GAMR
A networking mobile app for gamers 18+.
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Hey Aaliyah👋, heard you were working on an app, how’s that going?
Hi😁! Yes, I am actually working on an app called Gamr. It was made for gamers 18 and up looking to connect with other adult gamers.
Woah nice!! How did you come up with this idea👀?
As a gamer myself, I know the difficulties that arise when trying to game with others online. As a solution, I created Gamr to reduce those difficulties and give us adult gamers of all skill levels a space to meet and connect.
Sounds like a great idea. So tell me, what was your role in all of this?
As the sole designer of Gamr, my role involved all aspects of the design process, from branding and initial research all the way to the prototype and continuous user testing. This was initially done over the course of 3-5 days, but my testing and further development is ongoing😊!
Wow!! What about your process, do you mind sharing more about that?
Not at all, like most projects I started out with research, for this project specifically, I started out with interviews.
What were your results from the interviews if you don’t mind me asking?
So I asked 5 gamers over the age of 18 three questions, check those out here:
Do you have an age preference for teammates when gaming online?
If you don’t have anyone online to play with, do you usually search for someone new to play with, play with random people, play alone, or just not play?
Do you currently use any apps or websites to connect with other gamers?
My findings were that majority of the participants (80%) prefer to play with people around their age. All participants use social media apps they already own to connect with other gamers if need be, and around half of the participants stop playing if they have no friends online to play with. The rest usually just play alone.
Sounds like some great information to have. Outside of these interviews, was there any other research done?
Yes actually, once I completed those interviews I did a bit of competitor analysis.
And what did you discover in your analysis?
I discovered there were a few different places gamers went to connect, but the most prominent being Reddit, Discord and Plink. Actually, check out this summary of each of those here:
Reddit is a very well known website which is the home for various communities where registered members can interact with others who share the same interests. There are over 100,000 communities for members to participate, and some gamers utilize special communities geared towards gaming to get connected.
Discord is also very well known, meant for users who want to create or join a server of people where users can collab, chat and hang out with friends and other community members. Many gamers use discord to join or create gaming groups, where they can then chat and connect with other people.
Plink is a dedicated gaming application where users can pay to find teammates, track game stats and share in game highlights.
While these all may be great websites/applications, in my research I discovered some pain points that users were having with them:
-Reddit and Discord aren’t solely dedicated to finding other gamers, so a bit of searching and research has to be done by users in order to get connected.
-Reddit and Discord are more geared at communities rather than connecting individuals.
-Reddit and Discord can be complex to some, so it may not be as easy to pick up and start connecting.
-Plink’s features are blocked off by a paywall after the initial trial, making Plink unusable for users who are unable to pay.
From here, what did you do with all of the information discovered?
In order to better empathize with the user, once I completed all my initial research, I formulated 2 personas that best depict the future user group. These are the 2 personas:
Okay so I see we have Eric and Jeremy here, what did you use these personas for?
So I took the needs and frustrations from both personas and came up with 3 of the main problems that users needed to be solved:
Expensive:
Some services charge a hefty fee in order to start getting connected.
No central application:
Users are using applications that have various uses.
Too hard to find other gamers:
Users have to research groups, forums, etc. first before getting connected.
How did you go about solving these?
I came up with the following solutions:
Create an app that isn't costly to users.
Create an app that's main purpose is finding other gamers.
Create an app that is easy to use and that doesn't require much to get started.
From here, I had an idea of some of the features that would give users a good experience with Gamr: 18+, a simple and quick sign up process, an easy swipe left/right mechanic, free to use application, available to any level of gamer, and last but not least, all users results are based on their individual preferences.
Nice, sounds like an app I’d like to use! From here, how did you go about creating Gamr?
I began ideating! This stage required a lot of trial and error as I began sketching wireframes. I sketched out different possibilties of the features I included, and how the app would pretty much flow. Take a look at some of the sketches here:
After these sketches I created some low fidelity wireframes, removing some features that were included in the sketches:
With these low fidelity wireframes I did a bit of user testing and I had a group of gamers that I know choose between a few of the different layout options I created. These results were used to create my high fidelity design... are you ready to check it out?
I’ve been waiting! Let’s see what you made👀.
The moment we’ve been waiting for, the design:
WOAH 😧!!! I love it. Is there a working prototype?
Yes actually, you can view that here.
Thank you! So tell me, after completing Gamr how do you feel? Did you learn anything new?
After completing Gamr I felt accomplished! More importantly, I had a few key takeways that will be very useful for my next project:
-The importance of research: The research done during this project made it easier for me to know what ideas to apply. No research will likely end in unhappy users, which I don’t see in the future for Gamr. This is a continuous project and I plan on doing further research to ensure I am keeping up with user needs and frustrations.
-The design thinking process: The process isn’t always linear. More times than not, the design process often entails going back to previous stages in the process to make adjustments based on the users needs and feedback.
Sounds like some good information to take with you. Is there anything that went wrong or anything that you would do differently next time around?
So nothing went wrong per say, but next time around I do plan on revamping my research process. Throughout the process there were certain decisions that were made based on my preference. Although I may be one of the users, my preference may not reflect the larger part of the users that would use Gamr. Next time around, I will make sure that I hold on to the sentiment: “I am not my user”.
Well Aaliyah, it sounds like you have learned a lot from this project. Can’t wait to see your process next time around!