FINAL PRESENTATION d&d companion
Introduction The D&D Companion was born out of my desire to design an app that took all the hard work out of playing Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons is a game where essentially create your own version of The Lord of the Rings with you and your mates as the heroes. You create your own character and head off into fantastic worlds filled with magic and adventure. It s good nerdy fun - if ever so slightly juvenile! Like a lot of games though, playing requires you to spend a large amount of time record keeping and collecting various tokens and counters that represent treasure you find, items your receive and spells or curses that are inflicted upon you - keeping track of everything is not easy to say the least and (in my opinion) kind of gets in the way of the fun! My plan then is to harness the power of UX and try to design an app that can streamline this record keeping nightmare and make it fun and simple to maintain.
interviews I interviewed 4 players of the game to find out what were some of the things that frustrated them about the game, and what they would look for in an app It s annoying when you play with people who cheat... they ll cheat with the dice rolls, or not mark down damage or cheat with buffs or debuffs... Sometimes it s hard to keep track I m updating stuff on my character of spells you ve used already... sheet all the time... it gets messy! When there a 5 or 6 players all rolling for their actions then it s really hard for me to know who s done what The app shouldn t take over the game
who is this for? Generally, people who play Dungeons & Dragons can be classified as: THERE ARE 2 MAIN TYPES OF PLAYER: Predominantly males of all ages Tech savvy - very comfortable with smartphones, tablets and computers Detail oriented Player Characters The Game Master
Types of players 1. PLAYER CHARACTERS A game of D&D will typically consist of 2-6 players. Games are generally quite long, unfolding across several weeks/ sessions, during which a players character will grow and improve as they defeat larger and more dangerous enemies and find more valuable treasure. Ideally, players will grow quite attached to their character and are likely to reuse the same character across several games. The app will focus on this group of users as they have the most amount of permanent record keeping to do. As games progress, players need to record: What their character is (ie wizard, warrior, thief etc) What they look like Injuries sustained New skills learned Spells learned and used during the game Items they possess Treasure they find
Persona #1 CHRIS - D&D PLAYER Profile Characteristics What do they need to do? Gender: Male Age: 18-45 Job: Any Ethnicity: Any Passionate. Happy to play casually, but always very detail oriented and quick to jump on cheaters or people who aren t playing in the spirit of the game. That being said, they are usually quite happy to push the rules as far as possible to get the best result for them. Tech smarts Extrovert Passion Imagination Luddite Introvert Measured Fact focussed Keep their character updated. Manage equipment and items quickly. Manage your characters actions in battles. Pain points Not being able to find key character info quickly. Not being able to tell DM easily about key actions their character accomplishes.
Types of players 2. THE GAME MASTER Every game needs a Game Master who essentially acts as the story teller. They are in charge of the game and are responsible for describing the settings and characters that the players encounter and controlling any of the enemies and minor characters in the game. Unlike the Player Characters, these minor characters and enemies typically won t advance or grow during the course of a game, so a Game Master will likely have less record keeping to do than the other players. Nevertheless the app can still provide an easy way to record the statuses of all enemies currently active in the game.
Persona #2 TAM - D&D GAME MASTER Gender: Male Age: 30-45 Job: Any Ethnicity: Any Profile People who play D&D for long enough eventually start playing as GM. They re typically older and a bit more experienced and cynical - They have their own ways of playing/runing the game and are a little less likely to embrace change. Conversely much more imaginative and able to think on their feet - Game Master s have to be able to think quickly to create stories around the individual players actions whilst also maintaining continuity with the other players in the game. Characteristics Tech smarts Extrovert Passion Imagination Luddite Introvert Measured Fact focussed What do they need to do Progress the game story - ENTERTAIN! Keep track of all characters and NPC s in the game. Allocate items and treasure to players. Check game rules and info. Pain points Players completing actions - not notifying the GM. Cheaters lying about dice rolls.
so what should this app actually do? Help all players spend less time managing their character and the rules of the game and more time enjoying the story.
make it easier for players APP GOALS Let characters create a character through the app. Make it easier for players to manage their characters and keep them updated. Let players view basic information about the other players, including their status and remaining health (hp). Design a way for players to share items, spells and equipment with each other during a gaming session Let players accomplish actions through the app (for example; attacking an enemy) easily, automatically notifying the DM of the action in the process and reduce work for him.
and make it easier for DM's too APP GOALS Design a way to create a gaming session that other players can join using characters they ve created. Easily monitor the players in a game session and the actions that they accomplish Be able to access game rules and information about items and any of the various monsters that the players will be fighting. Be able to allocate items to specific players during a gaming session. Be able to accomplish actions on behalf of the characters or monsters they are in control of in the same way that normal players can.
tone of voice GENERAL STYLE RULES Don t write for babies Our users are tech savvy and they re intimately familiar with the subject matter, there s no need to dumb down the language. Keep it quick Our users are not the kind of people that want to spend time reading unneccessarily - so copy should be kept concise and direct. Keep it light Our users have quite an irreverrent sense of humour - copy can reflect this with a tongue in cheek, self deprecating style. Given that this app also deals with quite complicated content, care should be taken to ensure the copy remains lighthearted to hold attention.
Competitor analysis
competitor analysis PLAYER MINION Character sheet is overloaded - hard to determine what s important Skills page is marginally simpler. Still too much unneccessary clutter. Lots of detail. Includes information on items, skills and spells Includes in built dice roller.
competitor analysis DND BUDDY Character sheet has clear hierarchy although not designed for mobile. Good labelling of items Allows DM to prepare entire encounters in the app Comprehensive creature database
competitor analysis DND BUDDY Allows you to store multiple characters Easy to edit player characteristics Really simple UI, but possibly too spaced out. Could be condensed Keeps track of spells and powers that have a finite number of uses
competitor analysis summary WHAT'S ALREADY BEING DONE OPPORTUNITIES Managing characters Networking - allowing players to connect in game. Including in-app dice rolling functionality Managing encounters - damage, player spells, effects etc. Including maps and story content for DM s Simple enhancements to UI to make everything easier to follow Including rules and creature info for everyone
features & flows
feature prioritisation General feature Player feature DM feature HIGH PRIORITY Sign up Shared game sessions Simplify Character screen Edit character functionality Character creation Sharing items with other players IN SCOPE Handling battles in app Allocate items to players EASY Monitor remaining spells & abilities HARD In game dice roller Monitor players in game session Player On-boarding IN SCOPE ipad version Access game rules LOW PRIORITY
Level up user flow Player actions: DM action Player action Create game Player lobby Edit Status Equip item Give item Manage Cast spell Take damage Players Attack Home Choose character Join game DM lobby DM actions: DM Character creation Edit Status Give item Manage Cast spell Take damage End turn Set initiative order Create enemies Character created End game Create encounter
designs
design: character creation RATIONALE To keep character creation simple, the app breaks it up into 4 manageable steps These shorter steps also help reduce user fatigue by overwhelming them with too many tasks and choices. The creation process should allow users to see how many steps are involved overall, and give them opportunities to go back and edit any mistakes they may make along the way. 1 Basic details 2 Set Character statistics 3 Select Skills 4 Review & confirm It should also try to use more touchscreen friendly interactions to speed up the process eg, sliders and custom checkboxes.
design: character creation 1 BASIC DETAILS 2 CHARACTER STATS Players can use this link to go back to previous step Players roll dice and enter the scores in on this screen. Simple choices here that players will be familiar with Sliders are used here for ease and speed Sticky footer keeps track of selections. Next link is inactive until all required actions have been completed
design: character creation 3 SELECT SKILLS 4 REVIEW & CONFIRM A final opportunity for a player to review the choices they ve made for their character Choose skills that your character can use during a game Simple custom checkboxes are used here. Players simply toggle on the skills that they want for their character. If they reconsider any of these options they can go back and edit their selections
design: character screens INTRODUCTION Players can review character information here and monitor their equipment, skills and spells. Traditionally players accomplish this using pencil and paper, which can be tricky for players to keep track of. The app aims to simplify this by breaking it up across several screens, organised by category.
design: character screens The app divides a character s information across 4 screens: Core information, Equipment, Spells and Skills A set of tabs at the bottom of the screen allows for players to switch between these screens. These tabs are also used to navigate to battles and encounters when appropriate
design: character screens 1 CORE 2 EQUIPMENT Important information about the character is displayed here This screen displays the weapons, armour and other items that a character is currently using. A characters health is displayed as a radial bar that runs around their portrait. Other key information used in game will be displayed here Characters can switch out other equipment in their inventory by clicking on the relevant links. Players can navigate between screens here
design: character screens 3 SPELLS 4 SKILLS A players spells are displayed on this screen. This screen is a simple list view of the skills that a character has. These skills are all constant and do not have a limited number of uses. There are 2 sections on this page: A player can only have a limited number of spells available to use at any one time. The top section displays spells that are currently available to use. The second section displays the spells that a player can equip to use.
design: battle screens INTRODUCTION These screens cover how battles are handled within the app. Battles take place between the players and a preset number of opponents controlled by the DM. Players can attack any of the opponents still in play or help their team-mates. Most actions involve rolling dice and entering the score into the app. Others may involve an exchange of items, or changing of a players equipment.
design: battle screens Several concepts were trialled detailing how players could accomplish actions during a battle One option involved interlinked menus through which a player could map out what action they wanted to accomplish and on whom. I moved on from this approach as I felt it took up too much space and didn t easily allow players to view contextual information before they decided what action to accomplish. A second option involved a menu overlay. But this approach broke up the action into too many individual steps. The final approach went for a more visual approach, whereby players clicked on the player or opponent that they wished to interact with. This triggers a modal where the player can select from a list of available actions.
design: battle screens 1 HOME 2 MODAL Core info about the player is still displayed here Upon clicking on a player, it triggers a modal where they can choose which action to complete Available actions will depend on whether a player has clicked on another player, or an opponent. They can toggle between viewing basic information about either the other players or their opponents Clicking on a player or opponent will bring up a list of contextual actions Players can still access their character information
final project: http://oeg50f.axshare.com/#c=2
testing & review TESTING WITH OTHER PLAYERS In the end the full prototype was not finished in time for complete testing to be completed. Core layouts were completed in time though and I was able to show these to other players and talk through my ideas for how it would work. This demo produced a largely positive response. Players agreed that the layout of the character sheet was much simpler and easier to follow. More prominence could have been given to CTA s on the Battle screens though, as some players did not realise which actions could be completed. Additionally, too much emphasis was given to the players details on the battle screen (the entire top half of the screen). Reducing the size of this area would make it less distracting and allow players to focus more on completing available actions. They also liked the idea behind the battle screen and being able to click on other players or opponents to initiate actions. The tone of voice was also judged to be too cold. More warmth could be added to make the app more engaging overall. THESE FIXES WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN THE NEXT ITERATION OF THIS APP
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