Ark 2
Responsive Web Design is crucial for companies in digital entertainment. Gamers now play on many platforms and stay up to date with the latest information on every one of them as well. It's important to design a website that will adapt and accommodate everything from desktops to mobile devices.
Timeline
May-July 2022
UX
My Role
72% of users look forward to character customization in video games.
Empathy Maps and Personas
Personas for this project are represented by a collective of primary research participants from five personal interviews and one survey. Even casual gaming is something that seems highly competitive for a lot of players especially within particular video game genres. Very few people game professionally, but many are content creators, streamers and see gaming as a common theme among their friends and peers.
User Journey Map
xGrand represents a social media-friendly user who plays and records the game on a regular basis. He releases two videos a week for his followers and takes a pragmatic approach in his gameplay so that he can provide walkthroughs, tips and entertainment for a variety of player types.
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Problem
Dedicated gamers want a more immersive experience with projects being developed so that they can be prepared when these highly competitive games are released. Some gamers have scores of followers on various social media platforms where they stream or release gameplay videos as well as tutorials. Others simply enjoy gaming as a culture and way to connect with their friends online and in the real world.
Solution
Provide a responsive website for Ark 2: Survival Evolved players who want a more immersive experience while the newest sequel in a popular title is in development.
"I feel more excited for a game if there is character creation, however it is a little tedious because I take a lot of time to figure out what I can and want to make."
Industry Analysis
Ideate
User personas along with the primary and secondary research gave me a better sense of the pain points for dedicated gamers. In the ideate phase of the design process I used an exercise called Crazy 8's to quickly generate numerous examples that would help determine which elements could best serve the user.
Landing page with layout options for desktop website
Landing page with layout options for mobile website
Information Architecture
Understanding who I was designing for gave me a roadmap that would lay out the structure of this responsive website as well as an underlying mental model that would help users make their way around the site and accomplish their goals.
Wireframes & Lo-Fidelity Prototype
Usability Study
My next step was to take the initial lo-fidelity prototype, create a script and perform a usability study. I selected 5 users to test out designs and provide feedback. The focus of the study was to determine if participants found the three main user flows to be useful. Participants returned positive thoughts on the main features, especially the character creation tool, but found some parts of the UI and visual composition to be inconsistent.
Mockups
After reviewing the notes from my usability testing most of the polished details began to come into focus. By incorporating brand colors, logos, and other assets with valuable feedback regarding user flow I was able to create designs which simulated genuine looking website frames that would meet the visual expectations and feel Ark fans expect.
Describe your image
Describe your image
12
Prototype
The final prototype furthered the idea of three functional website tools built into refined and branded pages with working interactions from sign up pages to player forums and game information.
Summary
“Having something like character creation on the website before the game goes live will save me a ton of time starting out.” Participant C
A responsive gaming website like this project includes several tools that will keep gamers focused and immersed on an upcoming title. The implementations explored here enable users to create personalized characters and tribes, track their progress, and plan their gameplay strategies. By taking advantage of these features, users can easily and quickly get into the game once it has launched and stay involved in their gaming community. This enhances the overall user experience and encourages users to become more invested in the game, leading to increased engagement and player satisfaction.
Next Steps
Priority 0
Implement working customization sliders for physical character attributes so users have further function of this feature and be able to complete character creation.
Priority 1
Add hints for the artifact tracker that would give users an incentive to plot out cave locations so that they can use the waypoints later in game.
Priority 1
Zoom function needed on the artifact tracker map. This would make the map more interactive and allow users to get a closer detailed view and better understanding of the map zones.