ABOUT
PROJECT OVERVIEW
American Dad! Apocalypse Soon is a mobile game that combines elements of strategy, role-playing, and adventure, set in the humorous and irreverent world of the American Dad! animated television series.
In the game, players take on the role of Stan Smith, the iconic protagonist of the show, who must defend his home and family from an alien invasion. As the player, you build and manage your own underground secret base, where you train a team of Roger clones to fight against the invading forces.
Studio: My.com/Fast Forward Studio, Nord Studio, Fox Animation Studio
Year: 2018-2019
Platforms: iOS, Android
Install:
MY ROLE
Lead UX Designer
The project involved taking the existing game, Hustle Castle, developed by Nord Studio, and reskinning it with the American Dad! setting. As a Lead UX designer, my role was to enhance the user experience of the game, coordinate with the UI outsourcing team, and collaborate closely with the Fox animation studio.
As the project involved reskinning an existing game, my role did not involve extensive hands-on work in terms of prototyping, writing documentation etc. Instead, my focus was primarily on making UX improvements within the existing project framework.
PROBLEM SOLVING
In the reskinning and playtesting phase, we identified issues and implemented solutions to improve the game. In this section, I will showcase some of the problems and solutions.
DIFFICULT TO EQUIP THE DWELLER
Problem Overview
The Dweller Overview screen is a crucial interface where players can equip their dwellers with armour, weapons, and amulets. However, during the development and testing phase, we encountered difficulties in interacting with this screen, particularly when players had a large number of items. It was challenging to find the right item quickly, and the item comparison feature caused inconvenience as players had to close the comparison mode repeatedly.
Solution
I added filters on the right side of the screen, allowing players to filter items based on Roger's class. This solution enabled players to quickly narrow down the available items to those specifically suitable for Roger, streamlining the process of equipping him with armour, weapons, and amulets.
Complicated, difficult to find filters.
No switcher between items, have to reopen the tooltip every time.
BEFORE
AFTER
Additionally, I introduced a switcher between item tooltips. This feature allowed players to easily switch between different item tooltips within the screen, eliminating the need to close and reopen tooltips each time.
BEFORE
AFTER
Results
Playtests showed, that by incorporating these improvements, players could now conveniently filter items based on Roger's class and effortlessly switch between item tooltips, simplifying the task of equipping Roger with the most appropriate gear.
CRAFTING MENU HAD UNCLEAR UX
Problem Overview
The weapon crafting process is divided into two screens. On the first screen, you select the type of weapon you wish to craft. Each rarity level of the weapon requires different resources for crafting. It is important to display the amount of resources available to the user on this first screen. Additionally, the original UX fails to indicate that one of the rarities is locked until the user taps on the rarity icon.
No resources displayed.
Resources are hardly noteciable, no locked rarity indication.
Solution
It was decided to display resource quantities on the first screen. This information will help players make informed decisions about which rarity level of the weapon they can craft based on their resource availability.
BEFORE
AFTER
The crafting room UI was transformed into a crafting machine and the UI elements were integrated into it. By doing so, we created a visually appealing design and enhanced the showcase of machine states such as crafting progress and remaining time. This approach can provide a more immersive and engaging experience for players.
Clear indication of the unlocked state was added. Warnings now became a part of the crafting machine.
Results
Reskinning the crafting room into a crafting machine added a unique and visually interesting element to the UI. The integration of UI elements into the machine made the crafting experience more enjoyable and memorable for users.
RESULTS
Overall, the experience of reskinning an existing project was interesting for me and it provided an opportunity to improve the UX efficiently and cost-effectively.
Here are some key takeaways from my experience:
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Rapid UX improvement: reskinning enabled us to make significant UX improvements in a short timeframe. We focused on the visual elements and made some UX improvements without having to start from scratch, which was new to me.
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International communication and teamwork: Managing an outsourced team involves effective communication, collaboration, and understanding of different cultures and work practices. It provided experience in coordinating and providing feedback to remote teams, improving my project management and leadership skills.