My Contribution

Initial user research - Survey, Personas and user stories  

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To fully integrate player-first thinking into the design, I first collected data, both qualitative and quantitative, from primary research. This was conducted through a questionnaire with a focus on RPG quest journals in the first section, then in the next, the existing quest system in Baldur's Gate 3 and their experience with using said system which helped identify the features that helped or hindered the usage. ​

The results of the survey allowed for the creation of three personas (primary, secondary and supplemental) used to humanize the user data and to create a reference point for design decision.  Further personification of the data was completed in the form of user stories to present functionality of a design from the perspective of the user, keeping the player central to future design choses. 

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Ideation - Crazy eights, low, and medium fidelity 

I chose to then use the 'crazy eights' design method to create 8 sketches of possible design choices to create a variety of solutions to the design problems established in initial user research.  This lead to me selecting the best features from each design and creating them in Photoshop to form a low fidelity proof of concept. This was developed further into medium fidelity still within Photoshop to incorporate elements of visual designs like colour, imagery and typography. 

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High fidelity first prototype and usability testing 

I created a high fidelity version with Figma to produce a working prototype, referring back to initial user research to support features implemented. When completed, I conducted a usability test which first used a Likert scale to gauge how easy/difficult the participants found it to complete a set of instructions, such as using the system to navigate to the 'personal' quests. This, along with thematically analysed qualitative data from open questions allowed me to create evolved user stories to address what needed to be changed about the prototype. 

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Final prototype and usability testing

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Using the results of the initial usability test, changes were made to the prototype to create a final version. A final usability test was then conducted, using the same questions and Likert scale measured instructions to establish if the prototype addressed the previously discovered issues with the usability. In addition, participants filled out the 10 Likert scale questions from the system usability scale by John Brooke (1996) which resulted in a usability score of 91.5 (Grade A, acceptable). 

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