GAME FINDER

GAME FINDER

Apr 7, 2025

Case Study

Introduction

Introduction

Game Finder was a semester-long project completed as part of DAC 309: Introduction to UX Design during the Winter 2025 term at the University of Waterloo. Working in a team of three students, we collaborated on every stage of the design process—from research and ideation to prototyping and user testing.

Problem

Problem

STUDENTS AT WATERLOO STRUGGLE TO FIND PICK-UP BASKETBALL GAMES AROUND CAMPUS, DESPITE IT BEING ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR SPORTS.

The lack of a centralized system makes it hard for students to find games. Students instead rely on word-of-mouth, group chats, or by chance, leading to missed opportunities to play and connect with others.

Research & Planning

Research & Planning

The simplest starting point for our research was to create a survey to send out to students who currently attend open gym at the university. We asked a series of questions to get an idea of our users’ needs and their pain points. These were a few of our major findings:

  • 70% of participants rely on group chats/DM’s, excluding those not in these chats

  • 27% reported communication problems and cancellation

  • 37% struggle with unbalanced skill levels

  • 70.6% play weekly, with 47.1% citing scheduling conflicts as a major pain point

To further empathize with our potential users, we conducted a small focus group meeting with three survey participants. We started to ask the questions: what if there were an app to organize pick-up basketball games? What would it look like and how would it work? What emerged from this was that they wanted an easy, all-in-one tool for them to find and join scheduled games. From there, we were able to craft our user persona and recognize our potential key user flows.

User-Persona

Designing the Solution

Designing the Solution

Low-Fidelity Prototype

Low-Fidelity Prototype

After handing this in, our classmates performed a heuristic evaluation, recognizing the gaps in our initial prototype. Some of the feedback we received but not limited to was:

  • Add status indicators for the number of players already registered for a game

  • Add a skip button for the sign up flow

  • Rsvp cancellation

Taking their feedback into consideration, we then moved onto the high-fidelity prototype.

High-Fidelity Prototype

High-Fidelity Prototype

Conclusion

Conclusion

Reflection

Designing Game Finder was a rewarding process that highlighted the importance of empathizing with users, making research-backed decisions, and continuously iterating on designs.
Our main goal was to identify a real problem in the UW student community and create something that could genuinely improve it. By creating Game Finder, we believe that we were successful in reaching our goal.


Hypothetical Next Steps

In its current state, the application is purely made for Waterloo students, with all key features requiring a Waterloo email. Our goal for the future is to expand this app beyond the university. To do so, we have come up with two main scenarios.

Partnering with other universities, focusing on reaching as many schools as possible by showcasing data that supports the success of our rollout at UW.

Creating a fully public version of the app that allows people to host games in their local community. This approach would require us to create a built-in friending system, similar to social media, rather than using school emails.

Reflection

Designing Game Finder was a rewarding process that highlighted the importance of empathizing with users, making research-backed decisions, and continuously iterating on designs.
Our main goal was to identify a real problem in the UW student community and create something that could genuinely improve it. By creating Game Finder, we believe that we were successful in reaching our goal.


Hypothetical Next Steps

In its current state, the application is purely made for Waterloo students, with all key features requiring a Waterloo email. Our goal for the future is to expand this app beyond the university. To do so, we have come up with two main scenarios.

Partnering with other universities, focusing on reaching as many schools as possible by showcasing data that supports the success of our rollout at UW.

Creating a fully public version of the app that allows people to host games in their local community. This approach would require us to create a built-in friending system, similar to social media, rather than using school emails.