The Word of Warcraft Companion App
The World of Warcraft Classic Companion app keeps players connected with essential game features.
Exploring Material Design and Human Interface Guidelines, I developed the World of Warcraft Classic Companion app, ensuring a cohesive user experience across Android and iOS platforms.
Game Overview: Unveiling World of Warcraft Classic
World of Warcraft Classic is a return to the original version of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game, where players embark on epic quests, forge alliances, and battle in a fantasy realm.
Challenges Faced Away from the Game
While enjoying World of Warcraft Classic, I observed two main problems players face while away from their computers.
First, players often miss out on profitable opportunities in the auction house by not catching high selling prices or overlooking inexpensive items.
Second, important in-game events can be missed, affecting planning and participation. This app seeks to bridge these gaps for gamers on the go.
Gathering Insights from Daily Players
I engaged with seven dedicated players to validate my initial observations, diving deep into their daily routines and interactions within World of Warcraft Classic. From our discussions, these players consistently pointed out three main needs:
The desire to stay connected with friends and fellow players, even when not actively in-game.
The need to stay updated with essential news and special events.
The importance of accessing and managing their auction items while away, given the significance of gold in their gameplay.
Diving into the Competition
I conducted a competitive analysis of related apps to ensure the W.O.W Classic Companion App delivers an optimal user experience and integrates features that resonate with players. Here's a snapshot of the insights I gathered:
Reddit - Its forum layout is popular for discussions and could be a good reference for our news/forum feature.
World of Final Fantasy Companion App - This app stood out particularly for its auction house layout, offering valuable insights on designing this feature for our W.O.W app.
Referencing Reddit forum layout
Referencing the World of Final Fantasy Companion App markets layout
Streamlined User Journey
The user journey with the companion app is designed to be simple and intuitive. To enhance this experience, a character info page was added, allowing players to view their current gear and stay informed about their in-game status, even while away from their computers.
User journey of the main features
From Paper to Screen: Initial Sketches
Guided by the user flow, I drafted initial sketches tailored to iOS and Android users. Understanding the human interface guidelines and Material Design, I carefully studied and experimented with both platforms to ensure that the grid and elements adhered to their respective design guidelines. Insights from the competitive analysis played a pivotal role, influencing adjustments and refinements along the way.
Android Material Design
iOS Human Interface Guidelines
Consistent Look & Feel: Color and Typography Selection
Drawing inspiration from World of Warcraft's website, I chose specific colors to guarantee the companion app's visual alignment with the game. This choice ensures players experience a seamless and familiar interface, reinforcing the game's established brand identity.
Typography chosen based on brand identity and readability
Colors chosen based on brand identity
Refining with Player Feedback
After completing the high-fidelity wireframes, I presented them to a group of players for testing. Their invaluable feedback highlighted the importance of aligning the app closely with the game. They particularly pointed out:
Preserving the gold formatting on auction screens.
Retaining gear color coding (representing item rarity) on the character info screen.
In Game > Before > After
In Game > Before > After
Final Design Overview
Login and Character info
Home/ Forum
Chat
Auction House
Key Takeaways
Designing the companion app, inspired by my journey as a gamer, was rewarding and enlightening. While bringing this concept to life could be challenging due to the associated time and cost implications of managing multiple characters across servers, the experience was invaluable. Not only did I get to design something close to my heart, but I also enhanced my understanding of design guidelines along the way.
