Rummy Tunes
Re-Designing Traditional Card Games for the Online Table | Rummy Tunes
The Focus
Wild Spades developed ‘Rummy Tunes’, porting a traditional Indian card game to the world of online gaming, desiring a ‘best-in-class’ experience for their users
The key challenge came in the form of replicating the Indian allure for card games. A traditional, cultural sense of enjoyment was to be translated onto an online, virtual platform necessitating massive innovation on the UI/UX front
Additional issues were observed in the information hierarchy, visual consistency and the lack of crucial functionalities
The Design
The team at Elephant worked with Wild Spades on three fronts regarding their app: Creating a defined visual style, amplifying user experience via key interactions and defining overall brand identity
Successfully added consistency and streamlined content hierarchy across the app via a thorough UI/UX redesign effort. The social aspect of the game is given the maximum focus, where we sought to preserve the festive environment that often accompanies such games
Enhanced user immersion by providing a host of new features from both, an aesthetic and functional perspective at important junctions of the user journey within the app
The Story
The Indian online gaming market has seen nothing but exponential growth since it began gaining traction in 2016. A recent report released by EY and the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) clearly states that the market crossed 1 billion USD, a whopping 17.3% increase since 2016 – and posits nothing but further growth (2 Billion) in terms of rake fees earned by 2023.
However, game and app developers around the world have already sniffed the demand and rushed to meet it earnestly. App stores across different platforms are already inundated, with the user being spoilt for choice – no matter the genre of the game at hand. The online card game market is no exception.
They approached the team at Elephant to tackle challenges regarding a few crucial aspects. Primarily, a visual system needed to be developed to enhance user experience, in tandem with streamlining content hierarchy and adding meaningful interactions during key junctures in the user journey pertinent to the app. This would be the foundation that would successfully define Wild Spades’ brand identity, given that Rummy Tunes was first and primary product offering.
“Card games occupy a special place in Indian culture. From being enjoyed in Mughal durbars to celebrating joint family reunions during important festivals like Diwali, nothing else will do when it comes to having some traditional fun. Wild Spades, a venture seeking to provide users the best social gaming experiences via the potent application of mobile technology, developed Rummy Tunes in this vein. ”
Navigating the Gamer’s Mind
Drawing upon a substantial bank of research pertinent to the industry, we initially developed user profiles to understand their mindsets and behavior. Much like any other group, gamers come in different stripes. From casual gamers who seek to bust some stress occasionally to pro-level players who obsessively monitor every game to eliminate mistakes as regards the skill element, we were dealing with an entire spectrum.
“A fine balance was struck between making the UI overtly upbeat/playful and cool/suave, making it appealing for players with different temperaments and goals. The splash and login screens in particular were decluttered, where welcome text adds to the overtones of the social nature of the game and its traditional roots – assuring the user that this is the same familiar environment despite its transition to a virtual medium. ”
Additionally, given Rummy’s special place in India’s traditional gaming scenario, a host of other social activity typically accompanies the game: an evening with drinks in tow, or a long overdue family get-together, or even a weekend dinner – all of these experiences go hand-in-hand with a game (or ten) of Rummy. A key challenge for us here was: how do we manage to get this level of immersion in an entirely virtual environment? What could we leverage when it comes to getting them interested in the game while craving to return to it in their spare time? Effectively, how do we translate an experience that was so physical into an intangible space full of pixels?
Another aspect to consider was that of Indians and their familiarity with apps and online transactions. While money is routinely and casually involved in a game of Rummy, there is a certain reluctance to splurge online – and crucially, we also discovered that the element of luck is considered far more important than skill in the casual gamer’s mind in the absence of resources or literature that can demystify those aspects of the game.
User Personas
Immersion: Re-Loaded
Armed with these insights, the team at Elephant began creating UI/UX templates that would be utilized in its constituent wireframes. Here, we devised a comprehensive, consistent visual language system that would tie in with brand recall while helping it give a sense of ownership and equity. Using a modern, decluttered and refreshing format with midnight and neon blue as base colors provided ample opportunities for other eye-catching, contrasting elements to be displayed.
“Beyond the conventional benefits of revamping UI/UX, Wild Spades’ Rummy Tunes offering adds color and character to the overall brand personality, making it a fun, engaging and inviting entity for users. The visual language ensures that this is still the Rummy the users have all played – and loved – during their childhood. ”
A fine balance was struck between making the UI overtly upbeat/playful and cool/suave, making it appealing for players with different temperaments and goals. The splash and login screens in particular were decluttered, where welcome text adds to the overtones of the social nature of the game and its traditional roots – assuring the user that this is the same familiar environment despite its transition to a virtual medium. This naturally adds to the recall aspect with players slowly making it their go-to choice amidst a host of other app options.
The Lobby screen was also simplified immensely, homogenizing illustration styles to avoid confusion, providing clearly distinguishable graphics to differentiate between game modes while drawing the user’s focus to all the relevant information they need to begin/join a game.
“The new virtual/social experience is seamless, where you don’t have to play with strangers but hosting games on the fly with your select group of friends becomes the go-to option instead. Players from all categories – the casual, pro and expert – will find elements that appeal to them and enhance their gameplay experience. ”
Pop-ups now augmented the player’s journey, being displayed only during relevant moments to allow for games to continue without any distractions that often accompany a lot of online gaming interfaces today. The game is also much more intuitive, where an easy-to-understand tutorial immediately re-acquaints players who need it, while on the table, grouping errors and points indicators appeals to beginners who don’t simply want to rely on luck and explore the more skill-based aspects of the game instead.
Virtual/Social: The New Card-Game Experience
Beyond the conventional benefits of revamping UI/UX, Wild Spades’ Rummy Tunes offering adds color and character to the overall brand personality, making it a fun, engaging and inviting entity for users. More importantly, the visual language ensures that this is still the Rummy the users have all played – and loved – during their childhood, or that family game that got extremely interesting.
“Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment. ”
The new virtual/social experience is seamless, where you don’t have to play with strangers but hosting games on the fly with your select group of friends becomes the go-to option instead. Players from all categories – the casual, pro and expert – will find elements that appeal to them and enhance their gameplay experience.
“In conclusion, Rummy Tunes can now stand apart from the competition after our design overhaul, offering one of the best in-class gameplay interfaces across the board.”