Dotabuff App
User Research
UX / UI Design
Usability Testing
March 2021
Product Launch
Designed for Elo
Introduction
Loved and used by millions, Dotabuff remains one of the most recognizable names within the Dota 2 community and is used frequently by casual, semi-pro, and professional gamers. It is the largest community resource in the game by traffic.
During my time at Elo Entertainment, I led the design front on an ambitious desktop application that would help Dota 2 players improve their gameplay.
The Challenge
We know that many Dota 2 players frequently used stats from Dotabuff to inform their gameplay.
Although the site held a wealth of match data for millions of players, the only way to meaningfully access it was through post-match analysis. There was no meaningful way to reference any of that data while in a tense match.
The Solution
My team at Elo sought to integrate the data that Dotabuff offers into the player experience.
I designed a new desktop companion app that gives intelligent suggestions based on player decisions during a match.
User Research
I opened a survey to Dotabuff users and asked about their gaming habits, what aspects of the game they struggle with, and their experience with companion apps to inform the core features of our product.
From the pool of submissions, I chose participants to engage in one-on-one remote interviews to better understand pain points in Dota matches.
In my conversations with players of all skill levels, I found the following:
Low-level Players
Find it challenging to win matches
Unsure of what hero best suits team composition
Miss important in-game timings
Unable to gather meaningful insights from data
High-level Players
Can only do post-match data analysis
Unsure how to deal with uncommon team compositions
Tend to use tried-and-true builds
Want to win by trying different playstyles
With these points in mind, we asked ourselves...
How might we help players quickly access match data to gather insights and increase game performance?
Competitive Analysis and Planning
Dota 2 holds and impressive roster of 125 heroes, meaning there are over 16 quadrillion (yes, quadrillion) possible draft combinations for a single match.
During my research, I found that the drafting phase heavily informed decisions made during the live game phase of any Dota 2 match and considered that when planning tools that were included in the final product.
The primary competitor in the app market was the DotaPlus app which analyzed the draft phase in real-time while playing the game. However, we noticed that the way insights were presented was tough to parse.
Designing a Data-Driven Experience
After settling on a direction, I created wireframes for a companion app that accomplished three goals:
Provide a Path to Victory
I designed a drafting phase screen that would more closely mirror what players see in game and shows the best hero picks based on billions of previous matches with similar compositions.
When the match begins, I designed multiple modules that show players tangible actions and when to take them.
Increase Game Knowledge
In each module, I designed the data representation to be clear and concise to instill good habits for beginner players.
This brings equal value to experienced players as well due to the product leveraging data from previous successful matches with the current draft conditions.
Provide New Insights
Experienced players already have good in-game habits, and what they really valued was learning new item builds.
I designed an items module so they can try draft-specific builds and actions that differ from their usual gameplay.
Usability Testing
After completing an initial prototype, I ran a series of usability testing sessions with players of different skill levels to determine ease-of-use and the effectiveness of our solution.
We found that one of our core features, the Items Module, was confusing and overwhelming for beginners while experienced players found it unnecessary at their skill level.
I designed an overhauled version of the module that was released post-launch to positive reception.
Impact
220,000+
Downloads
The Dotabuff App aims to teach good habits to new players and provide meaningful insight to experienced ones.
Within the first month, the app was downloaded by over 220,000 players and provided revenue for Elo due to subscriptions to Dotabuff Plus — a premium service that provided additional insights into match data.
Designed as a second-screen or togglable app, we allowed players to customize their dashboard by allowing them to only display insights that they found useful. Months later, we added an in-game overlay with a simplified view to give suggestions and tips without players ever needing to take their eyes off the game.
With a range of tools tailored for beginners to pros, we created a product that was useful to any Dota player. A wealth of Dota knowledge was now in a player's hands at the press of a button.