As the sole Product Designer on the project, I played a crucial role in conducting research, gathering insights from Rocket League players, and designing the user experience and interface for the Rocket League Esports mobile app. My expertise in UX design helped to ensure a seamless and intuitive experience for the app users, while also meeting the needs and wants of the Rocket League community.
Introduction
The support for Esports has grown rapidly in recent years, with countries like China, Turkey, and the Philippines recognizing and licensing esports players as professional athletes. With the rise of streaming services like Twitch and YouTube Gaming, the viewership of esports is at an all-time high and is expected to continue growing. Rocket League, a popular esports game, has formed its tournament series with live commentary called the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS). Keeping up with these tournaments can be difficult, as there are many international and collegiate tournaments held seasonally.
project goals
The goal of this project was to create a user-friendly mobile app to help Rocket League fans stay up to date with their favorite teams in the Rocket League Championship Series tournaments. The team aimed to research what Rocket League fans want in an esports tournament app and what features should be included to help fans and esports teams stay connected.
research methodology
To achieve this goal, the following research methods were used:
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Recruitment: Rocket League fans were recruited through Rocket League Discords, an instant messaging and social app for gamers. Screening questions were used to determine if a person plays/watches Rocket League and keeps up to date with the RLCS.
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Qualitative survey: Successful candidates participated in a qualitative survey about what they would want from a Rocket League tournament app.
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Interviewing: A set of questions was used to interview Rocket League fans about their interests, behaviors, and preferences related to Rocket League esports.
Key Findings
Based on the research, the following key findings were noted:
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Rocket League players have interests in both keeping up with the esport and seeing a team’s/player’s stats throughout a tournament.
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Rocket League players use various methods outside of the official Psyonix platform to stay informed about Rocket League Esports, including Discords, YouTube streamers, RL esport team social media, Twitch, and "Pedia" sites like Liquidpedia.
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Some Rocket League players watch RL Esports to improve their own skills in the game.
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Rocket League players showed interest in having an app that provides notifications and updates on their favorite teams and tournaments.
conclusion
The findings of this research provided valuable insights into the needs and preferences of Rocket League fans when it comes to staying up to date with Rocket League Championship Series tournaments. These insights informed the design of a user-friendly mobile app that meets the needs of Rocket League fans and improves their experience of following their favorite teams and tournaments.
the process
Affinity diagraming of research data I gathered from participants.
My interview notes from my 30 participants
Synthesizing my results from the interviews.
Feature ideations from synthesizing the data.
Organized features by prioritizing against the value to the user and its complexity to design and build.
Designing the user journey.
Wireframe sketches of possible features for the Tourney app
Figma wireframes for the MVP design of the Tourneys app
Figma prototype of wireframes used in testing the app's functionality and user journey with research participants
Login page
Sign up page
Home page - Hero section
Home page -
Upcoming events section
Home page -
Previous events section
Home page -
Lastest News section
Event Search page
Tournament View page
Final prototype of the MVP design for the Tourney app