Motivated by highly successful games such as Fortnite and Overwatch who use cosmetics as their primary monetization strategies, Big Fish Casino wanted to create its own spin on a cosmetic collection feature.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted and obfuscated confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not reflect the views of Big Fish Games.
Overview
Coming off of the success of a new live-op event that centered around cosmetic item collection, it became clear to the studio that collectibles could be a huge engagement driver. However, these cosmetic items many players worked hard to achieve weren't permanent and disappeared once the event ended.
Adding object permanence could be a unique opportunity to allow players
to keep, and even flaunt, their hard-earned collectibles. Hitting many of our established player persona motivators, Treasures could provide a great new way to play and progress through Big Fish Casino that would differentiate us from our competitors.
Initial Goals
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Provide value to players by creating additional avenues of progression, achievement, and self-expression.
Leverage a strong social foundation to build a collection feature that allows players to earn in-game rewards other than chips.
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Increase daily bookings, playtime, and total chip sink.
Process
RESEARCH
PERSONAS
Referencing player personas, an exact target audience was identified, including their playstyle and motivators for engagement and monetization.
*Player personas generated by research partner Liquid & Grit.
Our target audience would be those players who were most motivated by feelings of escape, stimulation, and glory, rather than those driven by profit. These players enjoyed a replacement for everyday concerns and anxieties; feeling excitement and importance by completing challenges and mastering their gaming skills in front of others.
PLAYER SURVEYS
Initial surveys were used to gauge general appeal and player expectations.
When asked what functions of collectibles would be most important in spending time or effect towards, players indicated they wanted items that gave special powers or advantages, and that represented their personal achievement.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
I conducted an in-depth competitor analysis of top-grossing competitor products both in and outside of the social casino genre. This would help me build a case for my decision making when designing the player journey.
Our research team also compiled extensive reports identifying best practices and principles across many different game types. These reports helped us pinpoint player expectations around collection and inventory game systems.
UX Artifacts
Generating flow charts and wireframes helped define various user flows and state changes. Keeping these images low fidelity helped stakeholders focus on expected functionality rather than getting hung up on the look and feel of the feature too prematurely. To help further define these flows and interaction points, I also created clickthrough prototypes using Adobe XD.
All of these artifacts helped to garner final stakeholder buy-in for the feature and later helped to inform scoping and developer costing conversations.
Validation
Once we reached internal alignment on the feature's design, we gut checked our decisions by conducting surveys and playtests. Using Adobe XD, I created a clickable prototype to test with existing players. We hoped to get validation of the following core concepts:
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Did players understand how they were receiving chests
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How did the proposed cosmetic and collectible items impact motivation
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How did set completion impact motivation
The top takeaways from both survey and playtest data mostly aligned with our assumptions, but there was one outlier: the results indicated that collectible items with no functional "boost" to existing gameplay (like power-ups in Match3 games) would be a tough sell for our broader audience.
ADDRESSING FEEDBACK
After much deliberating and consideration from the team, it was concluded that adding this new boost concept would be incredibly complicated from a tuning perspective given the backward compatibility required with our pre-existing catalog of games. It would also be a significant undertaking from a technical perspective.
Ultimately we addressed this feedback by adding additional reward types into the game: special coin gifts, game entry announcements, avatar frames, charms, and large chip bonuses. Although these new reward types were well-received by the community, they almost certainly fell short as motivators for deeper engagement for most players, but it was a compromise we had to make due to the limited time and resources available.
UI Design
Next came the interface and visual design of Treasures. Working closely with our art and animation teams, we worked to establish an identity that aligned with Big Fish Casino's overall brand, yet was still fresh and modern.
We maintained the cool tones of the app while scattering exciting pops of blues, pinks, greens, and golds when hierarchy deemed necessary. Luxurious textures and magical motifs reinforced the feature's high value and exclusivity while remaining general enough to work within the context of many different seasonal themes.
Given its seasonality, it was also important to design and templatize Treasures in such a way that would allow artists and animators to easily plug-in new artwork season after season. I helped establish this art/UI pipeline and delivered templates for artists and graphic designers who would later generate assets.
Once final designs were approved, I was then responsible for all interface asset implementation in CocosCreator. This required helping with version control and managing thorough design documentation so engineers knew exactly what they were developing.
Post-Launch Findings
After launching Season 1, data and player survey results indicated a highly positive reception to the feature. However, some significant pain points were also identified:
1. LACK OF PROGRESSION
Upcoming rewards were too buried;
had difficulty understanding which rewards came next; poor visualization of the effort required for next rewards.
2. VALUE PROPOSITIONS
Set completion pacing was perceived as a steep climb of uncontrollable difficulty; cosmetic value proposition was low given the effort required.
3. NO FEATURE
EDUCATION
Lack of an onboarding experience failed to teach the full feature flow; low under-standing of item permanence may have hindered initial player motivation.
Continued Iteration
PROGRESSION
The product team adjusted the overall progression curve to allow for more set completion. They increased the chances for low to medium level betters to get higher level chest drops from spinning. This allowed for more feelings of accomplishment by making the first few sets easier to complete. More levels of the grand set were also added to allow for more completion of high-value items. I adjusted the set progression UI to display the next reward of a set, instead of displaying the final-level reward of each set. This helped focus progression on the players next immediate goals and rewards.
MEANINGFUL REWARDS
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Increased chest drop frequency.
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Added a small chance of getting a higher level chests for low to medium level betters.
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Increased the number of rewards given in each chest and required tokens to complete sets.
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Change the rarity system from ambiguous stars to a descriptive text scale with color associations.
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Renamed Trophies to Charms to tap into players’ sense of superstition.
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Made Charms giftable and equipable.
*Popup design by graphic design team.
ONBOARDING & EDUCATION
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Added contextual information about each reward type to the set page and player inventory.
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Level-gated the feature, then presented it to the players in a holistic manner with contextual popups that adequately taught the value proposition and full feature flow.
*Popups design by graphic design team.
Final Screens
MIGUEL, 42
This new bunny trophy is my new lucky charm, thank you big fish!
CAROL, 33
Love all of these frames.. it's fun to see what everyone has on at the slot tables!
The Results
Since its launch, the Treasures feature has been one of Big Fish Casino’s most significant additions since its social clubs feature back in 2015. It has been a successful step towards the company’s goal of modernization and market-standard event content that’s proven to drive engagement.
+3%
TABLE TIME
+12%
BET INCREASE
*In VIP control group
+33%
D1 BOOKINGS
For the Future
With the current implementation, chests drop random set tokens so players aren't able to focus their efforts towards rewards they may be more excited about. To provide a greater sense of autonomy, I would love to be able to add a "pick your prize" option to chest open sequences so players can choose which sets they would like to progress over others.
