Live stats and rewards progression
To ensure the success of Operations and drive player engagement, I focused on creating in-game web features that incentivize players to go back to the game and play, grind to unlock rewards, and earn digital game currency.
To achieve this, I designed features that effectively showcase the new content available in each Operations update, including Tour of Duty rewards, Ranked Versus rewards, new heroes and villains, new modes, and new maps. I also leveraged gamification techniques, such as progress bars to incentivize players to continue playing and to grind to unlock rewards.
In addition, I created a digital game currency system on web that enables players to earn and spend digital currency within the game. By offering unique and valuable rewards that can only be earned through gameplay, we were able to drive player engagement and retention, while also encouraging players to spend more time playing the game.
My role at Microsoft
Product Designer 2 in The Coalition team
To ensure that the website design aligned with game messaging and effectively drove player engagement and revenue, I designed extended web in-game stats and reward progressions. This enabled players to track their progress and performance in real-time, increasing their motivation and incentivizing them to continue playing and unlocking rewards.
To further enhance the user experience and drive engagement, I developed UX value propositions that included feature summaries, hypotheses, goals, and guiding principles, target users, business impacts, and measures of success. By taking a comprehensive and user-centric approach, I was able to effectively communicate the value proposition of each feature, ensuring that they met the needs and preferences of our target audience and aligned with our overall business objectives.
Through a comprehensive and user-centric approach, I was able to develop in-game web features that effectively met the needs and preferences of our target audience, driving engagement, revenue, and customer satisfaction for Gears 5.
Gears 5 players
Motivational foundation to play
Based on Xbox research and my own investigations, I have found that the most common reason players play games is simply because they are fun. However, motivations for playing games can vary greatly between different groups of players.
For example, hardcore social players are often motivated by the social aspects of the game, such as playing with friends and building a community. Engaged/lapsed players, on the other hand, may be motivated by the challenge and excitement of the game, while also seeking a sense of accomplishment and progression.
Finally, engaged/immersed players are often motivated by the immersive and immersive nature of the game, seeking to escape into a rich and detailed world where they can explore, discover, and engage with the game on a deeper level.
Socializers
- Hardcore socializers game every day, 9+ hours per week.
- Gears are a part of Gear-Heads' social lives. They play it a lot and they want more.
- They don't want to be left out when their friends are playing.
- Gears connects players to a community of friends. They're very engaged in multiplayer and have great interest in co-op campaigns.
- They're significantly more motivated by winning than any other type of player.
Achievers
- Want a level of success.
- Want material possessions and rewards.
- Valuation measured by points.
- Want recognition and prestige.
- Track their success.
Competitors
- Feel good while performing better than others.
- Feel the pure joy of competition regardless of wins or losses.
- Gears offers levels of mechanics to master from active reload to cover surfing.
- Gears unique PvP and PvE modes offer different types of competition.
Explorers
- Learn how to become a better player.
- Discovering anything that's new.
- They want to explore new worlds. Players come for the story and ambiance.
- The story and gameplay lock gamers in.
- Sensation seeking where bleeding-edge graphics and visceral gameplay facilitate immersion.
Rewards Progression
UX value proposition
Strategic goal
Design Gears5.com/rewards for players to track their rewards progression on the go. Players will be motivated to grind or spend to that reward, driving game play and retention.
User story
As a Gears 5 player, I want to track my in-game rewards progression on the web so that I can become more aware of the content the game has to offer.
What makes it unique?
- Players will never miss out on rewards.
- They will be able to see objectives and accept greater effort to rank up to reach the next level.
- Players will have a harder time throwing away all their hard work.
- Help drive the need to gain more Gear Points and Coins.
Goals and guiding principles
- Fast access to information about their Rank on their mobile.
- Progression is compelling and feels special.
- Never miss out on rewards.
- See objectives and accept greater effort to rank up to reach the next level.
- Shows current rank.
- Players will have a harder time throwing away all of their hard work.
- See progress bars and owned/unowned rewards.
- Drive the need to gain more Gear Points and Coins.
Problems to solve
Players cannot see what rewards the game offers when they are away from the game. If we do not add Ranked rewards web features in Operation 4, players may not notice that a New Rank System is launched.
Hypothesis
If we add Ranked rewards, players will be more likely to engage with the new Ranking System starting in Operation 4.
Primary benefits
- Increase exposure, game engagement, and revenue.
- Track on the go.
- Increase visibility.
- Grindable with a chase.
Business impacts
- Market expansion; inform, increase exposure, game engagement, revenue, and shareable URL.
- Increase visitation to the Rewards page and direct players to go play the game and make transactions.
- Help improve player versus player (PvP) retention and player sentiment.
Ranking system
Get players to compete in Ranked Versus mode
How to earn Gears Points
To help users understand how to earn Gears Points in the game and rank up to Masters, I created an informative and engaging user interface that clearly outlines the different ways in which points can be earned, as well as the benefits and rewards associated with each level of rank.
- In Ranked Versus, your rank is determined by the number of Gears Points (GP) you have. The more GP, the higher your rank. Everyone starts in Bronze with 0 GP, so you'll need to fight your way up the ranks by earning GP in matches.
- Ranked rewards on entry are from Bronze to Masters. All playlists have the same rewards.
- Grand Master rank allows players to compete to be among the best 100 players in the world in each of Gears' Ranked playlists. They will receive heroic weapon skin rewards at the end of the season.
- Players are matched against similarly skilled opponents for the ultimate reward at the highest.
How to play Ranked Versus
Play matches against similarly skilled opponents for the ultimate reward at the highest. All playlists have the same rewards from Bronze to Master. Display graduation and season rewards for each rank up.
How to play each mode
I designed a popup for each game mode to inform users how to play the modes:
Gears 5 Rewards page
Through a combination of visual design, instructional text, and interactive elements, players can easily track their progress and understand the specific actions and efforts required to earn points and rank up.
Additionally, by clearly outlining the benefits and rewards associated with each level of rank, we can incentivize players to continue playing and striving to improve their performance, ultimately driving higher levels of engagement, retention, and revenue for the game.
Tour of Duty
Tour Rank and Tour Medals
Tour of Duty contains earnable exclusive customization to Gears 5. Players can complete daily objectives or Tour medals to earn stars. Every star gets you closer to the next rank. Rank up to unlock exclusive rewards. Tour rank goes from Recruit I to General and evergreen.
By clearly outlining the benefits and rewards associated with each rank, we can incentivize players to continue playing and striving to improve their performance, ultimately driving higher levels of engagement, retention, and revenue for the game.
Overall, this user interface effectively promotes the Tour of Duty feature and drives player engagement and retention, while also providing players with a clear and engaging way to track their progress and earn exclusive rewards and customization items.
In-game stats
Players are able to view their stats for various modes; Versus, Horde and Escape. Encourage players to show off their Stat Card images of their in-game stats to the world on their social platform. Go in-game to customize banners and character skins for your Stat Cards. HTML 9:16 Stats Cards for Versus, Horde and Escape. Click or tap on "share" icon flattens the layers into a 4:5 image for social sharing.
Overall, this user interface effectively promotes player engagement and social sharing, while also providing players with a valuable and engaging way to track their in-game stats and customization options.
Design specifications
To ensure the success of Gears 5 and its associated websites, I developed a set of design specifications that govern the design and functionality of the websites, including:
- Responsive and adaptive design: The websites should be optimized for a variety of screen sizes and devices, including desktop, tablet, and mobile.
- Consistent brand experience: The websites should effectively communicate the Gears brand and provide a consistent user experience across all pages and features.
- High traffic retention: The websites should retain and grow usage traffic through engaging design and compelling content.
- Scalable design system: The websites should utilize a scalable design system and starter kit to enable faster and more efficient website creation.
- Accessibility compliance: The websites should meet Microsoft Content Accessibility standards to ensure compliance with accessibility laws and regulations.
- Market expansion: The websites should expand the Gears 5 market and increase content discoverability to attract new players.
- Maximize play time: The websites should promote engagement and help maximize play time for all players.
Overall, these design specifications ensure that the websites effectively meet the needs and preferences of our target audience, driving engagement, retention, revenue, and customer satisfaction for Gears 5.
Credits
The Coalition web team
| Product Designer | Tina Kao |
| Senior Producer | Carolina Smith |
| Web Producer | Jim White |
| Associate Producer | Ryan Serbet |
| Lead Software Engineer | Karl Romanowski |
| Software Engineer | Sarah Nicholson |
| Software Engineer | Karl Castillo |
| Software Engineer | Fernando De Bem |
| Content Publisher | Marko Djordjevic |
| QA Lead | Mashal Pannu |
| QA Lead | Stephen Golding |
| QA Tester | Lincy Charles |
| QA Tester | Artem Chaykin |
In-Game & community stakeholders
| Gears 5 Game Lead UI Designer | Joshua Trusz |
| Gears 5 Game Lead Player Versus Player Designer | Jonathan Taylor |
| Gears 5 Game Lead Multiplayer Designer | Andrew McKenzie |
| Director of Communciations | Dana Scissons |
| Senior Community Manager | Liam Ashley |
Business intelligence
| User Researcher | Cornelia Laros |
| Business Intelligence Manager | Vanessa Hung |
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