The Solution

A mobile game that allows students to engage with friends while taking a break from work. The process of playing the game would induce some deliberate thought about activities outside of work - ideally resulting in an increased frequency of healthy break-seeking behaviors. Some key features of the game include:

• Matching ‘context cards’ with ‘activity cards’ to make creative combinations, to be specifically enjoyed by the judge, in hopes of being chosen as the winner.

• Upload media of actually performing the winning ‘activity-context combination’, allowing for more point-earning. 

Design Process

The design process was divided into three main stages: a) Understanding via user research, b) Exploration via ideation, c) Implementation via creating final prototypes

Project Goals

There has been a decrease in the work-life balance due to pandemic - an issue that affects a wide range of demographics and other lifestyle habits. Below are the two main project goals:

2. Ideation

In the ideation stage, the team utilized “The Thing from the Future,” a design tool created by Stuart Candy (head of the Situation Lab at CMU) and Jeff Watson.

In their words, this exercise is an imaginative game that challenges designers to “come up with the most entertaining and thought-provoking descriptions of hypothetical objects from different near-, medium-, and long-term futures.”

Additionally, to further brainstorm, each team member came up with 15 ideas related to the problem space, which were then dot voted into final 3 concepts pitched to the entire cohort.

Concept Evaluation

To evaluate the final idea, the team utilized Tarot Cards of Tech, a design tool created by the design consulting firm Artefact, as a means of future visioning, which encouraged us to think through the potential consequences of our design and to iterate based on the insights gained through this exercise.  

Insights from evaluation

• The game could be addictive with its feature of competing with the social circle and chasing high scores.

• Connect users online but has the capacity to disconnect them from their offline circle.

  One of the ways to address this issue is to include a time limit within the game and restricting the usage after a certain number of hours or games. Additionally, the game could stop rewarding players once the limit has been crossed or can charge them to unlock more hours. 

3. Prototyping & Testing

In order to validate the functionality and design of the game, the team conducted 3 rounds of user testing with 5 participants per round. To start off, each team member created hand sketches to depict initial ideas about the game UI and how it would be played, such as the voting feature or how to limit excessive usage. These ideas were grouped and converted into the following low-fidelity digital prototypes.

A. Low Fidelity Prototype

Insights from Low-Fi Testing

• Creative activities is a plus point: Some participants felt that certain “activity” cards required too much effort to accomplish a task while others liked the creativity of the cards. We decided that activity cards should be engaging enough while not requiring to expend too much energy in accomplishing tasks.

• Prefer private mode over public mode: Participants seemed reluctant in performing activities and sharing with strangers on the internet. So we restricted the bonus point to private mode.

• Timer and round length: Participants expressed how having shorter rounds would be beneficial for the overall game. The rounds should be short enough to be completed during one study break session.

B. Mid-Fidelity Testing

Insights from Mid-Fi Testing

• Need social interaction element: Users desired the ability to interact with friends through an in-game chat function. With this, the user won’t need to use a third-party communication tool to chat alongside the game. We decided to add a chat channel to the game.

• Unlocking themes to increase replayability: One suggestion that came up during the testing was to have card packs with specific themes (similar to themed expansion packs in other games), a way to get players to keep playing the game, and provide specialized activities that they would want to perform.

• Ranking system: Players tended to look for immediate results instead of showing the leaderboard at the end of the game. The participants expected to earn better rewards, something that would enhance the replayability of the game, such as unlocking card packs of different themes with the points earned.

C. Hi-Fidelity Testing

Insights from Hi-Fi Testing

• Ways to earn points: Some participants wanted to find some ways to earn extra points, like solo-mode, daily tasks, or a login reward to encourage users to play the game more often.

• Leaderboard positioning: Users wanted the current ranking of each player to be accessible by a button at the top of the screen. We decided to position the ranking board feature as an icon, placed on one side of the screen.

• No self-design cards: Even though users desired the ability to customize cards by making their own cards to create a highly unique game experience, the team decided against it because of the lack of ability to censor harmful or offensive card content.

4. Final prototype

The overall gameplay has strong similarities to Cards Against Humanity and Apples to Apples. Rules of the game are as follow:

• One player from the group is assigned as the judge.

• Players are shown a “context” card that is selected by the judge and has a specific context written on it - (e.g. in a patch of sunlight)

• Each player also has a set of “activity” cards that have different activities written on them - (e.g. Write down the lyrics to your favorite song)

• Players must select a “activity” card from their deck, to match with the “context” card such that it creates an interesting combination, within a given amount of time.

• Once all players have submitted their respective “activity” cards, they can guess the card judge will pick.

• After the judge makes their decision, players will receive points a) if their card was picked by the judge, b) additional points if they correctly guessed the judge’s pick.

• Finally, players also have the option of participating in a timed bonus round for extra points where they can submit a picture or video of performing the chosen activity-context combination.

So, how is Combo Crush persuasive?

Multiplayer game

To combat isolation, we decided to make the game a multiplayer game. The players can see how they rank in comparison to other players which channels social proof (technique where individuals are persuaded to conform to the behavior of others) and competitiveness to further incentivize regular play.

Unlock Card Packs

The game uses intermixing, by having multiple different types of card packs, ones that include healthy break options, like the “Active” pack, grouped with packs like the “Silly” pack so that users don’t feel overloaded by specific types of activities and that our intentions to encourage breaks don’t become obvious. 

Login Bonus

During testing, participants were afraid that what if they kept losing the game. A login reward would encourage users to play the game more often. These points, along with the points earned from playing games, can be redeemed to buy avatars, reactions and card packs

Avatars

Avatars and cards will help to create a personalized psychological safe space where they could take a brief reprieve from the demands of their schedule.