Project Breakdown
Problem
- The game doesn’t incentivize players to coordinate and play together
- Alliance Mission Objectives are generally aimed at individual progress
- Activities that are intended to be done socially are completely optional
- Being part of an Alliance feels lonely
Hypothesis
- More involved social activities would allow players to have a sense of belonging and community
- A new feature that allows Alliances to coordinate and plan together would help strengthen social behaviors
- Introducing an Alliance ranking system would improve how Alliances perceive each other and allow players to better understand which Alliance would better suit them
Goals
- Create an opportunity for players to have a strong sense of community and cooperation
- Provide an environment where Alliances can compete against each other giving players a sense of purpose and direction
- Ensure that players see practical value in having many strong Guardians powered up
Users
- Players that survive beyond D14, but predominantly those beyond D30
- Socializers: Players who seek to connect and interact with others, that like to be immersed in a community and contribute to be recognized as part of the group
- Competitors: Players that like competing with other Alliances and enjoy the challenge of using expert skill for recognition
Approach
Wireframes
Mocks
Structuring Rift Raids
Design Intent
- Allow Alliances to collaborate and grow as a group
- Allow players to bond with their alliance members by making meaningful contributions
- Allow Alliances to hone their skills and improve over time
- Allow highly engaged players to feel rewarded
Planning The Event
- Creating an event that runs for certain periods of time allows for:
- Players coming together as an Alliance to collaborate and work together
- Have some cooldown periods where players can regroup, power up guardians, gather resources, focus on other features, and take a break
Mocks
Main Rift Raids HUB
- Design intent: Give clarity about the event, how and where to start, rewards for participating, how the Alliance is performing, see if there are any rewards to claim
Timer States
- Design intent: Clarify the different states the event has, when the event is going to start, how much time there is left to participate, how long until the final results are revealed
Rift Raids Map
- Design intent: Allow players to navigate Rift Tiers and know the starting point. Clarify the state of the different encounters, know where members are fighting, and have enough information to know when and where to focus and coordinate
Member Contributions
- Design intent: Allow players to check how other members are doing in the event, and how many points they have contributed
Conclusion
Key takeaways
- Rapid iteration during the design process helped refine the flow and key decision points early on and prevented ambiguity
- Creating a strike team that synced daily was key for team collaboration and provided a space for open communication
- Having the user needs at the forefront of every decision point allowed us to break down a very complex system into workable pieces
Player reception
- Engagement of D14 - D30 players increased
- Players welcomed a new feature that is challenging and can use more of their guardians
- Players are more engaged with their Alliances
- Players within an Alliance are more engaged in communication and cooperation
- Ranked Alliances provide players looking for an Alliance, a better sense of how strong an Alliance is
