DESIGNING FOR VIDEO GAME COLLECTORS

There was a need for an App that would allow Users to collect Video Games, so I chose to design the layout for one that would allow newer Users to efficiently navigate through it. To make this happen, I centered my approach towards making the App’s design both convenient and pleasant to use when giving Users free reign over their experience with various steps. With these two things in mind, I immediately began performing various duties that shape the User’s idealized experience with the App.

Background

As a form of media, video games have always been a prevalent piece that tie to people who integrate them into their own everyday lives, typically as hobbies. Before fully becoming a mainstream industry, the production of video games initially began in the 1950’s before becoming a niche market that nearly faced collapse on several occasions due to shorter resources and rising costs of production at the time. As time progressed, however, the video game industry has grown substantially with advancements in technology and hardware that allow consoles to be produced at a quicker rate, leading to bigger numbers of games for people to collect in spades.

As statistics were recorded back in 2024, the global population has been recorded to show that 3.2 billion people are predicted to play video games in their everyday lives according to DemandSage. These metrics have grown substantially and continue to increase with every passing day due to the level of relevance and impact that video games have achieved. Yet significantly less people are known and seen to regularly possess a large library of video games and consoles, rendering the wide-spread collection of them to be considered a niche hobby in comparison.

The reason for this is because due to rise of video games as a form of media over the years, hardware has consistently grown and evolved as it gives birth to newer consoles that continue to house even more games. This causes older games along with their consoles to become scarce, resulting in them being more difficult to find and purchase because these older consoles becoming obsolete. This is one of the biggest reasons why collecting older copies of video games has become a niche purpose for several people who play video games. All the while, older games along with their respective consoles continue to dwindle in supply and relevance despite still being products that function as pieces of industry history that people will often never find anywhere else until they’re entirely unavailable.

With this in mind, I still propose that this hobby is in need of an app to fill that niche: a Video Game Collection App known as Collect-A-Thon. While using this app, Users would be able to quickly and conveniently catalog an inventory of any copies of games or consoles they’ve collected onto a personal list, allowing them a more readily available method allowing them to keep a personal inventory of any video games or consoles they might currently have. The app would have a wide range of video games and consoles documented from different eras, allowing several options for curious eyes who either want to simply be aware or to expand their collection even further.

My role was to integrate essential features into Collect-A-Thon that would benefit most from seeking to expand on its versatility. For example, I was responsible for implementing the wish-list feature for any games or consoles that the User might not have collected yet, while being made even more effective when combined with in-app feature to quickly locate any nearby stores that a game or console was available to purchase.

In addition, even smaller cosmetic features such as visual menu customization helped even further enrich the experience, allowing Users personal freedom over how they want to visually assemble their list of collected video games on top of any style of game elements to really make the collection feel even more like their own; 8-Bit, 16-Bit, 3D, and more. By producing a Video Game Collection App that gives Users as much freedom of usage as possible, this helped function towards filling the niche of people collecting them regardless of abundance or scarcity while helping video games further expand to Users as a medium.

Taxonomy/MoSCoW Analysis/CTA Matrix

During this phase of development, the first stage towards designing Collect-A-Thon was to organize and decide which elements would be added into the App. This was done through creating essential features and mapping them into different categories to establish an initial sense of organization.

I began by creating a taxonomy of key elements of products that would be included within the app’s design.

After this was done, the next stage was to take every essential element and establish how each of them would be prioritized with a MoSCoW Analysis. I determined which features and functions Must Be, Should Be, Could Be, and Wouldn’t Be part of the app.

Finally, I created a Call-to-Action (CTA) Matrix, which shows which actions different users take with different features and functions within the system.

Exploration Sketches

The next step in the process was creating a series of sketches that would explore and represent the ideal User journey when navigating through the App. The main elements of this process was to develop a viewpoint the perspective of a newer User while each sketch that I’ve drawn would be used to build a foundation of empathy to identify the emotions that they would typically feel when using the App. These sketches were also useful towards exploring how each of the App’s functions and features would be designed to serve the User through numerous steps that would depict the results from their input.

Important Insights

·        Understanding the potential emotions of the User

·        Estimating the practicality and appeal of each design choice

·        Effectively organizing information through using these sketches

System Sketches

The sketches that I’ve created during this phase of design were responsible for the layout of the Home, Profile, and Collection screens; which were each the three most important pages that the User would rely on when personalizing their experience with each time they open Collect-A-Thon.

The digital avatar was an appealing addition to the home page, and the use of visual icons along with the organization of essential functions like the search bar was optimal for an intuitive design.

During this phase, I wished that I could’ve included more backgrounds to indicate traces of customization, preferably through also implementing more game-related assets and layouts. Finding the most effective way to organize everything on-screen was also a goal that I desired.

During this phase, I liked how I separated each section into easily-recognizable parts, such as the User’s general information being placed next to their photo. Avatar Customization was also an essential feature that I felt glad to implement into each iteration.

I wished that I was able to to include an ‘Add to Favorite Games’ button, along with including background cosmetics as more indicators of customization. I also wished that I could implement more information that was generally important on profile screens.

I like how I designed the ‘Sort’ button into different flexible shapes, along with a using a simple way of visually organizing Games into rows. I also like how I positioned the search bars on each page.

I wished that I could have added in other options for sorting Games in the Collection, as well as an ‘Add to Collection’ button. I also wished to find more ways of making this screen more visually appealing overall.

Iconography & Home Screen Sketches

These next two batches of sketches were each respectively used to explore the creation of different icons through a simple yet effective visual style and establishing the ideal layout for the App’s Home screen that would provide the most ease of access for Users.

Next Steps

In the next steps I plan to take the design into a paper-prototyping testing phase. This will be done through assigning participants a series of tasks that will serve to test the App’s versatility in the hands of potential new Users. After each round of testing is complete, any recorded data and feedback will be synthesized for implementation to further evolve the design of Collect-A-Thon’s App over time.

Sign-In/Log In Screen – Task 1

The User will initially start out at the Home Screen before they can access the App’s features. Their task on this Screen will be to choose a method to enter (sign in or log-in) their personal information before successfully entering the App. The User will also be presented with multiple options for emails they might have as alternative entry methods.

Home Screen – Task 2

After successfully logging in, the User will be redirected to the App’s Home Screen. The task on this Screen will have them figure out how to customize their Account’s Digital Avatar by changing their cosmetics, followed by them navigating back to the Home Screen to see their Avatar’s new appearance.

Secondary Screen (Game Collection) – Task 3

After clicking on the Collection button displayed on the Home Screen, the User will be navigated to the Game Collection Screen. The task on this Screen will have them figure out how to add a new Game to their Collection before using the Sort feature to organize the Collection with that newer Game in the newly selected order.

Conclusion & The Future

Overall, I’m greatly excited when thinking about the several possibilities that might come along with reflecting on and possibly applying this project in the future. I might greatly consider bringing other UX Designers to assist in designing similar apps, if they share a mutual interest in collection apps and possibly the video game industry. While I still feel hesitant towards creating a pitch deck for investors with this idea, I’m not entirely willing to reject the possibility. Until that day comes, I would like to continue refining this project as a concept before proposing it to any investors who might be willing to take on my idea.