SongPop is a music trivia game where players listen to a song clip and guess the artist or song name. Users send challenges back and forth and build friendships based on music preferences and gaming style.
The player profile is a frequently visited screen and for a social game like SongPop, it’s an important one since engagement is often positively correlated with the number of in-game friends a user has. Die-hard SongPop users are a passionate bunch who care about music, in-game collectibles, player stats, and gameplay streaks. Our profile page was painfully slow to load especially if a user had a lot of collectibles, had tons of bugs, and was not very engaging. We looked at hierarchical improvements to show the most interesting info first, and performance optimizations to decrease loading time.
The Solution
I worked with our junior product designer and developers to redesign the screen while incorporating feedback from some of our most dedicated players. We moved the subscription status, membership dates, and player stats to the very top and gave paying subscribers a shiny golden trophy cabinet to display their prized items. We also added missing currency counts, progress earned towards collectibles, and improved the music compatibility scores to include mutually favourited genres. A loading skeleton (paired with some necessary back-end optimizations) eased feelings of uncertainty, especially for users with slower internet connections.
The Results
Users were very happy with the updates. Even though we were showing more information, better visual cues while loading meant that we were showing a believable indicator of system status.
The ability to show off collectible items was also a big hit, as previously it was hidden under buttons and menus. It revealed more items in a way that encouraged more users to invest. For SongPop players, numbers and timing are a hot topic and they appreciated the new and improved gameplay stats section, especially the ones that tied into new features.
Understanding how players used this screen to inform how they played the game and interacted with other users was pivotal to our decision-making process. We were fortunate to have a serious, loyal group of fans who are community and gameplay experts.