One of SciPlay’s most popular games is losing market share because players prefer a game with levels of achievement beyond spinning slots. The Goldfish team needs a new daily feature that connects the gameplay to a storyline.
VISUAL MOCKUP 1: Illustrations and final mockup created by Logynn Hailley based on UX wireframes I designed.
Gold Fish Casino Slots
Mobile Mini Game
During COVID, I had a unique opportunity to design a mini-game within SciPlay’s Gold Fish Casino, a free authentic Vegas experience in an immersive underwater world. As the UX Game Designer, I collaborated with product managers, business development, game developers, and an exceptional game artist named Logynn Hailley.
Based on situational game design principles, I began with a player-centric approach to crafting a story with the player as the hero. As the game progresses, players define their play motivation based on their goals. Intrinsic motivation is crucial to game design because each type of player has their measurement of success. Play exists between the player(s) and the game, which creates a self-contained system of goals, interesting moves (choices), and valuable feedback.
Business Model
Game transactions occur using real-world and virtual currency. SciPlay’s goal regarding the “sticky” factor is incentivizing players to return regularly, which increases the volume of transactions on a daily basis.
Promo Asset 1: Owned by SG Interactive.
Promo Asset 2: Owned by SG Interactive.
VISUAL MOCKUP 2: Created by Jessica Lowry as a visual tool to remain cognisant of the context in which the game is played by the majority of players. The context was informed by reviewing industry market data.
My role involved balancing SciPlay’s need to increase playing time with those of the players'.
As the first UX designer working on the Goldfish Casino game, I needed to demonstrate new ways of working across the product team. The standard design approach had been game-centric and lacked an understanding of the player as the game's hero. The result was a disconnect between features, cluttered UI, and siloed situations that didn’t appear to have any connection to the system overall.
The goal was to balance the business's and the player's needs while designing a mini-game that connected all situational gameplay into a fun and rewarding daily tracker.
Research artifact 1: Key themes from Stakeholder interviews and workshops.
Feature audit and game-play evaluation.
Over several months, I collected information about daily challenge features within some of the most popular mobile games at the time, as well as direct competitors. A feature audit involves a comprehensive review and analysis of all the features within a product.
Gameplay evaluation focuses on assessing the user experience within the context of a game. This involves playtesting and analyzing various aspects of the game to enhance its overall UX.
By systematically reviewing features and evaluating gameplay, UX designers can create more refined, enjoyable, and compelling interactive experiences. Testing the game's core mechanics helped to understand why the most popular games are considered intuitive, fun, and functioning as expected.
Research Artifact 2: Gameplay evaulation and feature review of in-game insensives to return on a daily basis
Daily Treasures is an underwater meeting place where characters make guest appearances based on the player's choices.
Wireframe 1: Help tips explain navigation and how to play the daily prize mini-game. (Discus fish were eventually replaced with cuttlefish.)
Sketch 2: The overarching story was missing in the Gold Fish game experience, which resulted in new features that didn’t connect characters or build mastery. An idea I played around with was that the Gold Fish game is an ecosystem of underwater cities that presented opportunities for level design.
Early wireframes of the FUTE (first-time user experience).
I hand-sketched several iterations of early concepts informed by market research, business requirements, personas, and hours of playing mobile games. I also regularly collaborated with Logynn, who designed over 50 original slots within SciPlay’s catalog.
Sketch 1: One of the design challenges was figuring out how to fit more features into each game module on multiple devices and consider how the UI can accommodate future additions to navigation and features.
Stakeholder check-ins and alignment.
Research artifact 3: To ensure I didn’t get too deep into an early concept, I set up weekly critique sessions with key stakeholders. This helped to generate more creative thinking and spontaneous opportunities for ideation.
Research artifact 4: To keep the daily mini-game fresh, we can introduce new levels to motivate players to return multiple times a day.
Designing contraints.
Level design is a strategic way to break down the playing experience into small, manageable tasks. Achieving mastery over time includes greater rewards and access to unique experiences.
Gold Fish does not have levels, so players may visit less frequently because the experience never changes (except for slot games, which change daily). Players typically open the game once daily to collect free coins and then bank coins for several days before playing for an extended period. Introducing new levels can encourage more frequent engagement.
Data-informed decision making.
Player behavior data provides invaluable information for refining game design. By leveraging this data, designers can create more engaging, balanced, and enjoyable games that meet player needs and preferences, ultimately leading to tremendous success and longevity in the market. I asked the business manager to pull data to analyze player behavior over two years. I was interested in the average time spent in the game and the number of spins.
My strategy was to design the mini-game in a way that takes into consideration a non-payer (only uses virtual currency), a minnow (buys a small number of coins), and a dolphin (buys a large number of coins).
Personas
Good UX design understands emotional motivations to cultivate loyalty. The most impactful features trigger strong, positive emotional responses. Each type of player defines a game’s value based on personality traits and passion for play. Intrinsic value is a powerful insight into player behavior during special events or activities that guides the planning and execution of future scenarios to maximize participation and enjoyment.
Creating player personas was essential to designing a gaming experience that achieved the player and business goals. Industry data, player behavior analytics, and competitive analysis were layered to define personas and the most appropriate features for a successful daily incentive to play and win prizes.
Mobile gamers often play in short bursts, so games must be engaging and rewarding in brief play sessions.
Player motivation.
“The tension between doing and learning means that different design questions should be addressed differently.”
- Situational Game Design by Brian Upton
Players need a daily game that challenges them in a motivating and energizing way. Many rewards are delivered as memorable moments of delight when the characters interact and engage because of what the player has done. The psychology of play involves building anticipation over some time (24 hours). Each daily treasure (jewel) is won by completing five tasks. After completing five tasks, the cuttlefish dance around, the ocean bubbles with joy, and little Goldie clownfish swim from behind colorful seaweed to reveal a jewel. The player can decide to collect their rewards immediately from the jewel or save it (known as ‘banking,’ a typical player behavior). When players collect jewels, they can see them attached to a treasure box, which opens up once all five jewels have been collected. Players are rewarded with a treasure box opening ceremony where all underwater characters appear and dance to celebrate the play’s achievement.
I created a feature blueprint to identify how the game can use data to tailor rewards to a player’s motivators. I wanted to ensure the game mechanics allowed for customization of how the player is rewarded. Player decisions, such as how many coins they bet while playing slots or how many other game elements the player interacts with throughout the 24 hours.
Daily Jewel was released October 2021.
Daily Treasures is an underwater meeting place where characters make guest appearances based on the player's choices. Every action is analyzed on the backend to produce different challenges. By defining three distinct player types, the game can recognize the appropriate prizes and “exclusive” experiences based on play performance. Players can decide if they want small daily wins (instant gratification), weekly wins (delayed gratification), or longer strategic wins, which result in a celebratory ceremony of animation and underwater effects.
Daily Jewel was the first 3D feature in the game. As a team, we challenged ourselves to create a more intuitive and immersive experience requiring minimal FTUE (first-time user experience) instruction or support elements.
Final thoughts.
Designing Daily Jewels was one of the highlights of my career because it allowed me to be creative in ways I don’t get to explore in other digital experiences. Designing a mobile game was a unique professional experience due to the challenges, opportunities, and constraints the mobile platform presents. It is a multifaceted endeavor that requires balancing technical constraints, user behavior insights, monetization strategies, and market dynamics.
If you’d like to see more of Logynn’s fabulous illustrations and how she brought the characters to life, check out her portfolio on Behance.