CASE STUDY:
PARADISE BAY

Company: Z2/King Games | 2014-2016
Role: User Experience Designer

As a UX Designer at Z2/King Games, I was solely in charge of the user experience for all in-game features (from concept to production) for Paradise Bay, a resource management mobile game on IOS, Android, and Windows 10. I worked with the team to help establish UX best practices and create an immersive experience where players could become the trade master of their own tropical island.

HIGHLIGHTS

After making many changes to the Trade Post and the FTUE (First Time User Experience), we saw significant improvements in the players understanding of the game’s core loop and goals. This helped improve retention, player satisfaction, and increased monetization.

The Process

I worked under the studio’s design director and directly with the product owner, lead game designer, and team leads (game designers, artists, engineers, writers, and producers) to ensure that my ideas and design solutions improved the user experience and successfully met the business goals.

IMPROVING THE TRADE POST

The Problem

• We released TMR (Test Market Release) 1 and noticed a significant drop in players between levels 2 and 3. This is where we introduced the concept of trading and the Trade Post.

• Players were confused when they interacted with the Trade Post.

• Players were trying to drag items onto the trade button inside the Trade Post UI.

• Players didn’t understand the importance of the Trade Post and would forget it was there.

• The Trade Post wasn’t relatable. Players didn’t understand how it worked.

What I Did

• I worked with the marketing team to conduct user testing in-house to get quick feedback and help determine the exact cause of the problems.

• I conducted user research/competitive analysis on other resource management apps.

• I worked with the leads to make a prioritized list of action items so I could quickly iterate on the designs.

• I created a ton of different UX flows, wireframes, and layouts. It took a lot of iteration to get it right.

• I worked with the UI Designers to improve the Trade Post UX and UI to be more personable with more positive feedback. This made it a more exciting and engaging experience.

The Goals

• Improve the players understanding of the Trade Post.

• Players should be able to find the Trade Post.

• Players should know the importance of the Trade Post.

• Players should understand the game’s core loop and features.

The Challenges

• We had to make the decision as a team to change the release date, overhaul the island layout, and completely redesign the Trade Post experience. This was not a simple task.

• It was really helpful to have the live data from the test market release so that we could improve the game, not just based on assumptions, but based on real data.

• We were able to get the changes done fairly quickly and it was a much better experience.

The Results

• The Trade Post went from a mediocre and confusing experience to a great experience. It took a lot of quick iteration.

• Players understood the importance and purpose of the Trade Post.

• We brought the players focus to the Trade Post since it was central to the game.

• Players were no longer confused by the Trade Post.

• Players were engaged for longer periods of time.

• We learned to not create abstractions. Be concise and clear.

THE APP EXPERIENCE

The Problem

• Trying to create an engaging FTUE (First Time User Experience) from scratch that gives players motivation to play while helping them clearly understand the core loop of the game and all of its features.

• Trying to create an overall game experience that is intuitive, clean, simple, and fun.

• Trying to create new and innovative interactions for rebuilding, decorating, planting, harvesting, collecting, feeding, expanding, trading, and exploring.

• The HUD (Heads Up Display) was constantly growing and expanding, it was starting to take up too much real estate on the screen.

What I Did

• I worked under the studio’s design director and directly with the product owner, lead game designer, and team leads, to help establish UX best practices and create features that would promote long-term player goals, social interactions, and better engagement.

• Through user testing, analytics, and the customer service team, we found problems, iterated, and adjusted the game experience based on the data. Listening to player feedback was key.

• I worked with the team to make the game more relatable, accessible, and intuitive.

• I conducted user research/competitive analysis on other resource management apps.

• I worked with the writer to update the story so that it would teach players about their purpose on the island.

• I worked with game designers and engineer leads to create many new interactions including:

  • A smart selection system that gave certain buildings, objects, and items different priorities.

  • A smart path system that allows players to easily build fences and paths on the island.

  • An elastic scroll list that expanded as more items for planting were added to the list.

• I worked with UI designers to create a dynamic and expandable game HUD.

The Goals

• Improve retention.

• Improve player engagement.

• Players should understand the game’s core loop and features.

• Create a clean and simple HUD that was intuitive, fun, dynamic, and expandable.

• Improve the overall experience of the game.

The Challenges

• Many of the features and interactions were rudimentary and difficult to use in the beginning. I worked closely with the engineers and UI designer to create prototypes, test, build, and iterate on the designs.

• Many of the features we added had never been done before in our studio, so there was a lot of brainstorming with lead engineers to see what was possible within the time constraints that we had.

• The menu buttons had a ton of functionality and needed to function without overlapping or getting in the way of other interactions in the 3D world. This took a lot of iteration and working with the team leads and lead engineers to get it right.

The Results

• Data showed improved retention.

• Data showed improved player engagement.

• User testing showed that players had a better understanding of the game’s core loop and features.

• The HUD was designed so that it was intuitive, fun, dynamic, and expandable to include future features.

• We improved the experience of the entire game.

Impact and Takeaways

I absolutely loved working on this game. The team was incredibly talented, passionate, collaborative, super fun to work with, and I learned so much at this studio. We had many assumptions about resource management games (how and why players wanted to play) when we first started building the game. Through user testing, user research, and data we found that we were missing some key elements that could make the game more relatable, engaging, and fun. Being in test market release helped us find problems quickly, make changes, and create a much better experience for the players. In the end, the players loved the game and were very social, creative, passionate, and active. Paradise Bay was often in the top-grossing charts and a big part that it was because, as a studio, we made sure every purchase brought value to the player. In my time at Z2/King Games, I learned the value of test market releasing products and features, A/B testing, and iterating on those features while they were live. It was an honor to be a part of such a great game experience.