Joining Elodie, I would join another startup on an ambitious mission to tackle the next generation of crossplay co-op ARPG gameplay. Joining the team after a recent Series A, I was responsible to lead UX efforts on mapping their meta-game and crossplay UX&UI.
I would also contribute towards product strategy and consulting with founders with insights and working with leadership to re-charter new initiatives. My responsibilities included developing UX Wireframes, developing metagame systems, helped to establish UI design systems, UI feature pipelines, develop product features towards best practice live “GaaS” ops, advise on UR playtest planning, and kick-off the UXUI team from the ground up.
HUDs, Menus, and Metagame Features
Working primarily in the Metagame Pod, most of the UI team would primarily be focused on developing key features for much of the RPG out-of-combat elements of the game.
Key features such as the HUD, Main Menu, Mission Select, Quests, Narrative Dialogue, Equipment, and Character Management would be essential features for the alpha.
Home Hub HUDs
The Home HUB was where players would navigate different hub camps and engage with NPCs, collect quests, interact with shops, and advance the narrative. With a ‘mobile first’ approach our HUDs would mostly follow best-practice RPG mobile controls but was also planned to accommodate various platforms like PC and console.
Main Menu
V2 with future plans for discovery for stores, events, and community.
V2 with Friends List and social features.
Character Details
Managing a roster of characters is essential to any ARPG hero-collector and a major challenge was consollidating making sure our character management systems were scalable both in depth and across multiple platforms and inputs.
World Map and Mission Select
Maps and Mission Selection help players answer the question “what do I do next?” While future plans for the world of Skies encompassed various biomes that players could adventure to, the World Map helped to provide high-level guidance to the Player’s session by surfacing notifcation breadcrumbs to the next main quest, new available event, or friends playing online.
Team Select
A unique challenge for our game was introducing co-op team select phases where players would be drafting a team that best suit the challenge ahead of them. This introduced problem solving and ready checks that would require some level of coordination in future iterations as game mechanic information and team intent would need to be communicated.
