Game Champions

Intro

The ESports industry is a booming global industry that has grown from its roots in arcade gaming to the complex digital ecosystem it is today. Over the years, it has transformed from a vibrant niche to a central form of entertainment around the world where skilled video gamers play competitively. As competitive video games continue to integrate into popular culture, global investors, brands, media outlets, and consumers are all paying attention. 

Incredible Web was approached to consult and propose an MVP for a skill-based eSports platform. Incredible Web comes for a solid background in the Casino and Gaming industry, having collaborated with several key players in the Gaming Industry. This expertise within the iGaming sector, as well as being involved in sportsbook integrations and white label solutions placed Incredible Web in a unique position to leverage this knowledge and transform this expertise into a well-thought, game-centric platform for both amateur and professional video gamers.  

Game Champions is a skills-based platform that enables players to discover, unleash, and fully maximize their skills in the exciting world of eSports. Game Champions allows everyone from the more experienced players to the beginners, to compete and win large cash prizes in free and flexible tournaments offering fair and profitable play. In addition, Game Champions offers a pivotal element of 1v1 matches to players from different skill levels and walks of life which guarantees to challenge their own friends for money. and place a bet on their victory on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.  The 3 tangible deliverables include:

• eSports Portal
• public-facing website
• admin panel

eSports Portal

Identifying the specific user segments who will utilize the platform and creating the respective Personas was key to the success of the project. The eSports portal was the first and core deliverable of the solution, designed to help users browse the various games available, interact with other players and engage in matches with as little friction as possible. 

The eSports Portal allows players to set up matches with other players in a straight-forward fashion. Players are also provided with a fully automated virtual wallet where they can deposit and withdraw funds. Most importantly, the Client required a player-safe platform where individuals are able to compete against players of all skill levels and bet on their performance. The system leverages an Artificial Intelligence Module designed to track and monitor the player's behavior on the platform and recommend suitable competitors for their upcoming matches making sure that all the players have an equal chance at winning matches. The dashboard design also includes specific UI elements that create a sense of urgency and encourage users to start playing generating activity and excitement on the platform.

public Facing website 

While it is important that the website’s design is attractive, it is equally important that users understand the information and is able to complete their journey on the website as elegantly and as fluid as possible. For this reason, the team worked on an information-architecture exercise with the client prior to designing and developing the website. A well-thought, structured website is capable of executing the desired user journey with as few clicks as possible maximising conversions and reducing bounce rate. The navigation is immediately understandable and straightforward even to the less technically adept users. Furthermore, the websites featured multiple conversion points across the website to accurately guide the player's actions after landing on the site, generating deeper interest in the brand to create intent.   

Game Champions commit to having a proactive interaction with clients understanding their needs and assure them that all the games are carried out responsibly, by giving quick and efficient service but also using the blog with informational content to keep them updated with the latest news. Incredible Web provided the client with a tailor-made SEO package designed to help the website rank better organically. The SEO package does not simply focus on the content and architecture of the website but also applies other white-hat SEO strategies to improve the reputation of the website online and help crawlers navigate all the structured pages and content on the website. 

Virtual Wallet Integration 

Given that Game Champions was going to operate in multiple markets, it was imperative to make sure that the platform supports multiple Payment Gateway integrations. We wanted to make sure that we would still have full control over the Payment screen so as to include additional incentives such as bonuses and voucher codes. After a few revisions and A/B testing, the screens were polished and fine-tuned to provide the user with an easy and secure payment process. The Virtual Wallet is also able to retain a reference to the user's credit card details thanks to a PCI compliant Payment Gateway integration. 

Progressive Web App

We are always on the lookout for new and exciting technologies that could add value to our Client's products and provide the best possible gaming experience to our clients, anytime, anywhere. Nowadays, users have high expectations for mobile experiences and a responsive design is no longer enough. In light of this, utilizing Progressive Web Apps, Incredible web combines the advantages of web and mobile. In fact, when designing PWAs, we took the time to analyze the Game Champions business and identify the primary objectives of the web application. We utilized modern browser APIs to improve the load time of the web application allowing the player to start interacting with the page as soon as possible before they lose interest in the web application.

Once we validated the critical user path we then moved on to user retention. PWAs are capable of native app-like features such as PUSH notifications. PUSH notifications have been widely accepted as an effective user engagement tool, the website will utilize PUSH notifications both to stimulate user engagement as well as to increase the Game Champions outreach. PUSH notifications will also allow the game Champions administrative staff to send generic messages to their players in free text format with a specific publishing date being able to reach out to the players even after they leave the web application and close their browsers, giving you the opportunity to promote the services and entice the users to visit the web page once again. 

Once we validated the critical user path we then moved on to user retention. PWAs are capable of native app-like features such as PUSH notifications. PUSH notifications have been widely accepted as an effective user engagement tool, the website will utilize PUSH notifications both to stimulate user engagement as well as to increase the Game Champions outreach. PUSH notifications will also allow the game Champions administrative staff to send generic messages to their players in free text format with a specific publishing date being able to reach out to the players even after they leave the web application and close their browsers, giving you the opportunity to promote the services and entice the users to visit the web page once again. 

PUSH notifications included:

• Notices
• General Information
• Reminders
• Challenge Requests
• Messaging

public website and CMS

Incredible Web makes use of an open-source content management system (or CMS) called Umbraco; the most popular .NET CMS on the market. Harnessing the most-up-to-date technology, the team is able to provide flexibility to create players' journeys and not be bound by the limitations of the CMS. 

We also made sure that the site had the precise number of pages it needs to allow the player to find the content they are looking for. Therefore, we choose the approach of multi-page in order to better fit both design and the huge content required in the website. Thanks to the ability to target different keywords for each page, multi-page designs enabled Game Champions to rank for multiple key phrases. It means that the client has more flexibility when it came to SEO. Moreover, this approach was recommended in order to include additional pages, such as terms of use, games sections, and more. It was highly important to build a multilingual website in a manner in which all the players from different countries could understand and play their match in a comfortable environment. This solution truly maximized the visibility and attractiveness of their offered products.