Archive · 2019–21
Challenge: The current matchmaking interface does not allow the player to create their own personal preferences when joining matches from the Play menu
Solution: A robust and qualitative matchmaker menu to maximize inclusivity of all play-styles
Target Audience: Players who feel their play style is not being supported by the current matchmaking system.
“Support variation in play styles, again this is something that Overwatch does a good job with, for example with Bastion not requiring jumping, fast movements or precise aim.”
Ian Hamilton, UX Designer
When coming up with solutions for inclusivity, it is critical to consider the following areas..
Support variation in play styles, Overwatch already does this well with
all of the playable heroes it has to offer.
Disclaimer: Players can only join matches with other players who have the same or similar matchmaking settings as them.
Ex; All players in a match have Aim Assist toggled ON.
Challenge: The scope view for Ana’s Biotic Rifle is not intuitive during high intensity gameplay
Solution: A streamlined scope view that focuses on player immersion and target accuracy
The rifle functions as a dart gun, which fires darts filled with a biotic solution that are injected upon impact with the target. For this purpose, Ana carries multiple darts with different effects, including healing darts and offensive darts.
It carries fourteen rounds in a single clip and is able to affect both teams, healing allies for 75 HP and dealing 70 damage to enemies. It comes equipped with a scope which makes Ana's shots hitscan at the sacrifice of vision of her surroundings and movement speed.
Current User State
The current state of the biotic rifle is very basic. The user is able to either use no scope or opt to use the scope, which is toggled with either the left trigger on an analog controller, or the right mouse button.
The Biotic Rifle shoots darts, if these darts hit an enemy then they will cause damage, if they hit a teammate they will heal the teammate. With this being said, there are no linear micro transactions between using a scope/no scope and targeting an enemy/teammate. This causes a cognitive conundrum for the player, especially in fast paced action.
The biotic rifle is primarily used for healing, so from a UX standpoint I think it would be interesting to add a special feature to the biotic rifle to enhance its healing capabilities. Something that makes the biotic rifle special from other weapons is its scope ability and unique hitscan
For my redesigned solution. I knew it would be important to incorporate other UI elements into Ana’s Biotic Rifle, making Ana look and feel unique to the player, while still harnessing the powerful interface elements that are pre existing. Some other interface elements that were particularly important and consistently used were her Ability #1 (Sleep Dart) and her Ability #2 (Biotic Grenade).
Another notable part of the interface that is particularly important for a first person shooter is Ana’s ammo count. In competitive moments or intense action, it can be crucial to know when to manually reload.
Lastly, because the Biotic Rifle is primarily used for healing, I wanted to add confirmations in the scope view as to when Ana is targeting a friendly player. This confirmation works with the engine to determine the distance of the teammate and the velocity of the dart being fired.
