Board Game Design Arnold Middle School

Play Board Game Sessions Anywhere: a UX Design Case Study

This is a personal project, an optional part of the UI/UX Design Job Connector program at Purwadhika Startup and Coding School.

Background

I love board games. Even though they can't beat my infatuation with video games, playing board games allows me to have fun with friends especially once you're fed up with malls. Learning complex board game rules is fun, as well as laughing together with family and friends.

We have several board games at h o me: Scrabble, Boggle, Risk, Monopoly, Munchkin, Rummikub, Bang!, Guillotine. But it has been several years since we hold regular gaming sessions. There's just not enough interest for our family to play regularly, especially now with little children around. Sometimes I play together with friends at a board game cafe — these events are less than once a year. If gathering family is hard, then gathering friends is even harder.

Internationally, board games are making a comeback, fueled with people's desire to experience "the real thing" over digital. Local Indonesian board games are also on the rise, with recent international expo attendances. However, I felt that the interest was limited to a small number of people, especially in Indonesia. Coupled with the difficulty in gathering players, board games have not been a hit locally.

This led me to an idea: is it possible to arrange board game sessions, to play with anyone and anywhere? After all, Indonesia has lots of board game cafes, at least in the big cities. There are online groups at social media, but those are not specialized for board games. There must be a better way to find friends to play any board game, anywhere — this is what sparked me into designing a mobile app to do just that.

But first… Research

But how do we know that the problem actually exists? It might just be my unique experience, and noone else's. Therefore, I needed to do research first. This is how I tried to understand the needs and habits of users — casual board game lovers who face difficulties in gathering friends to play together.

Online Survey

I distributed an online survey to find out why, how and where people play board games. I divided the survey into two parts. Multiple choice questions is the quantitative part (WHAT) of the survey, while open-ended questions is the qualitative part (WHY).

The main takeaways from the survey were:

At the time, board game playing rate is low. 77.3% played board games only once in a while. 68.2% only go to board game cafes once in a while.
A high proportion (88.4%) of respondents play board games with friends, but the majority (54.5%) feel it was hard to find friends to play with. There is trouble in finding fellow board game players even when friends are the main preference, mainly because of lack of interest and time.
77.3% respondents play at cafes (including board game cafes), mainly because they don't have their own board games. Board game cafe is still the go-to avenue for players, especially as it offers board game collection, comfort, and spaciousness.
There are three main information that respondents want to know about: board game cafe location, fellow board game players, and board game description and ratings.

Comparative Analysis

As there were no similar app (yet) that specializes in board game sessions, I reviewed three indirect competitors, each with distinct value propositions.

These three apps have all the features that help people in arranging board game sessions: discover events, discover places, and discover board games.

User Journey + HMW

To better understand the problem and solution opportunities, I tried to visualize user journey, from searching for friends to play board games until leaving the joint.

Based on the user journey and online survey results, there are three points that serve as opportunities for the app. I translated them into How Might We statements in order to better stimulate design ideas.

How might we help people create board game sessions together with friends?
How might we provide board game cafe locations with relevant information for board game players?
How might we give people descriptions of popular board games based on peer reviews?

Problem?

Having done research, I was more confident in defining the problem correctly. Using the Interaction Design Foundation's POV method, the problem statement is as follows:

Ideate!

After research, I felt that I had understood the user's viewpoint better than ever. Time to generate solution ideas that will form the basis of the design.

Crazy 8s

I followed NNGroup's guidelines and try crazy 8s to generate rough designs. Each round was done in 5 minutes sharp.

User Flow

From the wireflow sketch, I had formed a better picture of the app's core features. To aid in the design process, I made a more detailed user flow.

Prototype (and Test)

To recap: I tried to better understand user needs and habits via research, then ideate solutions to the problem. The next step is to make a prototype that is usable by users. This is the first version prototype, made using Figma:

For the first version, I didn't manage to include the board game search function. I tried to prioritize the features that users care about the most according to research.

Just making a prototype isn't enough, though. The designed solution should be able to actually solve the problem! As in research, we need to validate the solution by asking users to test it. I asked five people who have played board games at a board game cafe to use the prototype, and speak aloud their thoughts about the prototype throughout the test.

The task list was as follows:

Make a new board game session.
Search for board game cafe information.
Join an upcoming board game session.

Actually I wanted to make a detailed recap of the results. However, it turned out all of them succeeded in accomplishing every task. I presumed it's because the prototype was very simple. With that said, there were some suggestions that were important:

Some of the suggestions look pretty obvious in hindsight. Using these inputs, I worked again on the prototype. This time I designed the board game search and description pages. I also added crucial pages like splash page, user profile, and notification list.

This is the final prototype:

I decided to name the app "Tavern". It basically means a pub where you drink, eat and socialize with friends. Taverns are what you encounter in games with medieval setting, the ones usually involving dungeons and dragons. A tavern is the place that connects adventurers to share stories, wisdom and fun. I wanted the app to embody that spirit.

The main features are the Make New Session and Join Upcoming Board Game Session. Basically, you just need to fill in your session details and publish them. Players that want to join can now view, search, and join the session easily. If they want to know more about the session, they can enter the chat room and ask questions to the session maker.

The other features are Board Game Cafe Search and Board Game Search. You can easily sort and filter search results depending on relevant criteria, such as cafe distance, cost, capacity, and board game age rating, difficulty, or play duration. If you happen to like certain board games or cafes, you can add them to your favorites and they will be displayed on your profile.

Here's Tavern in action:

You can also try using the interactive prototype here!

Conclusion

It started from my personal experience, where I felt difficulty in playing board games with friends regularly. After some research, I found that there was a need of an easier way to arrange board game sessions. I tried designing a mobile app to solve that problem.

There are four main flows in Tavern's final design:

Make a board game session.
Join an upcoming board game session.
Search for board game cafes.
Search for board games.

Using these four features, it will be easier to play board games with friends, wherever you are and whenever you want to.

Lesson Learned

Contrary to previous projects (Skill Academy and Parkin group projects), I worked on this project alone. The most valuable lesson that I learned was self-discipline. I had intended to research deeper and design with more care, but it turned out self-assigned deadlines were hard to follow. If I had more self-discipline, I think I would be able to complete this project in less time and with more heart.

All in all, I think this project has taught me a lot about problem-solving and UX Design. I hope I can improve my skills to build better designs in the future.

Home, where the term social distancing replaces the outdated self-quarantine.

Want to learn more?

If you'd like to…

· get an industry-recognized Course Certificate in Usability Testing

· advance your career

· learn all the details of Usability Testing

· get easy-to-use templates

· learn how to properly quantify the usability of a system/service/product/app/etc

· learn how to communicate the result to your management

… then consider taking the online course Conducting Usability Testing.

If, on the other hand, you want to brush up on the basics of UX and Usability, then consider to take the online course on User Experience. Good luck on your learning journey!