Background

Project BB wants to build an ecosystem to make beaches clean. As part of the approach, a mobile game application plays a role as a touchpoint to attract people to collect more annotated images through its gamification. And the collected images will be used to make the beach cleaning robot smarter.

There are two main roles that I am involved with.

• Create a narrative to invite people to the game
  In terms of ‘narratives’, there are two directions- the mission of the company and the storyline of the game. With my creativity, I had to make a storyline to attract our target users and a section to display the company goal.
  
  
• Come up with a solution to gamify annotation process
  As a UX designer, I suggested diverse gameplay strategies and chose the best option based on certain criteria.
  
  

Understanding the Detail

My research encompassed audits research, understanding game mechanics and game dynamics and the trends of game visuals.

Through this research, I drew out three main insights.

• Explanation screens
  A section to explain our project and how it works are needed since it entails diverse things to understand the mission, the rewards and the storyline
  
  
• Visual elements play an important role
  It has a huge impact on how we perceive service in a short amount of time. Also, the main target group is general citizens so a visual element that everyone can be satisfied with is needed.
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• Rewards and competitiveness
  Among all the motivation factors, rewards and competitiveness are a must to make users adhere to the game.
  

Design Directions

The collected research data brought me several aspects to focus on for the project.

• UX factors to consider: ease of use, activation and narratives.
  
  
• Strategies: a clear flow of the process and screens within a good contents hierarchy.
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• Game elements:  time limitation, levels, rewards, and sharing on social media.
  
  

Based on these, I came up with supportive information to build a prototype, such as flow charts and a sitemap.

Also, I facilitated a creative workshop with the stakeholders to get inspiration during this phase. Eventually, my team was able to consolidate the design direction for the project.

Prototyping

I used Adobe XD and InVision to build the prototype and collect opinions from my team members and diverse stakeholders.

The prototype consists of diverse sections, such as narratives, the main play screen (annotating with pixels and categorising), rankings, and additional effects. By having levels, rewards, and a scoreboard, the game is expected to motivate players to keep using the application. Also, the traits of our potential target users were taken into account when I was working on the usage of words and the general visual theme.

Further Process

So far, the team has presented the concept and the prototype I made in front of diverse stakeholders. The prototype I created added more credibility and feasibility of the project.

During Odyssey Momentum Hackathon 2020, I conducted an online user testing with a group of target users from GSV (Groningse Schoolvereniging) and came up with further approaches for the game with the team members.

The project is still ongoing.

Results

Throughout the project, my prototype presented at multiple platforms.

• Dutch Design Week 2020
  https://ddw.nl/en/programme/4932/project-beachbot
  
  
• European Design Upgrade Hackathon 2020
  ‍The project was nominated as one of the most promising ideas.
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• TV programme (MAX Vandaag)
  https://www.maxvandaag.nl/programmas/tv/max-ouderenjournaal/max-ouderenjournaal/POW_04669376/ (From 9:00)
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Lessons Learned

• A lot of things to take into account for game design
  ‍Game mechanics, creating supportive narratives, etc
  
  
• How to facilitate creative sessions
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• How to convert collected data from surveys and interviews into valuable outcomes
  
  
• Cooperation with the team members