Game Manager 3.0
Game Manager 3.0 for PC and Mac
Overview
Big Fish launched the original app in 2006 as a gaming content manager for our customers, but early versions had limited functionality and scalability. These limitations made it difficult to add requested features and address customer friction of switching back and forth between the website and app. The redesign goals were to lay the foundation for an improved UI/UX, intelligent merchandising, and implement data tracking to understand how our customers use the app.
Results
The redesign was launched on July 2011 and by the end of the year, had over 3.5 million monthly active users, 40 million sessions per month, and 67,000 new games installed daily. The new, extensible UI has allowed the company to add new features and functionality faster than with previous versions. The learnings from this project would later influence and inform future products such as the Big Fish Games app for iOS.
Roles
User Experience, User Interface, Visual Design
An example screen of the previous Game Manager, version 2.0.
Earlier versions of Game Manager had small, gradual updates but the user interface changed little beyond visual design tweaks. The first problem to solve was the fixed 800x600 window size, which limited the games displayed and spaces available to merchandise. Also, by working with customer support and observing dozens of usability sessions, I learned that customers were getting lost and confused by the top-level navigation tabs.
Since the redesigned app was significantly larger than previous versions, I created an application map to help me visualize the various screen states.
Increasing the window size to 1024x768 immediately opened up new UI possibilities. I also wanted to eliminate the confusion of the top level tabs by moving to a more familiar, sidebar navigation. Creating new designs was a highly iterative process where I addressed stakeholder and customer feedback in user testing, then revised the design accordingly.
The fluid layout of the final design allows the app to look consistent while taking advantage of more space when viewed on larger displays. The new, expandable sidebar clearly tells the user where they are and sections can be closed to simplify navigation.
“Games You’ll Love” is an intelligent merchandising feature meant to reduce the earlier friction of switching between the Big Fish website, facilitate game discovery, and increase customer conversion. Customers can now download demos and purchase games directly from within the app. Today, this page represents nearly 1/3 of all page views within the app.
A "Game Manager Tour" was created to help orient new and existing customers, and highlight all the new features of the 3.0 release.