YURI BIALOSKURSKY
Multiplayer | Social | Systems | UX
GAME DESIGNER / DIRECTOR
MADDEN NFL 15
LEAD ONLINE DESIGNER - PS4 / XB1
For Madden 15, I wanted to specifically address onboarding new users into the volatile world of competitive online games. Using anecdotal and live metric data, we created a "play style matchmaking" system which allowed us to categorize users based on their play patterns and match similar players together. I also had fun designing a new in-game notification system that let us keep players connected with our live service features and socially with their friends.
"Madden Ultimate Team Feature Overview: Madden Messenger" - EASports.com
DESIGN CHALLENGES
Online Toxicity
One of the biggest problems we had with Madden online, was trying to get new users to keep playing our head-to-head modes. Many times whenever a new user would muster up the courage to compete online, they would potentialy end up playing against someone more experienced, get beaten by a large margin and then never return. In an effort to curtail these negative experiences for new users, as well as address other toxic issues for regular users, I designed a supplimental matchmaking system that would classify users based on a number of factors (like play patterns) and match them against other users with similar qualities.
Global Messaging System
As our game continued to grow and more live service type features were introduced, I successfully pitched the need for a game-wide messaging service,"Madden Messenger", that could keep our users connected to important events regardless of where they were in our game. My online team collaborated to design this system which would not only handle the messenger feature, but could also be used to share or combine other types of information between our modes like achievements and rewards. It also provided a way for users to stay connected with their friends by alerting them of any important milestones they'd reached or rare rewards they'd obtained.
Long Term Planning
One of my main goals was to set up a long term plan that we could set out to accomplish...basically tackle a bigger problem that can't all be solved within one of our single yearly iterations. I put together a pitch outlining a plan to clean up our Online H2H space by dealing with toxicity from a few different angles like matchmaking, online chat and our Team Select screen. Creating a more socially connected online ecosystem was also included as part of my pitch to senior management which was well received.
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