PatchScope is a mobile app that helps players quickly understand game updates without reading long or technical patch notes. By combining AI-generated summaries with playstyle-based personalisation, the app helps players stay informed across multiple live-service games while reducing information overload.
Role(s)
UX/UI Designer
Brand Designer
Duration
5 weeks
The Problem
Players already have access to game updates, but understanding what actually changed often requires searching across multiple platforms, reading lengthy patch notes, and interpreting technical information. This becomes especially frustrating for players returning after a break, who often feel overwhelmed by everything they've missed.
Research and Analysis
Competitive Analysis
I analysed Discord, Steam, and GameTrack to understand how players currently discover and manage game updates.
User Interviews
I conducted interviews to identify key pain points players face when staying up to date with live-service games.
Key Findings
%
Participants used multiple sources to stay informed about game updates.
%
Players wanted updates that felt more relevant to them.
%
Participants described patch notes as too long or overly technical.
How might we reduce the effort required for players to interpret game updates by making relevant information easier to find and understand?
And…
How might we reduce the confusion players experience when update information is spread across multiple sources?
Prioritisation
Before defining the solution, I mapped the relationship between user needs, business goals, and project constraints to ensure the design addressed all three.
Information Architecture
Sitemap
To structure the app and simplify navigation, I created a sitemap outlining the key features and content.
User Flow
I created a user flow to map how users would navigate the product.
Task Flows
I mapped out task flows to visualize how users would complete key tasks.
Early Iterations
I began by sketching different approaches to the app's structure, focusing on how users would navigate onboarding, discover updates, and access personalised information. These early concepts provided a foundation for the digital wireframes that followed.
What should PatchScope look like?
The name PatchScope combines two key ideas that define the product:
• Patch - Represents the continuous stream of game updates, balance changes, and new content released for live-service games.
• Scope - Represents clarity and perspective, highlighting the platform's ability to summarise complex patch notes and surface the changes that matter most to each player.
Fonts
• IBM Plex Sans was chosen for its clean, highly legible design, making lengthy patch notes and update summaries easy to scan without feeling overwhelming.
• The typeface provides a strong visual hierarchy across headings, summaries, and metadata while maintaining excellent readability across different devices and screen sizes.
• The font also meets WCAG accessibility standards, helping reduce visual strain and improving readability.
Colours
• A deep charcoal background creates an immersive environment, reducing eye strain during extended reading sessions.
• Purple accents establish a distinctive visual identity and are used purposefully to highlight key actions, important information, and interactive elements.
• Subtle glassmorphism is used selectively throughout the interface, adding depth and hierarchy without distracting from the content.
Logo
Just as a scope helps bring a distant target into view, PatchScope helps players cut through lengthy patch notes and focus on the updates that matter most to them.
From Sketches to UI
Usability Testing
I conducted usability testing with the same 6 participants from the interview phase using an interactive mid-fidelity prototype for Round 1, and then, finally, an interactive high-fidelity prototype for Round 2.
Round 1
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Participants responded positively to the core concept of consolidating updates from multiple games into a single personalised feed.
%
Participants found the simplified patch summaries easier to understand than traditional patch notes and appreciated the reduced cognitive effort.
However, testing also highlighted several areas for improvement.
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Participants felt the Expanded Update View was visually dense, with buttons and interface elements competing for attention.
%
Participants struggled to distinguish between the AI Summary and "What This Means For You," often perceiving them as overlapping features.
%
Participants hesitated when locating key actions such as editing or managing games within the My Games and Profile sections.
Round 2
%
Participants successfully completed every task flow without moderator assistance.
%
Participants found the simplified AI summaries easier to understand than traditional patch notes and appreciated the clearer information hierarchy.
But there were some remaining pain points.
%
Participants felt the playstyle quiz could be more detailed to better represent how they actually play games.
%
Participants suggested making the playstyle quiz optional so users could skip it during onboarding and complete it later.
%
Participants wanted greater control over AI personalisation, such as adjusting how personalised summaries are or switching between standard and AI-enhanced update views.
Changes Implemented
Final Prototype
Creating an Account
Explore the App
Future Iterations
While usability testing validated PatchScope's core concept and demonstrated the value of personalised game updates, several opportunities for future development emerged.
• Future iterations could introduce adaptive AI personalisation that continuously learns from users' behaviour rather than relying primarily on onboarding preferences. By analysing the games users read about, save, and interact with most, PatchScope could deliver increasingly relevant summaries and recommendations over time.
• As the platform grows, PatchScope could expand beyond update summaries by introducing social features such as shared game libraries, friend activity, or community discussions around major patches. This would encourage players to stay engaged with both their games and the wider PatchScope community, even between major updates.
Reflection
PatchScope challenged me to think beyond designing individual screens and instead focus on creating a product that could evolve over time. Through continuous testing and iteration, I learned the importance of balancing personalisation with clarity, ensuring that new features not only work well but are also immediately understood by users. Seeing the concept become more refined with each round of feedback made the project especially rewarding and reinforced the value of designing iteratively.
Some Things I've Learned
Transparency builds trust in AI. Users were far more confident in AI-generated content when they understood how personalisation worked and had control over it. Clear explanations and user choice are just as important as the AI itself.
Good UX isn't just about simplifying information.
Breaking down lengthy patch notes wasn't enough on its own. Users also needed to understand why an update was relevant to them, reinforcing the importance of contextual and personalised design.
Designing for growth means thinking beyond the MVP. Creating reusable components and a scalable design system reminded me that good design should accommodate both today's needs and tomorrow's possibilities.