Brief
Date: Fall 2020
Project: "Cambio" Gamer iOS Mobile App
Event: Hackathon "HackTX2020" organized by Freetail Hackers
Challenge: Develop a mobile app and deliver a clickable prototype in 36 hrs.
Inspired by: Google’s API to detect emotions.
Technologies: Firebase Auth API for Login/create, LaunchBox Games Data Base, Google Cloud Vision Detect Mood, and Stay Well Meditation Data Base.
Project: "Cambio" Gamer iOS Mobile App
Event: Hackathon "HackTX2020" organized by Freetail Hackers
Challenge: Develop a mobile app and deliver a clickable prototype in 36 hrs.
Inspired by: Google’s API to detect emotions.
Technologies: Firebase Auth API for Login/create, LaunchBox Games Data Base, Google Cloud Vision Detect Mood, and Stay Well Meditation Data Base.
UX Design Team
My Role
PM and UX Designer
Responsibilities: Pre-Planing, manage hack sprint , research, accessibility testing, style guide development, sketches, Lo-Fi wireframes, presentation, and facilitator.
Responsibilities: Pre-Planing, manage hack sprint , research, accessibility testing, style guide development, sketches, Lo-Fi wireframes, presentation, and facilitator.
Introduction
As a group of four passionate UT Austin students, immersed in our UX/UI Design certification during the pandemic, we eagerly embraced our first hackathon as an opportunity to apply our skills and delve into mobile app development. During our pitch session, the limited time available for UX research became evident. It was at this point in time, I seized the moment to propose the idea of creating a mobile app for gamers, leveraging the expertise of our team member, Emma, who had first hand gaming experience. By incorporating her user perspective, we aimed to establish a stronger connection to the product and receive prompt feedback. Our vision for gaming app was further ignited by the discovery of Google Cloud Vision- an API capable of detecting emotions. This inspired us to develop "Cambio", our innovative gamer mobile app.
Objective
Design a mobile gaming app that enhances the overall gaming experience by utilizing mood analysis and probability of winning to provide personalized meditations during breaks, thereby improving gamer's performance for their subsequent matches.
Problem Statement
Players with mood fluctuations become angry when they lose a game decreasing their chances of winning. Spikes in temper can affect the gamer's reputation, ability to be a good teammate, and increase their probability of maintaining a losing streak.
The Dive into Mood and Gaming
Further research into mood revealed its crucial role in gaming performance. In comparison to physical games that can increase serotonin levels and happiness, playing computer games for an extended period my trigger depression and social problems. The World Health Organization officially recognized gaming disorder as a mental health condition in June 2018, affecting 60 million people. However, only 1% exhibit symptoms associated with gaming disorder. Additionally, video game addiction prevalence among teenagers has risen by 4% since 2007, and worldwide gaming disorder prevalence grew by 3% in 2019. There is a close connection between symptoms associated with ADHD and different levels of video game addiction.
Gamers' Pain Points to Reach Optimal Performance
A study presented by PMC PubMed Central, conducted on high-level League of Legends players revealed several obstacles that hindered optimal performance including pressure from competition, harassment, and negative communication during gameplay. Gamers frequently experience stress, frustration, and dissatisfaction when their performance is hindered, whether by losing a game, facing challenging opponents, or encountering obstacles within the game environment. We discover that spikes in temper can affect also, gamer's reputation, ability to be a good teammate, and increase their probability of maintaining a losing streak. E-sports suggest that up to 50% of performance improvement link to mental preparedness and a player's state of mind.
Gamers' Needs to Achieve Optimal Performance
✔️ Think strategically
✔️ Make fast and smart decisions
✔️ Stay motivated
✔️ Avoid distractions
✔️ Cope adaptively with harassment
✔️ Maintain a positive attitude
✔️ Mental preparedness
✔️ Make fast and smart decisions
✔️ Stay motivated
✔️ Avoid distractions
✔️ Cope adaptively with harassment
✔️ Maintain a positive attitude
✔️ Mental preparedness
Our Solution
How might we create an environment for gamers to identify mood, alleviate stressor, and win?
Cambio addresses these pain points by enabling users to:
✔️ Utilize mood tracking technology to identify the correlation between mood fluctuations and gaming performance.
✔️ Provide tailored mindfulness exercises to enhance gamers' focus, resilience, and overall well-being, leading to improve gameplay and increase enjoyment.
As UX designers, our ultimate goal is to create an environment that supports gamers in their quest to win while providing a tool for gamers who face gaming disorder, promoting a healthier and more balanced gaming experience that emphasizes mood tracking, mindfulness, and mental preparedness.
The making of Cambio
Based on the collected data, we designed a user flow that reflects the desired experience for Cambio users.
The journey begins with users selecting their preferred game genre and specifying the name of the game they want to play.
Next, users are prompted to capture a picture of themselves.
Utilizing mood tracking technology, the app analyzes the user's mood to determine their probability of winning, considering their mood results and the effort required to succeed. This information empowers users to make informed decisions.
At this point, users have two options: They can choose to play the game directly or opt to receive assistance in improving their mood. If they select the latter, Cambio offers tailored mindfulness exercises designed to enhance focus, resilience, and overall well-being.
If the user decides to take a meditation and retake the test, the user will have improvement of performance probability to win.
Once new data is obtained the user's profile will provide entries and past results.
After completing the mindfulness exercise, users have the opportunity to retake the "probability to win" test, taking into account their improved mood.
Cambio Mobile App Prototype
Moving Forward
In the future, we will continue to test with more users to see what pain points remain. We want to incorporate the apple watch using heartbeats to get mood results or any other different health applications that the user might use to determine the probability of winning and improving gameplay with other teammates.
Hackathon Experience
Challenges we ran into
➡️ Time constraint was an issue to complete more user research and testing.
➡️ We worked a long time to simulate someone using the camera in our prototype but ultimately had to take it out because it was too glitchy.
➡️ We worked a long time to simulate someone using the camera in our prototype but ultimately had to take it out because it was too glitchy.
What we learned
➡️ Rapid Prototyping
➡️ How API Application Programing Interfaces retrieve data from remote server, send data, perform actions, and integrate different software components or services.
➡️ How API Application Programing Interfaces retrieve data from remote server, send data, perform actions, and integrate different software components or services.
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If you enjoyed what you read, let's create something together!
If you enjoyed what you read, let's create something together!