Build Up

A little bit of context

We launched Build Up on the last quarter of 2024

The initiative was to create a Free to Play Game on our media app that would help us get more players interested in placing bet builder bets in LiveScore Bet. Since launch, on our LSM App we have averaged 42k unique FTP entries per week across Build Up and LiveScore 6 over the last 2024 game season.

A tendency of launching games without a strong identity

Prior to Build Up, LiveScore launched two F2P games. Although they have been successful for LiveScore, we believed as a design team - who's mission was to mature our brand - that the games lacked identity. They used the same Design System as LiveScore and overall UI execution was lacking.

We wanted to take a different approach with a solid and engaging UI

The initial branding lacked a strong identity, which risked alienating the core audience. Our task was to align the brand with the game’s themes of challenge, competition, and strategy while making it visually engaging and user-friendly.-

Some challenges we faced

It took some time to get a name and concept signed off

After a few failed attempts of getting a name or concept from our Brand team, the product team decided to take ownership and find the ideal name and concept signed off.

We had to launch the game on a tight deadline before an important tournament

Getting a name and concept signed off took longer than expected. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to launch the game during the Premier League season start. Hence the deadlines became tighter.

The process

First, we had to create the experience of the Bet Builder Game

At this point of the process I was part of a couple of ideation workshops and design critique sessions where we managed to finalise the game concept and get general UX defined. This collaborative process, was initiated by our Product Managers so the general idea, logic & concept came from them.

The designer who owner the project at this stage finished the prototypes and User Experience for the navigation, using competitive analysis and running several user testing sessions to make sure the game flows well.

Game objective: To predict outcomes of a single match to accumulate points and win a big cash prize.

We took ownership of the brand and gave an identity to the game: Build Up

To kick off the project, I reviewed insights from cross-functional workshops that defined the game’s identity. The themes of Challenge, Compete, Risk, and Tactics emerged as the foundation for both the branding and user experience. My role was to translate these abstract ideas into a visual language that resonated with the target audience of competitive gamers while ensuring accessibility and usability.

We narrowed down to 4 concepts and got Build Up signed off

In order to pitch the concepts to our stakeholders we went from 6 to 4 well thought concepts. Out of the 4 concepts a final sign off gave birth to Build Up. A concept that captures the essence of the game’s preparation before the actual match starts.

We dove into the game’s core themes—Challenge, Compete, Risk, and Tactics—and distilled them into visual cues for the brand style.

With a clear understanding of the game’s themes, I began exploring visual styles that could embody its competitive spirit. Using mood boards, I examined elements like texture, typography, and colour schemes. The chosen grunge aesthetic balanced the game’s edgy, high-stakes nature with clean and modern design principles, ensuring usability wasn’t compromised.

After exploring styles from minimal to bold, we selected a grunge-inspired direction, balancing edgy textures with clean usability.

Redesigning the logo was pivotal in establishing the game’s identity. The original logo lacked the grit and energy that the grunge aesthetic demanded. I iterated on shapes, textures, and typography to create a design that felt bold, dynamic, and reflective of the competitive edge players would experience. The final logo incorporated jagged edges and contrasting bold type to convey risk and precision.

We introduced the Games Hub for users to find all the F2P games in LiveScore

Considering LiveScore is not a gaming product, we had to find ways for our users to find and engage with this games. As part of a workshop we ran for ideation, we decided to introduce a section on LiveScore called the Games Hub, this would be a small library of games that our users could play for free either on LSMedia or LSBet.

Considering we now would have a permanent entry point to the game we refined the user flows so that we tailor the designs for each of the game’s edge cases

Build Up is a game that depends on popular game matches being played, considering there are seasons were no games would be active and we wouldn’t have rounds opened, we had to tailor our landing page and overall game experience depending on different game states.

The design process was iterative, involving constant collaboration with the team and stakeholders. Weekly critique sessions allowed us to refine the visual direction and test early prototypes for usability. This feedback-driven approach ensured we stayed aligned with the game’s goals while incorporating diverse perspectives.

Some lessons we learnt throughout the process

Because no design process goes that smoothly

For a game to engage, it needs its own identity

Especially when it comes from an industry that pretty much repeats what each other does. This also helps them stand out in the market, and allow players to connect with the game on a deeper level. With a unique identity, a game can stand apart from competitors, attracting players who are specifically looking for that type of experience.

Make sure the collaboration is present when you work with other teams

If the other team doesn’t have time resources, talk with leadership to find other paths. If you have expectations around what you want with the other teams, make sure you brief them correctly. Trust the teams but most importantly, communicate and manage expectations.

Having a clear vision when it comes to UI is key

User Interface sometimes is subjective, we all know certain things work well all the time, but if you want your team to design beautiful UI, make sure there’s a vision. Discuss with the teams what is the expectation when it comes to UI style.

Post launch research & learnings

We knew when the game launched it was far from perfect, so we ran some user testing sessions with the live game

3/20

Deducted how to play the game before starting

Although 19/20 had a vague idea, most felt they needed more information about how the game works.

19/20

Easily submitted their predictions

While playing they managed to understand how the game works and managed to get a good idea of what to expect from the game.

13/20

Players wouldn’t place a bet builder bet

Although 19/20 had a vague idea, most felt they needed more information about how the game works.

Final takeaways

Players expressed satisfaction with the game concept and style

Overall onboarding experience can be improved

Although it can be assumed that the cash prize from Build Up has engaged a high number of users, we believe a better onboarding experience for first time users could increase numbers even further, getting users more excited and reducing churn from misconceptions around the gameplay.

An improved post game UX is needed to get more betting interest

Build Up’s initial goal was to get more users interested in Bet Builders and convert users from LSM to LSB users. From testing and metrics, we didn’t reach the goal, hence a high priority for the team was to find ways to improve convergence performance.

Build Up: Designing a Competitive Gaming Experience

My contribution

The problem

The target audience