A Unique Problem
Despite the active name, mobile gaming is quite sedentary and often indoors. Most games require your undivided, two-handed attention to play effectively, mimicking the designs of a portable console.
My Challenge
At Niantic I joined a new project called “Pokémon GO” that aimed to break that existing paradigm. My challenge was to create an engaging user experience that persuaded users to explore the world outside.
As the founding product designer at Niantic, I designed the entire product experience for launch, including every feature end-to-end. I was supported by a small and talented development team of artists and engineers. My timeline was 7 months from concept to launch.
Target User Groups
I outlined 3 user groups to focus on:
The Collector
“I feel rewarded by completing my collection.”
The Explorer
“I love to get outside and see what’s around.”
The Nostalgic
“I grew up using Pokémon products”
Early Product Idea
Early in development, the only core idea was: the real world is filled with hidden Pokémon. Any user can catch them by physically being nearby. AR is involved somehow.
The development team cobbled together an extremely rough working version of this, made with Open Street Maps and simple images. But this gave the idea form and was enjoyable to use, especially with others. Thus we had our proof of concept.
A New Design Philosophy
I began my initial research by walking around outside to get a feel for how users might interact with an outdoor mobile product. From this research I soon developed a design framework I called “Heads Up Play.” My goal was to establish best practice principles that aligned with this new type of product. It’s tenets were to:
Enable one-handed phone use
Build muscle memory for simple, everyday actions
Promote looking up whenever possible, rather than down at the screen
Create a seamless user experience across diverse features from location-based AR to standard 2D browsing
Initial research
Fun, Simple and Safe
With this design philosophy in place, I choose 3 words that embodied my product goals: Fun, simple and safe. My reasoning: Fun products are rewarding and users will return to rewarding experiences. A Simple interface opens the door for users of all ages to use and succeed, unlike many “gamer” experiences that require niche skills. Safe experiences are a must to earn and keep user trust while birthing a new genre in mobile products.
App Navigation
Easily accessible by thumb while holding a phone and walking.
Main menu has 4 main directional buttons like compass, opens as an overlay on map screen.
Close button in the same bottom-middle location in all 2D screens.
Reason: quick successive taps close all screens back to the map, the start of all interaction flows.
Catching Pokémon
My initial designs involved following sequential map clues to discover and reveal Pokémon in-app. Upon play-testing, this experience fell apart at scale. It required too many clue variations to remain engaging and high server costs for all the different unique assets.
Simpler solution: Pokémon appear immediately when in range. The server load was acceptable and it added an element of surprise.
However, I found that it encouraged staring at your screen, waiting for something to appear. Too combat this, I added device vibration to indicate when a Pokémon appeared and designed a radar pulse animation to coincide.
This allowed players to walk hands free until notified via vibration, if the app was running on device. It also promoted a unique “heads-up” experience, where a user could go for a walk as their main goal and use the product passively.
Catch Prototype
Here is the prototype I created for encountering a Pokémon from the game map. Tap the Pokémon to start.
Flow Sequence
After the Pokémon appears on the map, a user can tap on the Pokémon. I zoom the player immediately to the AR catch sequence at ground level to emphasize the Pokémon exist in the real world. The player tosses a 3D Poké Ball with a finger swipe to catch the Pokémon.
After a successful catch, I created a point summary so players could feel satisfied knowing their actions yielded immediate results and some variation in skill rewards.
Then I show an animation of adding the Pokémon to the player’s collection (Pokedex) to see their overall progress in the game’s main objective. Finally I bring players to the Pokemon’s “card” they just caught, so they can look at attributes and take any actions on it, such as power up or evolve.
Players then X close the Pokémon card details to return to the map. Often multiple Pokémon appear at once so it’s necessary to bring players back to the entry point. They will be eager to catch the next Pokémon!
Here is the implementation of the Pokémon encounter with the AR camera turned OFF.
Here is the implementation of the Pokémon encounter with the AR camera turned ON.
AR Camera: Default ON or OFF?
As demonstrated in the implementation videos above, players have the option of turning the AR camera ON or OFF during the catch sequence. I needed to decide if the AR camera would be on by default for the player’s first catch. Below is how I organized my thought process.
Benefits of turning on the AR camera:
Huge potential for viral sharing and a unique differentiator in the mobile game/app market
Reinforces the core concept that Pokémon are hidden in the real world, on the ground as you walk around
Risks of turning on the AR camera:
Users likely will not expect their camera to be used in a mobile game
Could make users uncomfortable in public situations, such as a crowded bus
Stakeholder Discussion
I invited the main stakeholders (my Product Manager and Product VP) to a meeting to arrive at a decision. Initially my peers favored the default OFF option, while I was in favor of default ON. Ultimately I was able to convince my peers of the enormous viral potential the AR camera had; it was a feature that would not only showcase our new technology but separate the game from the scores of others in the mobile market. However I did share their concerns so I sought to mitigate the risks by creating an onboarding modal that would explain to users what to expect, and the ease of turning the AR camera OFF.
Below is my prototype. Tap on the Pokémon to start (hit the arrows to go full screen).
Poké Stops
Another main feature of the game design were Pokéstops: real world locations where players could obtain valuable game items. These “points of interest” would be scattered throughout the globe for players everywhere to visit. A high-volume feature to interact with every play session.
From the initial concept phase, I wanted the experience to feel similar to watching flowers bloom as you walk near them. Crafting the environment to react to a player’s presence encouraged natural interaction and exploration without any additional interface instruction.
After prototype play-testing, my team found that the more we walked the more content we’d encounter, and the more fun we’d have!
I therefore adhered to these goals:
Create a simple one-handed gesture that supports continuous walking
It should be short term satisfying while building long term muscle memory for easy repetition
Display a real photo of the location for cultural significance, landmark recollection, and future advertising opportunity
Below is a video of the Pokéstop implementation:
Note that the user taps into the Pokéstop, spins the photo disc and exits. The reward items come out in floating bubbles after the disc spin. Players can pop them one by one, all at once with giant swipe, or simply exit via the X close button and auto-collect them all (like the video shows). This allows for stringing multiple item collections in a row.
The video below shows these other actions. I wanted to present players with multiple ways to interact depending on their needs and time constraints.
Success, Feedback & Reflection
By all measures, the Pokémon GO was an instant success at launch, and continues to entertain millions of players around the world.
Some notable stats:
232 Million first year monthly active users
150 Million current monthly active users
6 billion all-time revenue
Recent survey of Pokémon GO players:
65% said playing Pokémon GO encouraged them to exercise more
62% said one of the main reasons they play is because it encourages them to get outside
57% said it helped them improve their physical fitness
Despite the game’s huge success, I still feel the outdoor experience leans too heavily on users staring at their phones. If I could return to the design I’d focus more time on improving that aspect, iterating for better awareness during play.