Minecraft Legends

Game specifications
Genre: Action strategy game
Info: Available on PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Switch. Pikmin style RTS in Minecraft universe. Released in 2023
Engine: Bedrock (Minecraft), Coherent Gameface UI library
Business model: Retail, in app purchase

From December 2021 to October 2023, I've been UX designer for Minecraft Legends.

Minecraft Legends was released in April 2023 simultaneously on PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5 and Switch, in 31 languages. This was a massive challenge for UI.

Major tasks and responsibilities:

- Mockup and prototype. Large and small features, such as Lost Legends & Myths, the upsell and offline flow, the Hero select screen or design better PVP communication tools.

- Advocate and design for accessibility. My predecessor in the project had started comprehensive work on accessibility which I extended further with design flow for TTS/Screen narration, better controls visualization and warnings when remapping controls. I also updated the layouts and implementation to better support text size increase and localization (including LTR languages, Arabic and Hebrew) and overall advocate for more customization while keeping in mind tech and budget constraints.

- Ensure cross-platform compatibility. Building on the UX established by the team, I further supported cross-platform features (keeping in mind TRC constraints from the different consoles), and ensured all compatibility edge cases were addressed.

- Integration. I debugged visual UI issues in engine, and implemented layouts with the UI engineers. While Minecraft Legends was developed in Bedrock (the C++ engine for Minecraft), our UI was built using modern HTML5 (Coherent Gameface). I used my knowledge of CSS to improve the game, and learn React. Overtime I became more confident and able to tackle larger code changes. My thorough understanding of the project made it easy to diagnose issues and support the rest of the team.

- UX writing. As an ESL, writing in English is not my strongest suit, but I took the responsibility of reviewing all the front end strings with a UX writer at Mojang for consistency and tone, and eventually wrote the vast majority of new UI strings. I ensured all UI strings were added early to our lang file for localization.

DLC content UX

My first assignment was to support all the DLC content. DLC consisted of Lost Legends, Myths and cosmetic skins. The first version of the marketplace had been designed but not yet implemented, and there were many questions to answer. How to manage and access the content? What about multiplayer dependencies?

It took several iterations, as answers from tech and 3rd party trickled in and took shape. The high and low fidelity mocks ups were created in Figma.

My work covered front end flows (presentation, acquisition, management) and in game (objectives, victory/defeat states, and specific HUD support).

A snapshot of the Lost legend and Myth flow, the front end (HUB and lobby) section only

It was very interesting to draw from the already established UX patterns, but renew it for this very unique situation. As I was forging ahead, I would uncover questions for the design and programming team, helping them understand the span of the feature request.

In game UX for Lost legends

In addition to front end flows, I also worked on in game UX support for 7 Lost Legends. These are short co-op or solo monthly challenges, adding a unique twist on campaign gameplay. I worked closely with the game design team to build a fun and tight experience.

Steps:

The game designer shared a design doc of the concept and a prototype for me to test.
From there, I provided a Figma flow of the moment to moment messaging. I suggested which HUD elements, or in world VFX/SFX, should be used to best communicate information.
I then passed the work requests on to other teams. UI art (special icon request for example) and audio teams were included in the conversation early.
A designer, and sometimes coder for special requests, worked hand in hand to implement the feedback.
We organized group playtests to test clarity and fun. Further feedback and tuning time followed until the experience felt satisfying.

I really enjoyed working on Lost Legend UX flow. It was very interesting to collaborate closely with the gameplay team, and see the impact on game feel. I could ask genuine questions about the gameplay and intention, it felt like a healthy back and forth. Leveraging internal tech in a different way than campaign and PVP was also very satisfying!

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