My Contribution

Team

Tools

Timeline

Creating unforgettable experiences through art and storytelling

Square Enix is a prominent digital entertainment company from Japan known for their Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPGs). Their work focuses on creating immersive fictional worlds that captivate players by placing them at the center of an interactive, story-based journey.

This digital intervention showcases exclusive content from Square Enix’s JRPGs, capturing each franchise’s visual essence to resonate with fans and nurture their connection to the game world they come to love. It serves as a touchpoint for a meaningful post-game experience, e-commerce interactions, and timely updates on upcoming franchise expansions, all consolidated in one space

Business Problem

With game development becoming more complex, games within a franchise have longer development cycles in between releases which can lead to a decrease in player retention and engagement. This is because consumers become unsure about what’s next to come with their favourite franchises.

Consumer Problem

Meanwhile, we found that fans who have developed a strong emotional attachment to these games will often seek out content from third-party sources on the internet that allows them to maintain a connection to the game or reminisce about it. This poses a problem where fans do not interact with the business directly.

Breaking down the Brand

Brand Pillars

When conducting initial research on Square Enix, I deconstructed their brand essence into brand pillars to understand how their products provide value to customers and what sets them apart from other game companies. These pillars serve as a criteria for our project’s success.

Their main brand pillars are crafting immersive experiences that evoke emotion and engaging audiences across diverse storytelling mediums. To narrow our scope that is appropriate for our timeline, our team decided to focus on brand pillar A as our driving goal.

Defining the Target Audience

During our design sprints, we conducted additional secondary research and interviewed 12 hardcore JRPG players who completed Square Enix games. We found their common behaviours after finishing include reminisce core memories, exploring behind the scenes processes, and delving into lore and theory. Players often opted for these activities instead of replaying the game since replaying the game would not be as meaningful of an experience as the first run through and they get to experience the game world through a different lens.

"It’s never the same the second time you play it."

- Interview Participant, 22, talking about the NieR Franchise

Additional Anecdotes from our consumers we interviewed

"Looking into the process of character creation is really interesting to me. I eat that stuff up. That’s why I collect concept art books."

"I’m definitely a lore and theory person. I enjoy drawing conclusions and reading between the lines. I like to take the time to connect existing dots."

"I really value behind-the-scenes stuff. Exploring the process of how the game is made particularly fascinates me, especially when I get to hear about it directly from the individuals who are actively involved behind it."

Point of Intervention

Observing Square Enix fans’ content-seeking behaviour, I found that there is an opportunity in post-gameplay for the brand to create a central hub/framework that aims to captivate a player’s curiosity to learn more about the game world, unlock new insights on their favourite characters that is not accessible within the gameplay and offer additional touchpoints for engagement to further enrich the business-customer relationship.

Breakdown of our userflow within our framework

Content Strategy

Our framework provides content using horizontal scrolling to deliver an immersive and deliberate storytelling experience, and taking advantage of each game’s visual essence and soundtracks to heighten immersion when viewing content. To demonstrate this framework, we chose the Nier franchise as it exhibits qualities that can trigger post-game contemplation and emotional resonance among its players.

Result

In the final mockup design for our intervention, my main role was on interaction design and visual design for various pages. Specifically, I worked on the Central Hub, Getting Lost in the Lore, Giving Voice and the merchandise page. I leveraged interaction and motion design in After Effects to display a dynamic experience and enhance immersion. I was also responsible for imbedding NieR's soundtrack and voice recordings from staff throughout the experience.

Neutral Landing Page

Upon landing, players can view a large collection of Square Enix’s JRPGs. The portfolio maintains a neutral visual identity as a way to create a distinct separation between Square Enix and its various franchises. When a player clicks on a franchise of their choice, the visual identity of each franchise will directly reflect the particular feel and characteristics of each respective title.

Nier Automata: Page Selection, a Character Centric Approach

When I was defining our content strategy, I identified a prominent characteristic that makes Square Enix JRPGs’ a memorable experience: the focus on characters. I proposed we categorize content by character, putting emphasis on their development and narratives. This approach allows players to easily find content related to their favorite characters that they have had a deep emotional connection to.

Unveiling Design

We designed a page dedicated to concept art, displaying the creation and design of the characters from initial sketch to full render. We found that players like to look into concept art behind their favourite characters in these games. They value this type of content as it gives them the insight of how their favourite character came to be, further nurturing their connection to the character. I took charge in the content design for this particular section.

Getting Lost in the Lore

Lore is embedded into immersive images in the form of marked hotspots that are gradually unveiled through horizontal scrolling. This approach leverages NieR's visually rich language, recreating the atmospheric essence felt in the game. Usability testing showed these nuanced elements enhance enjoyment and satisfaction for hardcore players, recognizing and acknowledging elements they love from the game. It also gives players insight and knowledge regarding the storyline or facts that were not explicitly surfaced in the game.

Giving Voice

Giving Voice is a section that provides insights through interviews with the game’s director and development team regarding their intentions when creating the characters. We found that players enjoyed learning more about their favourite characters directly from the development team as it helped form a deeper understanding of the game’s narrative. As such, these interviews and extra perspectives from the development team like the director and voice actor are valuable content to the audience

E-commerce Integration

I also created ecommerce touchpoints as a way for the brand to gain business value from this intervention. It provides a preview of content found in Square Enix's official lore and theory books, directing players to official merchandise channels.

Showcasing the Game's Visual Identity

We created another touchpoint for artwork to further showcase the game's rich visual language and additional art from the creative team. It presents content that is directly from the source rather than unreliable channels, such as Google Images, thus adds credibility and value to the overall brand and experience.

Value

Reflection

This has to be one of my most valuable projects I have done throughout my career as a designer. I learned new hard skills such as motion design, which I had no previous experience with prior to this project, so taking on this role was very daunting but rewarding in the end. I also had the opportunity to learn more about the intersection between design and business which allowed me to develop invaluable soft skills that helped me stay grounded in to make decisions that drove the project to a success.

← Back to Projects