remote or in-person

  • Tasks Completion:  100%

Affinity Map

I was able to group all the information from testing using an affinity map. I was able to draw connections to uncover patterns that participants said and did that helped me identify design recommendations to improve the usability of my design.

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Test findings

Motivations

  • 5/5 participants really enjoyed  how easy it was navigate the site as well as the color choice and image selection size

  • 5/5 participants would have preferred to have a scanned image of the rulebook  rather than a typed out version

  • 4/5 participants like overview but prefer it to be closed when entering the page

  • 3/5 participants would like to see this in an app form

Goals

  • 5/5 participants rely on the rulebook first to understand a game

  • 4/5 participants liked games tutorials available

Pains

  • 4/5 participants would prefer to use a scroll option to go through more information than click button to next information

  • 2/5 participants found some wording confusing

Unique Finds

  • 4/5 participants would click in the general area rather than the button first

  • 3/5 participants would like to see more of what account would look like and shop

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Final Thoughts

This project helped me learn the critical roles in research and testing playing a big part in building a product that provides a solution to not only what users think they want, but something that the user truly needs. If I were to push this project further here are the next steps I would take:

  • Re-test the changes - Though I made some design changes based on my insights gained from the affinity map, I would want to validate that these improvements are indeed improvements to the overall design

  • Mobile test - Because a couple users mentioned they would want to try it on their phone more than their desktop, I would love to hear from participants what they found more useful in the app and if there would be any other changes needed within the app version.

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