Always a Reason
to Come Back

Role

Lead UX — Episode Pass

Owned progression logic, reward track structure, purchase screens, and cross-system integration. PC and mobile.

Responsibilities

Problem definition

Audience analysis

Player verbs

Player paths

Information architecture

Wireframes

Cross-system design

Purchase screen design

Design system contribution

Team

4 Eng · 1 GD · 1 PM · 2 Art · 1 Dir · 1 Audio

Date

December 2024

The Problem

Engagement without investment.

Galaxy of Heroes had daily activities, quests, and confusing tasks that had been running for years. Each one lived on its own isolated screen with no cohesive system connecting them. Players had no seasonal rhythm to follow. There was nothing that made one month feel different from the next. And no reason to invest.

Before — Original Episode UI

Decisions that
close the loop.

01UI States

Every state had a job.

I designed the UI into a modern version including states for locked, claimed, unclaimed, future, and progression. Era emblems illuminated based on which tracks were active and owned.

UI States

Clear state. Clear path.

Every way a player could interact with a reward on the track was mapped before a single state was designed. Color did the heavy lifting. Clear contrast between current and future states kept players oriented without overloading the UI with messages. The state patterns were borrowed from the Conquest feature, a system players had already learned, so advanced and elder players felt immediately at home.

Reward sticky snippet

States: Premium and free emblems, Premium Tap to Claim, Premium Future, Free Claimed

02Purchase Design

Familiar pattern. Modern screens.

Episode Pass used the same bundle presentation patterns Galaxy of Heroes players already knew from Conquest. I could have reused the old UI and shipped faster. Instead I designed and built something new. Modern enough to ship every season without rebuilding it each time.

Pattern audit

Familiar pattern. Modern screens.

The original Conquest purchase screen split two passes side by side with no hierarchy. I had two options: update the copy and keep the old template, or build something new. I built new. I created custom UI panels, new UX copy (char count), and title characters floating in front of the panels until I landed on the final design.

Old purchase screen

Iteration one

Iteration two

Final design: owned state

03Competitive Analysis

We cut the Starter Pass. The Free Pass was enough.

We took the Starter Pass all the way through IA, sketches, and engineering conversations. Then we cut it. The Free Pass did the same job without the overhead.

Competitive analysis

Less system. Same job.

Each comp in my competitive analysis handled Battle Pass onboarding slightly differently. Marvel Snap's Starter Pass needed its own tutorial. We already had a First Time User Experience system. After designing the IA and having conversations with engineering, we decided we wouldn't need to build an additional layer with a Starter Pass. We went with showing both passes on the track.

Marvel Snap analysis

Cut

Starter Pass concept

Free Pass FTUE

04Progression Design

The loop doesn't end.

The feeling of completing a season pass before the season ends never feels good. I designed a repeating milestone so the track never felt finished.

Episode Track end state — repeating milestone

Progression mapping

No finish line.

Before designing anything, I mapped every way a player could interact with the capstone. Marvel Strike Force offered exclusive rewards throughout the battle pass. Marvel Snap rewarded extra tracks at season end.

Player verbs

Marvel Strike Force Comp

I designed exclusive rewards throughout the battle pass and repeatable milestones. The track keeps going past the capstone. There's always a next step waiting.

→

05Navigation Design

The Objectives button had to go.

Episode Pass needed a permanent home on the Cantina screen. I designed one widget that worked as two entry points. The episode emblem took players to Episode Pass. The Quest button took them to Quests.

Navigation audit

Replace. Don't patch.

The old Objectives button was a dead end. I replaced it with one widget that worked as two entry points into the season pass. One button for Episode Pass. One for Quests. Two systems, one connected experience.

Cut

Old Objectives button

→

Combined widget

06Systems Design

Quest and Episode Pass. One loop.

The Quest system and Episode Pass lived in separate parts of the game. I aligned both systems early. Same sidebar navigation. Same language. One connected season.

Daily Quests integrated with Episode Pass

Systems audit

Built to connect.

Episode Pass and Quests needed to feel like one system, not two separate features. The side navigation was already familiar to Galaxy of Heroes players, so we used it to connect both into one season. This IA was built collaboratively with the Quest UX designer. Together these two systems created the season pass.

IA map — Quests & Episode Pass

Always a Reason
to Come Back