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WILDLIFE MOBILE GAME CONCEPT & DESIGN
EMPATHIZE, DEFINE, IDEATE PHASES
UIUX DESIGNER - TAN FANG HUI
TOOLS USED - FIGMA, CANVA
WILDLIFE GAME
06
CONTEXT
Personal case study - Ideation of wildlife mobile game concept and design using Figma
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Mandai is a wildlife attraction committed to protecting biodiversity in Singapore and the region, and aims to inspire people to value and conserve biodiversity.
Mandai is creating a new mobile game to convey their branding and encourage users to take steps in daily life to protect wildlife and the environment.
PROBLEM
Wildlife Reserves Singapore commissioned a Conservation Sentiments Survey in 2020 surveying over 1000 Singapore residents aged 16 and above and findings include:
- Only slightly more than three in 10 Singaporeans were able to correctly name native wildlife species.
- 50% of Singaporeans have never participated in wildlife conservation efforts due to not having the time to do so, and/or not knowing where to begin, and/or not being financially able
- Singaporeans would be more willing to get involved in wildlife conservation if they knew their actions would make an impact, and/or having more financial resources, and/or having more awareness in the media about the issue
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Mandai envisioned a mobile game that would create more media conservation awareness, and a game concept to address the financial pain points and motivate users to take meaningful action.
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Constraints: 3 days for game concept ideation to high-fi mockups
THE CHALLENGE
"How do you promote wildlife conservation to users via a mobile game?"
RESEARCH
I conducted secondary research on player motivations, wildlife conservation motivations and Mandai's conservation efforts. I researched on successful games in the market as well.
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Findings:
1. Successful games satisfy a wide range of users
- GameRefinery identified 12 player motivational drivers from their data and research
- ironSource identified 4 essential player types for rewarded video engagement
GAMEREFINERY'S PLAYER MOTIVATIONAL DRIVERS
IRONSOURCE'S PLAYER TYPES
2. Encourage optimistic failure by making it fun and provide visual feedback of progress after failure
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​3. Business Insider posits games like Farmville are popular as users feel obligated to return gifts to each other
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4. A Frontiers research study identified wildlife knowledge and physical interactions as important in stimulating positive emotions and empathy towards wildlife conservation
IDEATION
I prioritised game concepts as they were predominant contributors to players' experience.
I came up with game concepts that would address the various pain points identified through user research and appeal to the various player motivational drivers.
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Due to time constraints and to best convey the gaming experience, I designed and iterated high-fi mockups in Figma.
Mockup screens showed the game welcome instructions, homepage, various wildlife mini games, rewards, and win and lose screens.
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I chose a Gaegu font family to evoke fun and childlike-ness.
LEARNINGS
Research on game psychology is essential in coming up with game concepts that would appeal to players and address users' needs.
NEXT STEPS
To conduct usability testing on a prototype to validate whether user needs have been effectively addressed