As Lead UI & UX Designer, I helped bring to life a new interactive experience for one of the most famous games on the world's most used platform, Facebook. The game has garnered 200 million+ players globally within 4 weeks of launch.
PAC-MAN Community is a new multiplayer-focused spin on the classic arcade game that is encouraged to be played with friends on Facebook. As design team lead, I was responsible for the entire product design life cycle. I worked alongside a large team including Bandai Namco, game directors, developers, internal and external partners, project managers, and C-Levels. Production began in Spring 2021 and the beta game launched worldwide on December 6, 2021 on Facebook Games. The Game hit 100 million players after 2 weeks of launch and 200 million after 4 weeks, including Mark Zuckerberg himself.
What I Did
UX & UI Design
Concept and Ideation
Interactive prototypes
Branding and marketing design including logo
Hired and managed UX and UI designers
Managed UX research and testing phases alongside UX Designer
Principal point person for all design ap
Sound and music approval
Challenges
Usability – User experience needs to be intuitive cross platform on iOS and Android, seamless across multi-player mode
Interaction – User needs to easily understand how this unfamiliar interaction works
Engagement – Keeping user engaged throughout the game flow and encourage them to play with friends
Brand – Every aspect needs approval from Bandai Namco to ensure it’s within their strict guidelines
Resources – I was the sole designer for the company at the time and the timeline was 6 months
Ambiguity – Being the first game of it’s kind there isn’t tribal knowledge to base design decisions from
Goals
The unique aspect of PAC-MAN Community is the ability to play co-op with other people. Players work together to survive the ghosts and compete for the highest score. You can make rooms to play with your friends and streamers can invite viewers to join their game with Facebook’s Play with Streamer feature. With a short timeline of 6 months, I was tasked to design the user experience and UI that would engage viewers and best showcase these new features in a fun way.
Early Design Explorations
Without any direction except that this game would live on Facebook, I was tasked to create the UI mockup for this new game that we pitched to Facebook. This could make or break the deal. With the CEO as the stakeholder in this phase, I utilized the Bandai-approved color palettes and created a simplified mockup of what the game could look like. This design was very well received by the client and ultimately landed Genvid Entertainment a multimillion-dollar deal with Facebook to create the full game.
Low-fidelity wireframe explorations
High-fidelity UI Comps
User Testing
Due to being the only design resource at the time, there wasn’t bandwidth for user testing in the early stages. A few months before launch, I hired a UX Designer and we set up a user testing plan for the overall game. This included the Watch, Play, and Create sections. Using these test results, I updated the UI accordingly. Case study upon request.
Maze Creator
Upon user testing, a text box indicating the tool name was added to avoid user confusion (right).
Community Interactions
Watch mode was one of the main features showcasing Genvid’s interactive technology. The challenge was for the user to clearly understand the purpose of this function and find it fun and engaging to use. We also had to convey their contribution was influencing the actual AI game.
Interaction post-user testing
Solutions
Clarify what the user can do and provide a call to action
Update the power meter design to provide more feedback to the user that their input was received
Separate the PAC-MAN and ghost power meters to reduce confusion they aren’t affecting one another
Account for the buffer between user pressing button and interaction to show their input is being processed to increase the power of PAC-MAN or the ghost
Interaction post-user testing
UI Design
After the initial concept designs. for the UI and UX, due to resourcing additional designers were on board to meet the 6-month deadline. I managed all output of design deliverables and ensured consistency. Other design aspects I was responsible for:
Making sure every detail is Bandai-approved
Creating color systems for buttons and icons across the game
Cohesiveness across all graphics including icons and illustrations
Creation of background graphic and animation concept
Animation of buttons
Interactions (sliders, buttons, d-pad)
