Savepoint
A gaming community for pros and casuals alike.
Savepoint
A gaming community for pros and casuals alike.
Savepoint
A gaming community for pros and casuals alike.
My General Assembly course project started out with a simple, almost naive idea: Letterboxd for video games.
After careful user research, competitive analysis, and prototype testing, I ended up with an app that empowers gamers to create and share meaningful gaming experiences.
My General Assembly course project started out with a simple, almost naive idea: Letterboxd for video games.
After careful user research, competitive analysis, and prototype testing, I ended up with an app that empowers gamers to create and share meaningful gaming experiences.
My General Assembly course project started out with a simple, almost naive idea: Letterboxd for video games.
After careful user research, competitive analysis, and prototype testing, I ended up with an app that empowers gamers to create and share meaningful gaming experiences.
WORK
User Research
UI/UX Design
Prototyping
Competitive Analysis
PROJECT TYPE
Web App
Marketing Site
TOOLS
Figma
Optimal Workshop
TIMELINE
10 weeks
The Problem
What outlets do gamers have for sharing their gaming experiences?
Twitch boasts a large userbase but only a small portion have the equipment needed to stream themselves and share their experiences, while Discord is primarily a communication tool.
Apps like Letterboxd and GoodReads are creating active communities of movie-watchers and book-readers respectively, but there isn't a good equivalent for video gamers, a community of 2.5 billion worldwide.
The Problem
What outlets do gamers have for sharing their gaming experiences?
Twitch boasts a large userbase but only a small portion have the equipment needed to stream themselves and share their experiences, while Discord is primarily a communication tool.
Apps like Letterboxd and GoodReads are creating active communities of movie-watchers and book-readers respectively, but there isn't a good equivalent for video gamers, a community of 2.5 billion worldwide.
The Problem
What outlets do gamers have for sharing their gaming experiences?
Twitch boasts a large userbase but only a small portion have the equipment needed to stream themselves and share their experiences, while Discord is primarily a communication tool.
Apps like Letterboxd and GoodReads are creating active communities of movie-watchers and book-readers respectively, but there isn't a good equivalent for video gamers, a community of 2.5 billion worldwide.
The Hypothesis
Gamers want updates on what their friends are playing to help them find meaningful new gaming experiences.
The Hypothesis
Gamers want updates on what their friends are playing to help them find meaningful new gaming experiences.
The Hypothesis
Gamers want updates on what their friends are playing to help them find meaningful new gaming experiences.
The Research
The research didn't go the way I expected.
Instead of wanting gaming updates, participants would get most excited to talk about their recent gaming accomplishments, and expressed a desire to share it with anyone who would appreciate it.
I didn't anticipate an emphasis on achievements with this project, but the user feedback was clear: give us a chance to share what we're doing in our games, not just what we're playing.
The Research
The research didn't go the way I expected.
Instead of wanting gaming updates, participants would get most excited to talk about their recent gaming accomplishments, and expressed a desire to share it with anyone who would appreciate it.
I didn't anticipate an emphasis on achievements with this project, but the user feedback was clear: give us a chance to share what we're doing in our games, not just what we're playing.
The Research
The research didn't go the way I expected.
Instead of wanting gaming updates, participants would get most excited to talk about their recent gaming accomplishments, and expressed a desire to share it with anyone who would appreciate it.
I didn't anticipate an emphasis on achievements with this project, but the user feedback was clear: give us a chance to share what we're doing in our games, not just what we're playing.
The Competition
Turns out, my idea wasn't so special.
It didn't take me long to realize that other apps were not only creating gaming communities, but were also promising the same functionality that I was hoping to bring to Savepoint.
The question then became, "where are these apps falling short, and how could I position Savepoint as a unique yet vital offering?"
Most of these apps allowed interaction with friends and/or the ability to share game activity, but none of them provided a simple, unified place to share experiences, interact with friends, and discover new games.desktop experience.
The Competition
Turns out, my idea wasn't so special.
It didn't take me long to realize that other apps were not only creating gaming communities, but were also promising the same functionality that I was hoping to bring to Savepoint.
The question then became, "where are these apps falling short, and how could I position Savepoint as a unique yet vital offering?"
Most of these apps allowed interaction with friends and/or the ability to share game activity, but none of them provided a simple, unified place to share experiences, interact with friends, and discover new games.desktop experience.
The Competition
Turns out, my idea wasn't so special.
It didn't take me long to realize that other apps were not only creating gaming communities, but were also promising the same functionality that I was hoping to bring to Savepoint.
The question then became, "where are these apps falling short, and how could I position Savepoint as a unique yet vital offering?"
Most of these apps allowed interaction with friends and/or the ability to share game activity, but none of them provided a simple, unified place to share experiences, interact with friends, and discover new games.desktop experience.
The Features
As much as I wanted to implement all my ideas, I knew I needed to focus on the most important features for designing and launching an app that gamers will actually want to use. I prioritized the features in a Feature Roadmap.
The Features
As much as I wanted to implement all my ideas, I knew I needed to focus on the most important features for designing and launching an app that gamers will actually want to use. I prioritized the features in a Feature Roadmap.
The Features
As much as I wanted to implement all my ideas, I knew I needed to focus on the most important features for designing and launching an app that gamers will actually want to use. I prioritized the features in a Feature Roadmap.
Savepoint's opportunity lies in focusing on three key areas: achievements, interactions, and discovery.
The Design
I started the design process by creating an application flow, to see all the steps needed for users to access each feature.
With navigation and user flow mapped out, I could begin the fun part: sketching and wireframing the app.
The Design
I started the design process by creating an application flow, to see all the steps needed for users to access each feature.
With navigation and user flow mapped out, I could begin the fun part: sketching and wireframing the app.
The Design
I started the design process by creating an application flow, to see all the steps needed for users to access each feature.
With navigation and user flow mapped out, I could begin the fun part: sketching and wireframing the app.
The Home screen, with a feed of user activity and trending games.
The "Create Entry" screen, where users share their gaming activity.
The "Profile Page," where a gamer's activity and lists can be found.
The Home screen, with a feed of user activity and trending games.
The "Create Entry" screen, where users share their gaming activity.
The "Profile Page," where a gamer's activity and lists can be found.
The Home screen, with a feed of user activity and trending games.
The "Create Entry" screen, where users share their gaming activity.
The "Profile Page," where a gamer's activity and lists can be found.
The Testing
Once I had a low-fidelity prototype ready, I could finally start sharing Savepoint with others. I tested the prototype with the same four participants from the user research phase, looking for points of friction, confusion, or (hopefully) joy.
The most feedback I received came from the "Create New Entry" screen, where the order and emphasis of each step was creating confusion and tended to stop users right as they were getting "in the flow."
The Testing
Once I had a low-fidelity prototype ready, I could finally start sharing Savepoint with others. I tested the prototype with the same four participants from the user research phase, looking for points of friction, confusion, or (hopefully) joy.
The most feedback I received came from the "Create New Entry" screen, where the order and emphasis of each step was creating confusion and tended to stop users right as they were getting "in the flow."
The Testing
Once I had a low-fidelity prototype ready, I could finally start sharing Savepoint with others. I tested the prototype with the same four participants from the user research phase, looking for points of friction, confusion, or (hopefully) joy.
The most feedback I received came from the "Create New Entry" screen, where the order and emphasis of each step was creating confusion and tended to stop users right as they were getting "in the flow."
The Product
With user feedback in place, I was able to finish up an initial prototype of Savepoint.
Worth noting, the number one piece of feedback received was "I would totally use this." I agree! In the future I would love to see Savepoint become a reality.
The Product
With user feedback in place, I was able to finish up an initial prototype of Savepoint.
Worth noting, the number one piece of feedback received was "I would totally use this." I agree! In the future I would love to see Savepoint become a reality.
The Product
With user feedback in place, I was able to finish up an initial prototype of Savepoint.
Worth noting, the number one piece of feedback received was "I would totally use this." I agree! In the future I would love to see Savepoint become a reality.
The Savepoint home screen needed to immediately connect users to the activity and achievements of those they follow. This encourages game discovery, interaction, and the urge for users to share their activity.
I also wanted to keep the "Create Entry" button as a prominent part of the UI, to help the user know what the central action of the app is. The orange button was meant to resemble something you might find on a game controller.
The process of sharing game activity is a critical component of the Savepoint experience. While books and movies are linear experiences, video games put the player in control of their experience.
To keep it simple, I created just 3 main categories of updates: Started, Accomplished, and Finished. The Accomplished category (I did a thing) is open-ended, meant to allow users freedom to share any accomplishment, big, small, serious, or light-hearted.
I wanted to keep the three achievement categories as the central part of the Savepoint experience, so I added them to the user and game profile screens. This helps communicate the popularity of a particular game, as well as how active the user is.
The players I interviewed spoke often of creating lists of games, such as a list of what they want to play next.