Reducing the Technical Barrier to Entry in the Xbox Live Advanced Stats and Events System
Microsoft Dev Center, Xbox Live
Option 1 - Flat list with events noted as metadata in a table column.
Option 2 (Winner) - Add hierarchy by parenting stat rules to events.
Option 3 - Mirror legacy experience.
In 2017, the trend within the suite of Xbox Live services was a move towards simplification. Previously, developers were forced to use Xbox Live's stats and events framework. The framework provides an amazing amount of power when connected properly with other services like achievements, but introduces unneeded complexity for most developers.
We introduced a simplified featured stats and leaderboards system that doesn't force the developer to create dozens or hundreds of stats and events. The new system is simple enough to be included in the Xbox Live Creators Program, an initiative aimed at hobbyist developers.
The developers who still wanted to take advantage of the options provided by the traditional events and stats system, and so we needed to figure out how to best translate the legacy experience from the Xbox Developer Portal to the new Universal Dev Center.
There were three different UX proposals, one each from the design team, an engineer, and the feature area program manager. A series of heated discussions weren't propelling the project forward. So since we had decent lead time and were fortunate enough to have access to actual game developers in the area, I proposed conducting a mini usability study with some real users at Turn 10 (developers of the Forza Motorsport series).
We had three participants, each with a different role at the studio, and each with varying technical proficiency required for their jobs. Asking them to rank the approaches in order of preference, a clear winner became apparent. In addition to helping us decide the general framework/approach, their other feedback was valuable in refining the flow and helped us introduce several "quality of life" feature enhancements and add additional clarity and context to the final design. While three users is a little light for a full usability study, the unanimous nature of the feedback was sufficient for helping push the design in the right direction.
Download the full study and design deck
UX: Arisa Conwell Design Lead: Jon Anderson