The goal was to fix clarity and rebuild the Marquee flow so it could support seasonal content. I grounded the redesign in how players actually interacted with the event, focusing on the moments that confused them, slowed them down, and pushed them out of the loop.
I gathered real behavior signals from player comments, a full UX teardown, competitive analysis, and pre-production alignment with PMs, designers, and the economy team. From there, I reframed the experience and partnered with the art team to build a character implementation workflow the team could scale for future events.
Research:
Our research combined player feedback, UX teardown, and competitive analysis to pinpoint where the event was breaking down. Four issues shaped the redesign. Rewards and requirements were buried on another screen, and tier states were difficult to understand, which made progress unclear. The event UI also offered no representation of the required character and made upgrading or promoting cumbersome. Finally, players could not access the store from the event UI, which interrupted the loop at the moment they were most motivated to act.
Audience:
Casual players needed more direction, core players wanted predictable value, and lapsed players needed a simple way back into the loop. The redesign put clarity first, surfacing value early and giving every player a clear, reliable next step.
Define:
In pre-production, I mapped the core actions players take during a Marquee event using the same systematic process I apply to all feature work. For this redesign, two actions emerged as the anchors. Character investment drives long-term engagement, and progress tracking helps players understand where they are and what unlocks next. These became the foundation for the Marquee UI.
Player Actions
The sticky diagrams show examples of how I break actions into clear, interactive states. They visualize player intent, state changes, and the feedback needed at each step. This framework defines the logic before any screens are built, ensuring the UI reflects how players actually think and move through the experience.
I rebuilt Marquee as a single, cohesive flow where players never lose context. Character representation sits directly in the event UI, supported by clearly labeled, high-contrast UI elements that make progress and requirements obvious at a glance. Unlocking, upgrading, and promoting all happen in one place with immediate feedback. Rewards surface early, tier states are unmistakable, and store access is integrated into the loop so players can buy packs and bundles at the moment they are most motivated.
The result is a streamlined system that replaces confusion with momentum and guides players through the event with confidence.
Top Characters by 5 Stars + Unlock Share (First 7 Days)
This project reinforced that clarity is a growth lever. When players can see their progress, understand their options, and act without friction, momentum follows. By unifying character investment, progression, and rewards into a single, readable loop, the Marquee Event shifted from a confusing system into a predictable, scalable experience that players trusted and engaged with.
For me, the lesson was clear. Start with player intent, design the system before the screens, and treat clarity as a first-class feature. When the experience is easy to read, both players and the business move faster.
Before — Original Marquee UI
