Custom Gaming and UX Tools

Challenge

The client is a leading developer and publisher of trading cards, roleplaying, and other hobby gaming products. As the company grew and launched online incarnations of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), customer feedback indicated that the current tools available for locating retail purchase and tournament play venues were outdated and inadequate. The client desired to create an easy-to-use, intuitive, web-based interface that would enable customers to locate retail stores and tournament locations worldwide. Wimmer partnered with the client to define the need for a new tool, called ‘Find a Game’, that would provide both basic and advanced search functionality, and would be able to retrieve data from the company’s Organized Play Information System (OPIS) and numerous retailer databases.

Solution

The Wimmer team worked with the gaming company to develop a search interface, search engine, and results page with maps, based on the company’s website. The client provided Wimmer with art assets and style sheets for user interface design, while Wimmer offered the support of its managing directors and Executive Leadership Team to the consultant resource we deployed to manage the development process. In addition, Wimmer collaborated with senior stakeholders to prioritize integration of the new tools across the client's existing brands, including Magic, RPGA, D&D Miniatures, Star Wars Miniatures, Axis & Allies Miniatures, and other organized play channels.

Technical skills used by the Wimmer team in this partnership included the following:

• Technical project management
• Development
• UI Design

Wimmer Solutions leveraged a technical project manager with SQL expertise to execute defined project goals throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), based on organized play event information drawn from OPIS data stored in a SQL server. The assigned developer created a data connector, developed a query mechanism to request information from two disparate data stores as specified by the end user, and then created a method for combining data from both stores into a single data set formatted for delivery to the UI. Working with a design team, we then created updatable search UIs for embedding into existing brand pages, as well as a search results page and customizable advanced search UI specific to particular brands and play formats. Our resources worked across writing and design teams to implement and integrate art and copy assets into final UI design in a manner consistent with existing company branding, and to create documents explaining the code base and interface design itself. Each UI developed needed to be consistent with existing branding, skin-able for individual products, and easily updatable by the client’s core development team. Code needed to be implemented using technologies currently supported by the team, conform to industry best practices and achieve compliance with Unicode and multi-byte character sets.

Innovation & Impact

The Wimmer team, through their technical expertise and model of flexibility in working with the client, exceeded schedule, budgetary, and quality client targets in their final deliveries. The client also achieved the following outcomes:

• Enhanced User Experience: The customizable tools developed by Wimmer significantly improved the user experience for gamers, making it easier to locate retail stores and tournament venues.
• Increased Accessibility: The new tools allowed the client to address the market more efficiently, driving greater traffic to retail stores and revenue-generating events.
• Consistency in Branding: The tools maintained consistency in branding across the client’s various gaming products, ensuring a cohesive user interface.
• Exceeded Client Expectations: Wimmer Solutions met or exceeded client targets for schedule, budget, and quality, demonstrating their technical expertise and flexibility.