Case Study: Corona Warrior
Project 2: Wicked Problems (IRONHACK)
Study project
IRONHACK Academy Amsterdam
Project duration
3 Weeks
Role
Research and Concept development (student)
Project Summary
During the Corona pandemic the Netherlands was in a long period of lockdown. Social interactions were limited to a minimal. People were addressed to stay indoors as much as possible to reduce the chance of infection with the virus.
We developed Corona Warrior a mobile multiplayer game that helps people cope with their personal situation in a fun and engaging way during the lockdown.
The Problem
Because of these extreme measurements by the Government there were almost no social interactions possible. People were experiencing feelings of depression and isolation during this period. This resulted in an increase of mental health care requests during the pandemic.
The Solution
Our final solution is a mobile game called Corona Warrior. The game lets people (e.g. friends/colleagues) interact with each other by completing a mission. The trajectory of the game is to kill as much corona viruses in your surrounding as possible. By using Augmented Reality we stimulate players to get outside and find the viruses in their nearby surroundings. Because of the team effort we also increased social interaction and having fun together by dealing with the situation by virtually defeating the virus together.
Research
During Quantitive interviews and surveys we found out that people living together without children experience the most problems of the pandemic. Age group 26 to 35 years was represented the most.
The following feelings were experienced the most during the pandemic:
- Depression
- Boredom
- Isolation
The research also showed that both male and female were experiencing the same problems. On average woman experienced these feeling a bit more than man did.
User Persona
I miss the way it was. I miss living without face mask and being able to plan things spontaneous.
Based on our user research we created our primary persona. Meet Renee Rockstar. He or she lives in the Netherlands, is 33 years of age and is in a relationship and living together, but has no kids. The main pain points that he/she experiences during the pandemic is lot’s of negative talk about which influences his or her mood. But also the fact that he/she does not go out as much as wanted.
User Journey
In our user journey we tried to capture a day in the life of Renee during the lockdown. The journey shows the effects of the lockdown on Renee’s life revealing several grows that effect him/her in daily routine.
Problem Statement & Hypothesis
Based on our User research we developed the following problem statement:
Singles and Couples without children need to find a way to improve being in touch with their friends and family to overcome isolation.
Which resulted in the following hypothesis:
We believe (physical/virtual) social interaction as a default on a daily base for singles and couples without children will achieve more feelings of being connected and feel less lonely. We will know we are right/wrong with qualitative interviews ( e.g.contextual inquiries).
Ideation Process
To start our ideation process we first committed ourselves to a brainstorm session to layout all our ideas into a canvas. We found out that brainstorming was a great way to get into conceptional thinking on a deeper level. By reacting on our ideas on a team level new ideas derive much quicker.
Having several ideas we started dot voting on them. The idea of having a game to interact with friends/relatives in a fun way had the most votes. After that we did another brainstorm session and we came up with the Corona Warrior game.
Story Board
To make the concept of the game come to life we first created a story board which helped to layout the concept.
Concept testing
After our Story Board we created a concept test survey to validate if people would like to play the game. The research showed that 57% of all respondents would be interested in playing the game.
Prototype
We started on the prototype by first determining which features would be mandatory for our game. We did this using the Moscow Method. This method enables you to check which features are really important and also which features can be added later. This helps you to organise your process and make it less complicated to start with your prototype.
Wireframes
After we prioritised our features we started developing our mid fidelity prototype. We first discussed which flows would be most relevant to present our stakeholders. These are:
- Onboarding
- Game play
- Profile / Settings
Working prototype
The working prototype can be found clicking here.
Next Steps
- Processing the feedback on our prototype and redefine our concept.
- Create a High Fidelity prototype for testing.
Learnings
- It’s inappropriate to come up with a solution before a brainstorming session. As a beginner, we need to keep the process in mind and follow it step by step.
- Survey should contain more specific questions. Formulate the questions in a way where you get the most amount of knowledge about the needs to the users.
The End
Thank you so much for taking the time reading this article. Please feel free to leave comments for future improvements of my case studies. :-)
