Case Study: Yahtzee - Game App

This project is a UX study for an app version of the game Yahtzee. This game was created in 1956 and already has physical and app versions, and in this project the rules were used as a basis for its study and creation. I do not own the rights to the game, so this project will not be implemented and its use was for educational purposes only.

Tools used: Figma, Adobe Photoshop, pen and paper.

My Role: UX Designer designing a game app for Yahtzee based in the official rules.

Responsibilities: Conducting research, papel and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, account for accessibility and iterating on designs.

The Product

Yahtzee is a very popular party game in many countries. To play, you need five dices and a table to keep score. The game has 13 rounds, and whoever has the most points in the end wins.

The problem

Yahtzee already has several versions of apps in stores, but many have a high load of ads and an interface for children.

The goal

Design an app for Yahtzee where users will be able to play without ad interruptions and with a friendly interface.

User Research

The research conducted to this project was interviews, where was possible to find the pain points and necessities of the possible players of the game.

Persona: Emma

Emma is a nurse and she likes to go to parties with her friends. Sometimes, when she wants to play some party game with her friends, it's hard to find an app that doesn't have multiple ads overlaying the game or a non-kid interface.

Pain Points

Attention

Party games like Yahtzee demand player attention, choices influence the final score and a wrong score selection can lead to defeat.

Interface

Many party games are converted to a childish interface in the app stores, even though those games are for the adult audience.

Rules

The game is very well known and many people know the rules, but for those who don't know it take a few rounds to understand.

Starting the Design

Paper wireframes

Thinking about the interactions of the game on paper was the start for the project.

Digital wireframes

To improve the initial design, the results of the user research were studied and adapted to the wireframe.

Low-fidelity prototype

The low-fidelity prototype presented a initial way to construct the user flow.

Usability study: findings

Round 1 findings

Users like a straightforward game without unnecessary screens
Users like to have access to the rules at different stages of the game

Round 2 findings

Users want to have the option to play on the same device with several friends or with more devices at the same time.

Refining the design

Mockups

In the initial design, the reroll option was right after the dice and there was no clear indication of how the user selected the score.

After the usability study, the reroll option in the first and second rounds were moved to the bottom of the screen and a checkbox for the score was added.

After the second usability study, the information has been reorganized on the screen so that it takes up less space and the user can see the two possibilities for the round without having to go to the bottom page.

Key Mockups

High-fidelity Prototype

The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for the game.

View the Yahtzee High-fidelity prototype

What I learned

I learned and understood some of the complexity of converting a game to a digital platform.

The countless possibilities that a game has make the design and creation of the UX/UI a difficult task, but at the same time it is very great to be able to convert a problem into a solution.

Next step

For the next stages of the game, it would be necessary to create and implement the online game options and games on the same device with more players.

Thank you for your time reviewing my work on Yahtzee Game App!

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