Overview

THE Challenge

The Xbox Live Creators Program enabled all game developers (not just professional game publishers) to publish games to Xbox One consoles.

I designed the end to end (E2E) flow in Microsoft's Dev Center that would allow all game developers  to ship their games to console. I also designed the upgrade path that would increase sign-up rates for the ID@Xbox program.

    CORE TEAM

    PM, UX designer, developer. I was the UX designer. (3 different orgs involved on project)

    DURATION

    3 month project.

    Discover

    Intake and Definition

    To kick the project off, the program manager shared the project's documentation and set up a couple kick off meetings with the appropriate stakeholders. Reading through the project requirements and gathering information from the various stakeholders then provided me with enough information to dive in and start defining what success for this project would look like. 

    Stakeholder meeting notes.png

    DEFINe

    DESIGN GOALS

    Current Situation

    Publishing to Xbox One consoles was previously only available to managed partners (i.e. ID@Xbox developers or AAA game developers like EA, Bethesda, etc.).

    Business Goal

    Increase Xbox Live content available on Windows 10 and Xbox One in order to increase monthly active users and drive ID@Xbox signups. Additionally, limit developer confusion, keep support costs low, increase revenue, and subsequently make good on a previous year's GDC promise.

    User Goal

    Publish and sell games on Xbox One consoles and get free Xbox Live functionality and exposure.

     

      Outcomes slide.png

      Key Technical requirements and considerations

      Impacting variables:

      While the actual page design output of this project was relatively small, the technical considerations and how this program fit into the larger Xbox Live ecosystem was the most interesting UX challenge that needed to be solved. As one of the goals of this initiative was to promote ID@Xbox sign-ups, the Creators Program needed to integrate with the existing full Xbox Live experience that managed partners experience today. Given this requirement and the goal of creating a seamless and consistent experience for all developers , I identified that the overall flow and designs would need to account for 4 different types of states the product or account could be in:

      1. Account type:
        • Managed partner (AAA developers/large game studios and ID@Xbox developers)
        • Non-managed partner (aka "breadth" developers)
      2. Sandbox status:

        • CIso (Content Isolation enabled for product config)

        • Non-CIso (Content Isolation not enabled for product config)

      3. Tier:
        1. Full Xbox Live tier access
        2. Open (Creators Program) tier access
      4. Configuration status:
        • Enabled and configured a program
        • Has not yet enabled and configured a program
      Product states slide.png

      Key scenarios:

      From the given impacting variables, I proceeded to identify the primary scenarios that would require unique design considerations. Being that our user could be a managed partner or a breadth developer (i.e. unmanaged partner), there were different UI considerations to be made. Breadth developers could enable the Creators Program only and could upgrade to the full Xbox Live feature set by becoming a manager partner and joining the ID@Xbox program. If already a managed partner, a user could chose whether they wanted to use the full XBL program which requires their product support content isolation/sandboxes; or they could choose the Creators Program (Non CIso/no sandboxes). If they choose the Creators Program path, they can still upgrade their product to the full XBL experience. However, if or once they enable the full XBL path, they cannot change back to having Open tier access due to the techincial constraints of removing sandbox functionality from a product once it has been assigned.

      1. Scenario 1: 
        • Breadth developer enables and configures Xbox Live Creators Program (Non CIso)
      2. Scenario 2: 
        • Breadth developer gains concept approval and joins ID@Xbox to enable the full Xbox Live service for a previously XBLCP product (product retroactively CIso enabled)
      3. Scenario 3: 
        • Managed partner gets concept approval and enables full Xbox Live service (CIso)
      4. Scenario 4: 
        • Managed partner enables and configures Xbox Live Creators Program (Non CIso)
      5. Scenario 5: 
        • Managed partner upgrades to full Xbox Live service with concept approval (product retroactively CIso enabled)
      Key design scenarios slide.png

       

      Resulting User Flow

      As a result of identifying these impacting variables and key design scenarios, I drafted the below flow to clearly identify the E2E (end to end) experience for the Xbox Live Creators Program and gain alignment between the Dev Center, Xbox and Publishing teams involved with building the experience.

      Flow slide.png

      DESIGN

      Designs and prototyping

      With a clear picture of our goals and objectives, I got to ideating, sketching and compiling design ideas. The results were the following designs.

      Xbox Live Creators Program Gallery
      In today's Dev Center, all developers start the process of submitting their product to be sold in the Microsoft storefronts by creating a submission.  A user would submit their Xbox Live Creators program configurations via a submission, so the experience fit best on the submission anchor page. The program was only available if the product type was 'Game', so if a user was submitting something other than a game, this section disappeared since it was not relevant.

      In today's Dev Center, all developers start the process of submitting their product to be sold in the Microsoft storefronts by creating a submission. 

      A user would submit their Xbox Live Creators program configurations via a submission, so the experience fit best on the submission anchor page. The program was only available if the product type was 'Game', so if a user was submitting something other than a game, this section disappeared since it was not relevant.

      Again, since this was a new program, we wanted to increase visibility to help users become aware of the new feature available.  So, once user has selected product type of‘Game’, a notification appears to remind user of the new feature available and potentially relevant to them as a game developer.

      Again, since this was a new program, we wanted to increase visibility to help users become aware of the new feature available. 

      So, once user has selected product type of‘Game’, a notification appears to remind user of the new feature available and potentially relevant to them as a game developer.

      When a user returns to the submission anchor page they may now access the Xbox Live Creators Program. The status of the Xbox Live Creators Program reads as optional, expect in the case that a user has specified that they plan to ship to console, in which case configuring the Creators Programs reads as a requirement.

      When a user returns to the submission anchor page they may now access the Xbox Live Creators Program.

      The status of the Xbox Live Creators Program reads as optional, expect in the case that a user has specified that they plan to ship to console, in which case configuring the Creators Programs reads as a requirement.

      Breadth developers are not as familiar with the Xbox Live capabilities, and so the enable page serves as a place where the users can both learn about the feature and then choose to enable it for their game. 1. Enable + Intro:  Inform our breadth developers of the value the Xbox Live Creators Program provides and option to enable 2. What's in it for our devs:  Highlight features of Xbox Live Creators Program 3. How to get started: Let developers know how they can make sure their game is ready for Xbox Live

      Breadth developers are not as familiar with the Xbox Live capabilities, and so the enable page serves as a place where the users can both learn about the feature and then choose to enable it for their game.

      1. Enable + Intro: Inform our breadth developers of the value the Xbox Live Creators Program provides and option to enable

      2. What's in it for our devs: Highlight features of Xbox Live Creators Program

      3. How to get started: Let developers know how they can make sure their game is ready for Xbox Live

      At the end of this enable page, beyond the program basics, is an upsell promotion letting the developer know that if they are interested in bringing features like Achievements and Multiplayer to their game and being featured in the store, that the ID@Xbox provides the path to more. I placed this at the end of the page since at this stage in the flow, most unmanaged developers will not yet have the game traction or bandwidth to go through Concept Approval to join the ID@Xbox program. However, this upsell remains available throughout the flow so that as their game does gain traction, they will always have the option to join the ID@Xbox program in order to take advantage of the Xbox Live full feature set.

      At the end of this enable page, beyond the program basics, is an upsell promotion letting the developer know that if they are interested in bringing features like Achievements and Multiplayer to their game and being featured in the store, that the ID@Xbox provides the path to more. I placed this at the end of the page since at this stage in the flow, most unmanaged developers will not yet have the game traction or bandwidth to go through Concept Approval to join the ID@Xbox program. However, this upsell remains available throughout the flow so that as their game does gain traction, they will always have the option to join the ID@Xbox program in order to take advantage of the Xbox Live full feature set.

      All Xbox Live Creators Program configurations reside on one page, leading first with the config that will be most relevant to user and ending with an upsell for joining the ID@Xbox program for more features. 1. Intro + Main feature:  Keep consistent reminder of what the XBL service is and lead with most value-adding feature (Featured stats & Leaderboards) 2. Other features:  Optionally configure storage and localized strings 3. Test:  Let developers commit their game to the sandbox to sign in and preview their Xbox Live experience

      All Xbox Live Creators Program configurations reside on one page, leading first with the config that will be most relevant to user and ending with an upsell for joining the ID@Xbox program for more features.

      1. Intro + Main feature: Keep consistent reminder of what the XBL service is and lead with most value-adding feature (Featured stats & Leaderboards)

      2. Other features: Optionally configure storage and localized strings

      3. Test: Let developers commit their game to the sandbox to sign in and preview their Xbox Live experience

      Lastly, at the end of the configuration page, as their game gains traction or if a user is simply looking to do more like add achievements and multiplayer to their game, a developer can start down the path of joining ID@Xbox and enabling the Xbox Live full feature set.

      Lastly, at the end of the configuration page, as their game gains traction or if a user is simply looking to do more like add achievements and multiplayer to their game, a developer can start down the path of joining ID@Xbox and enabling the Xbox Live full feature set.

      Develop

      In working with the lead developer on delivering the experience, I created a shared excel spreadsheet to help track bugs.

      Measure

      Signups and initial interest

      The max allotted beta spots for the program were all assigned to breadth developers within less than a week of the program being announced. Demand for the program has so far proven to be high, surprisingly even among already managed partners who have access to the full Xbox Live experience but can use the Creators Program to test smaller games.

      Positive social media and blogging world response

      “This program is really appreciated! I’m a tiny amateur with no hope of getting my games published on a console...until now!”
      — A DEVELOPER ON TWITTER, IN RESPONSE TO THE XBOX LIVE CREATORS PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT AT GDC ‘17
      “Microsoft is giving game developers a new way to bring their games to Xbox One and Windows 10.”
      — POLYGON

      Current performance

      Over a dozen games have shipped so far (including one from our GDC developer friend on Twitter, and his game is doing extremely well!) with over a dozen more in the pipeline. Overall, developer feedback about the submission to store process has been positive. One area that was causing developers confusion, however, was in figuring that it was required that they implement Xbox Live Live sign in and test their game prior to publishing. As a result, I worked with a few key stakeholders to address the issue with a few design proposals that would ideally help reduce the confusion.

      Additional analytics being collected to see actual click rates and interaction patterns. Coming soon.