Summary
A board-game companion app that provides an engaging and comprehensive way to quickly learn new tabletop games.
My Role
As a UX designer on a team of three, we worked together throughout the process, primarily focusing on research and empathizing with our user.
Scope
Our team of three UX Design Students had 3 weeks to design our solution and test our prototype.
The Problem
Tabletop gamers often hesitate to try new games due to the difficulty of learning new rulesets.
Methodology
We began our work by defining the structure of our project, categorizing tasks into five design phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Our primary goal was to develop a user friendly application in which users could quickly and easily learn the rules of a board-game in a fun and engaging way.
Our work began with trying to understand tabletop gamers and the unique problems they face when learning new tabletop games.
User Research
As a team, we wanted to discover the barriers users face when trying to learn new tabletop games and create a solution to address this common pain point in the gaming experience.
1.
To understand the elements that attract users to tabletop games.
2.
To understand the challenges users face when trying to learn new tabletop games.
3.
To understand the thought process of users looking to discover new games.
Competitor Analysis
We had a hard time finding many direct competitors, but what we did find was a bit disorganized and not very user-friendly. Mostly, we found YouTube videos explaining the gameplay.
We also considered indirect competitors in the form of board game rulebooks. Since part of our focus was going to be on how users learn new games, I wanted to analyze how games organized their rulesets.
Affinity Diagram
We analyzed our research data and mapped it to an affinity diagram, categorizing our user’s responses into actionable insights. Our users gave us some very thoughtful insights into their thinking and behavior when they set out to learn a new game. The pains and challenges they expressed gave us some problems to tackle in our definition and brainstorming phase.
User Insight
During our research, we spoke to gamers with years of experience playing board games. Most of our users have a regular tabletop game night, usually weekly or biweekly, and enjoy the challenge of mastering new games.
Tabletop gamers need an engaging and comprehensive way to quickly learn new tabletop games. This will meet their desire to expand their game repertoire, challenge themselves with new rulesets, and enjoy quality time playing with friends.
Meet Jackie
Our primary goal was to solve the issues and challenges potential users might face when learning new games.
To do that we needed to empathize with and understand tabletop gamers.
Jackie's Story
Jackie's story was important to define if we wanted to solve the challenge she faces when trying to learn a new game. We created a storyboard to define and visualize the problem.
Journey Map
Diving into the details, we analyzed each stage in Jackie's story. What were her expectations? How did she feel at each point of her journey discovering TableTips?
We even had our own game night to learn how to play the 'smash' hit deck-building game Smash Up! This experience helped us develop our understanding of how to break rulesets down into more digestible "spark note" gameplay essentials.
Feature Prioritization
With our problem defined and a path towards a solution, we started sorting our ideas by their impactfulness and feasability on a feature prioritization matrix.
"I wish I could learn the game quickly and start playing."
User Flows
We started generating potential user flows, focusing in three areas: onboarding, user profile, and QuickPlay: a feature that gets in you in the game fast by teaching you the rules in a few simple steps. We used our earlier analysis of table top game rulesets, along with our own experience playing to come up with iterative and repeatable categories to explain even complex rulesets. While not every game fits perfectly into these categories, we did find that many rules can be explained with a summary followed by 4 categories or phases of gameplay: Your Objective, Your Tools, You Turn, and You Win!
TableTips provides an engaging and comprehensive way to quickly learn new tabletop games.
Sketches
Our prototype for the QuickPlay feature began as a paper sketch. Rapid prototyping allowed us to improve on our flows with each iteration.
Prototype
Tabletips QuickPlay provides a swift and simplified tutorial that covers the essential rules of the game, so you can jump into the action without delay.
Usability Testing
With our first iteration ready to test, we set out to see what our users thought of Tabletips. We got tons of good feeback from 5 users who tested the prototype, and made changes in a few key areas of the app for a better user experience.
Quickplay
Added 'close' button.
Applied carousel indicators.
Tap forward and backward.
Added content links.
Home Page
Aligned style & fonts.
Improved color contrast.
Added new game interaction.
Improved accessibility.
User Profile
Aligned style & fonts.
Improved 'house rules' feature.
Added back button to return home.
Aligned icons to grid.
Future Opportunities & Next Steps
1.
Conduct further user research & testing, focusing on learning & behavior.
2.
Conduct sprints to further refine Quickplay feature.
3.
Connect with game-makers and industry leaders to integrate support for popular titles.
