***due to NDA I cannot write everything on here about my projects. Please contact me for further details.

Overview

During the summer of 2020, I had the opportunity to work at Jam City, a mobile game development company who currently has 7 titles that have ranked in the 100 highest-grossing charts in the Apple Store and over 50 million monthly active users. As a part of the consumer insights team, I got to work on improving the user experience of players on various games.

Impact

Again, cannot write specifics here - please contact for details. I saw the following changes as a result of my work in Summer 2020:

• one (of two) concept designs move forward

• changes made to a new feature before release

• a follow-up usability test conducted

• one (of two) post-game screen flows move forward

• changing obstacles in the first 10 levels to recalibrate difficulty

Things I did :)

• Led a First Time User Experience (FTUE) project from beginning to end for a top 10 marketplace bubble shooter game: conducted competitive analysis, moderated 5 usability tests, synthesized research sessions into slide decks, and presented insights and recommendations to the design team and product managers.

• Executed and supported research plans on 4 additional projects for two of Jam City’s largest games including lab preparation, note taking, moderating usability tests, transcription, analysis, and report writing for 30+ research sessions

• Analyzed competitor titles to determine mobile gaming UX trends and their impact on players, and shared findings with game teams.

• Partnered closely with game teams to understand hypotheses, goals, and strategies, and develop research plans that will impact game design and overall quality for players.

• Assisted with storyboard concept testing, moderated play tests and diary studies.

• Conducted usability testing to identify what factors might be contributing to a high drop off rate in the first 10 levels of a bubble shooter game; found baseline completion rates and player sentiment at level 10 that were used in followup usability tests to increase player retention.

• Conducted concept testing for understanding and sentiment around new game features for two of Jam City’s largest games; presented insights and recommendations to the design team and product managers.

Reflections!

Summer 2020 definitely looked a lot different than any of us could’ve expected, but I’m extremely grateful for my manager, team, and other interns who made the internship a wonderful experience.

I learned a lot about the importance of effectively communicating research goals and presenting recommendations across game teams and how to write succinct but thorough reports that are tailored to the audience (in-house or external stakeholders).

I had a lot of fun working with and learning from the other researchers to help Jam City’s games continue bringing joy to its players and helping us stay connected during these times as we #playaparttogether. As someone who’s hoping to move into the gaming industry, this was a huge step for me, and I’m excited to see what’s next!