Gamer's Hive
Connecting gamers through gaming.
Gamer's Hive started as a personal project to help manage an online gaming group, but after its initial release and seeing a quick growth, a problem was discovered inside the gaming industry where it could shine: Finding likely-skilled players to group or play against.
Research
Once I got initial interest on the actual project I really wanted to figure out exactly what it is that I could provide for the users to get when using the platform. I took the initial build of the website and went to OrlandoiX and was grateful to be able to talk with over 200 gamers and show them the initial prototype for the project and gauge interest on both the product and if it is something that could enter the industry. I went with a team and together we collected the following questions based on the feedback that we got from the gamers:
- How can I showcase my gaming skills?
- What can I use to find others that have similar gaming skills to me?
- How can I look for teams if I had interest in joining their team?
- What about other types of games? Board Games? Card Games?
- What about tournaments?
Logo & Branding
When thinking about a logo and branding for the web platform, I wanted to encompass the sense of community and the uniquness of the different types of gamers that are around the world. Each gamer is unique in their own way, but we are all united through gaming.
Wireframes & UI Concepts
When coming up with initial concepts one of the things that I set out to do with the designs is to showcase the gaming abilities for a user, but also keep a familiar interface for quick adoption.
I decided to keep the navigation off to the side and away from the content to put the focus on the gamer, their posts and skills. This also will help carry the content across multiple devices while on the web platform. This floating navigation will be an easy global access to all different parts of the site.
