JWA is a mobile geo-location game released in 2018 where you catch, create, and battle your dinosaurs. I was responsible for UI & UX design of several features which included adding new content and improving older features. During my time I also created and led a small team to document current accessibility standards and made positive impacts to the team’s culture and way we work.
My first big feature was creating the art direction for our new badges. Originally meant to be a small collectible set for achievements, their potential grew to be included in live-ops events also. It took several iterations to get the badges to each look special, match their achievement/event type, and to have a life-like quality. In the end I created 60+ unique badges. I also prepared files and documentation for outsource teams. This included a PSD template for each badge type, as well as art documentation breaking down the PSD structure, how to create a badge, and which layers of the document to adjust for quick turnarounds. With the roll out of the badges, I also designed the new player profile where player badge, title, and stats are shown.
With the more complex features, I spent more time in wireframes and creating interactive prototypes to test the designs. One of my last updates on the project included the introduction of a battle pass and a newly upgraded missions system. I did a lot of research to see how other games handled visual & experiential design while also referencing our own game since some of the designs already existed. I took on an iterative process for these features, using feedback from internal testing to improve.
Credits to Zeeshan Zaidi for the visual design of the "Welcome Back Pass" which the battle pass was based off of, and Rachel Gomes for the battle pass data chip asset.
With all new features I worked on, I always tried to find a way to include accessibility into my designs of an already established game. One area that I excelled in was for color blindness. A lot of things in JWA use color only to distinguish information. For the new features of creature classes and creature markers, I wanted to make sure that our color blind players could see the difference between the icons. For both features, I used color and shape to help distinguish them. Once these features were complete I had a colleague reach out to me thanking me for considering color blindness, which totally made my day.
