Set yourself up for success when designing a crypto game
From our experience with Damned Pirates Society project
I’m probably not telling you anything new here: the crypto market has been booming in the last couple of years, with the gaming landscape incorporating this new technology. For Designers, this should mean new opportunitiesL to learn and to leverage their knowledge towards amazing products. What practices can we bring over from web 2.0, and where do we need to innovate? What are the new constraints Designers need to be aware of? How does one prepare themselves for designing a great experience in this new space?
We believe that building successful crypto-based games starts with having a solid understanding of some of the core UX Design principles which will help you take your first steps into designing for web 3.0. Before we dive into the content, I would like to add some quick disclaimers.
- The principles described are based on personal research and experience with projects in this area.
- The solutions shown in the examples are meant to offer guidance and inspiration and are tailored toward the needs of a particular project. There is no single recipe to follow, and principles will need to be adjusted based on technical and business limitations or requirements.
Most of the examples offered below are based on one of our projects Damned Pirates Society, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. If you want to explore the project more, you can find more information here. Below is a brief description of how the game works. Pour yourself a glass of rum and let’s set sail.🍹
The Damned Pirates Society is one of the latest and most exciting blockchain gaming concepts. The action takes place on the picturesque island of Tortuga, where players stake their assets (NFTs), such as Ships, Pirates, and Artefacts, to head on voyages, find treasures, and earn $DOUBLOONS — the currency of the metaverse. Voyages have various randomly generated obstacles, each challenging one of the three primary skills in the game: Navigation, Luck, and Strenght.
To play the game, you first need to mint a Pirate. Each one comes with three skills (Navigation, Luck, and Strenght), each having between 150 and 300 skill points. Pirates are the only assets that can be staked to generate Treasure Maps, which are required to start a voyage. If your pirate is not the best of the bunch, he still stands a chance by upgrading his ships and buying support ships or artifacts. Everything will cost some doubloons. Each support ship and each artifact will get you various boosts in skill.
Now that you are familiar with the project, let’s dive into some of the core principles and how to apply them.
Community
Web 3 and the crypto technology started with and revolved around communities — and social media is where these communities gather. Social platforms such as Discord, Telegram, and Twitter play a crucial role in fulfilling the promise of a decentralized, thriving society.
Developers, crypto enthusiasts, and gamers use social media to communicate and stay connected to the industry. Tech entrepreneurs leverage communities to build trust and boost the project’s outreach.
Community has always been valuable when launching a new product; the difference now in crypto games is that communities can make or break the game. The decentralized nature of crypto invites users to become co-creators of an experience and exercise more autonomy, all in a safer environment.
Tapping into this community should start as early as possible in the project. It can become a reliable source of insights and help tremendously with UX Research.
However, it’s not enough for Designers to leverage it to their advantage. Users need to feel more connected than ever before, and our efforts should ultimately make your people feel like they are the real owners of the economy and can co-create with developers. Ask users questions often and a lot, and consider their ideas for the game as much as possible. Games are not created by a single conglomerate or a visionary anymore; they result from curious minds worldwide. Tap into those ideas, and you will be rewarded with an inclusive, engaging product.
Additionally, make sure all players have easy access to the community and feel connected. One of the main insights from our interviews while working on The Damned Pirates Society game is that people don’t want to simply refresh a screen while waiting for a voyage to end. They want to feel that things are happening in Tortuga, and other players, just like them, are enjoying the experience.
“I don’t care that my pirate came home with a basic chest today; I am excited to find out that another player just found the rarest one. It’s exciting, and it makes me believe that I can do the same.”
Anticipation and error prevention
Like any other interface user, gamers can get distracted and make errors, and it’s human nature. Only this time, mistakes might cost them not only time but also money.
Given the financial component present in crypto games, anticipating user actions and preventing them from losing money or time is crucial. Strategies, assets, or hours spent in the game can be erased in a blink of an eye if we do not pay sufficient attention.
Actions on the blockchain are immutable, meaning that once you do something and the activity is recorded, there is no way of modifying it. For Web 3 and crypto games designers, immutability comes with the need for extra attention to irreversible user actions.
In anticipation of errors, adding additional friction levels, even if uncomfortable, will reduce the chance of mistakes and make users feel more secure.
Confirmation dialogs like the one above prevent users from accidentally losing data. Before abandoning an ongoing process or performing a destructive action, a prompt will allow users to confirm that they want to move forward and didn’t simply press the wrong button.
Visibility of system status
Whenever users interact with an interface, they need to know whether the interaction was successful. Did the system catch that button press? Did my character throw the crucial punch in the game, or did I just lose this round? Or is there something else I need to do to help the system finish a task? Is there more information required from my side?
Health or life meters are always present in games, mainly action ones, and we are all familiar with them. Their role is to display the player’s health status throughout the game, and the health meter is updated almost instantly once an action occurs.
This principle applies in crypto games as well, while the content of the status bar can differ depending on game dynamics. It’s beneficial and efficient for players to see their assets and status to make the next decision faster. In Damned Pirates Society, we made sure we had a status bar, showing players how much money they still had and how many treasure maps (which were essential for buying voyages).
Additionally, for those who are not yet familiar with crypto games, the gaming experience would not be possible without users connecting the game to their wallet (an app where people securely keep their crypto or other non-fungible tokens). Connecting a wallet is similar to signing up or logging into your account in a traditional app or game scenario. Creating a safe and efficient connection is one of the aspects we need to take care of as UX Designers.
Doing something in the game translates into an action on the blockchain, and wallets act as gatekeepers. Therefore, players will need to approve specific actions in the wallet (a third-party app) and not only in the game.
Feedback within the game will let users know what is happening with their assets and whether there is an action needed from their side. It also helps them understand whether a third-party app ( crypto wallet) has picked up the process, if it’s safe to continue the game or if transactions are complete.
Trust comes first
Let’s talk more about wallets in crypto games and how to avoid them becoming a blocker. A wallet connection requires trust and curiosity, and while those can be built in the community, it’s often not enough.
When asking a user to connect their wallet to access the game, it’s like asking someone entering a venue to open their real wallet and see if they have the entry ticket inside. No one will give you permission to do that if they don’t want to enter the venue in the first place. So, how might we convince them to do so?
Best practice in the industry is to allow people to get to know your product before they link their wallets. More and more Fintech apps and Crypto wallets allow users to explore the app and its services and require them to provide their identification data only when they want to start using the app (e.g., deposit money or cryptocurrency). By that time, users should have made up their minds if they wish to use the product or not.
Additionally, it’s important to clarify which wallet the game operates with and the network/blockchain they should use for the game. Crypto games run on multiple networks and won’t work if connected to the wrong one. Clarifying this should be a must-have, especially in this constantly growing landscape. If the product you are building is multichain, allow the user to switch between chains. If it only operates on one chain, let users know by displaying the chain’s name.
Interactions with crypto games require more knowledge, extra steps, and a steeper learning curve. At the same time, this creates more opportunities for UX Designers to innovate, grow and break routine. By starting with the core UX principles, which are still valid, and applying them consistently, you will soon realize how fun and not at all scary emerging technology can be.
Here is a quick recapt of what designing crypto games can entail and what you should pay attention to:
- Community is extremely valuable — make sure users feel connected to the game;
- Access to such a game is more restricted, involving a wallet connection. This is required for the game to identify if the user meets the entry criteria (has one or more tokens necessary to start the game). As Designers, we need to ensure an easy, quick and secure connection while confirming the user is ready for this step.
- Anticipation and error prevention — good error messages are essential, but the best web3 designs carefully prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
- Visibility of system status — users should know what is going on and, in this case, how many tokens they still have in the game. As transactions are approved in a 3rd party app, the game should let them know who is handling it and for how long.
Are you interested in designing crypto games and want to learn more? Check out our experience with UX Research for crypto games and the most delightful part of designing a game: bringing old-school charm into web3.
At Ixperi, we follow a human-centered design process from idea to a fully fleshed digital product, for results that will make customers fall in love with you. No matter your business size, we’re here to help you bring new products to life or improve your existing ones. We’d love to hear about your goals! Ready to partner up?
Check us out on our Website: https://www.ixperi.com
Or drop us a line at hello@ixperi.com
