Dotabuff App
Launched March 18, 2021
220,000+ downloads on the Overwolf store
Designed for Elo Entertainment
User Research
UX / UI
Usability Testing
01
Dotabuff is the leading website for stats and analytics in the dota 2 community
"Loved and used by millions, it remains one of the most recognizable names within the community and is used frequently by casual, semi-pro, and professional gamers. It is the largest community resource in Dota 2 by traffic."
02
The Challenge
Through user interviews, we found that many players frequently used Dotabuff stats to inform their gameplay while playing Dota 2. 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.
03
The Solution
My team at Elo sought to integrate the data that Dotabuff offers into the player experience by building a new companion app that gives intelligent suggestions based on player decisions during a match.
User interviews
The intricacies of the match process in Dota 2 presented many opportunities to integrate Dotabuff's data into a live gaming experience. We 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, we chose participants to engage in one-on-one remote interviews to understand pain points in Dota matches more deeply. Our team ultimately found that the drafting phase heavily informed decisions made during the live game phase of any Dota match and considered that when building various tools included in the final product.
Competitive Analysis
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. With our Draft Assistant, we sought to more closely mirror what was displayed in-game so players could easily map app suggestions to actionable picks and bans.
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. An overhauled version of the module was released post-launch to positive reception.
Impact
Real-time insights for Dota 2 players
The Dotabuff App aims to teach good habits to new players and provide meaningful insight to experienced ones.
Our solution to improving the live game phase experience was a modular tool dashboard powered by machine learning. 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. Many of these dashboard tools take the current draft into account and calculate the best moves for an individual player based on their specific match. 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 solution 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.
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