Making VR content easier to discover, compare and buy

01 · Business Goal

What the Business Needed

Improve content discoverability and create a clearer path from ride discovery to purchase, while making bundles and purchase options easier for players to understand.

02 · User Problem

What Players Ran Into

Players interested in a ride had to move through several steps and leave the ride context to understand their purchase options. On top of that, they had to separately work out which DLC or bundle actually contained the content they wanted.

03 · Constraints

Designing Inside a Live VR Game

This was a change to a shipping product, so the room to move was set before the first screen was drawn.

Live VR game

everything had to work inside an existing, shipping VR title

Existing system

the solution had to respect the current visual and interaction language

VR legibility

information had to stay readable at a comfortable VR viewing distance

Existing commerce

the flow had to work with the commerce and checkout architecture already in place

Right amount of information

reduce friction without overwhelming players with more to read

04 · Exploration

Behind a Step, or in the Moment?

Walking the shipping flow against the brief, the friction was really three problems: players couldn't easily find content, couldn't compare a ride against the bundle that unlocked it, and the purchase path added friction because View More stood between players and the price — while checkout outcomes could break their context.

That framed the central design question — should purchase information stay behind a separate View More step, or should the most important purchase information be surfaced directly while the player is still looking at the ride?

What I found

The existing purchase journey separated discovery, evaluation, and purchase across multiple steps. Players could discover a locked ride, but understanding its price and the bundle that included it required leaving the immediate ride context.

Design direction

Bring the essential purchase information into the ride-selection experience so players could understand the ride, price, and bundle relationship without navigating through a separate purchase journey.

Before: Ride → View More → Details → Offer → Checkout · After: Ride → In-context Purchase Panel → Checkout

05 · Design Decision

Why In-Context Won

I chose the in-context approach. It removed unnecessary navigation while keeping the player connected to the ride they were already interested in — instead of asking someone to remember a ride, leave the experience and hunt for the right DLC, the design put discovery, comparison and purchase into one continuous flow.

Tapping locked content now opens a single panel: the ride with its individual price, up to two matching bundles with their size, discount and final price, and anything already owned marked. The panel answers the question players actually had — is it cheaper to buy this ride, or the bundle it's in? View Details stays, but as an option, not a required step.

Surface at intent

show purchase options the moment a player selects locked content

Compare in context

keep the selected ride visible while showing bundles, price, savings and ownership together

Preserve context

cut intermediate screens and return players to the same place after purchase, cancel or failure

06 · Collaboration & Tradeoffs

How Much to Surface Without Overloading VR

Product requirements defined what the commerce experience had to support. I worked with the PM and engineering team to decide how much of it we could put on screen before a VR panel started to feel heavy — what earned a place on the surface, and what stayed one tap away behind View Details.

The offer logic was the clearest example. The PM owned the rules for eligibility, ownership and player history; I designed the states those rules produced, so the board keeps showing something useful instead of content a player already owns.

Starter or Mega purchased

only the purchased slot refreshes with unowned content

Game On purchased

all slots refresh, since the bundle already covers most ride content

Non-payer past day 3

standard offers are replaced with lower-priced, higher-discount options

07 · Final Design

One Continuous Journey

The final design connects the whole path on the surfaces players already look at — from finding a ride to getting back into one — with a single card pattern and a single detail layout so each step feels like the last. I also took the promo banner off the bundle screens, where it had been competing with the very offer it pointed at.

Discover Ride → Understand Purchase Option → Compare Bundle → Purchase → Return to Ride

08 · Final System Flow

Shooter Event & Reward Flow

The final flow connects event discovery, gameplay, rewards, progression, and collection into a continuous loop. Rather than treating the event as a standalone screen, the experience keeps players moving between the lobby, gameplay, and event progression while making rewards visible at key moments.

1. Shooter Visibility

The updated mode selection gives Shooter stronger visibility within the existing mode system, making the experience easier to discover without introducing a separate entry point.

2. Event Discovery

A dedicated event entry in the Main Lobby gives the active event a clear, persistent presence and communicates its status, timing, and featured rewards before the player enters.

3. Event Screen

The event screen establishes the current tournament, leaderboard position, progression, and available rewards, giving players a clear reason to participate and return.

4. Gameplay → Standard Game Over

Players enter the existing Shooter gameplay flow. After a match, the standard Game Over screen remains intact so the event system does not disrupt the established gameplay experience.

5. Event Update

After returning to the lobby, an Event Update surfaces the player's latest score, event rank, and progression toward rewards. When a player reaches a new reward tier, the same moment becomes a more prominent tier-up state, reinforcing progress and achievement without requiring a separate flow.

6. Event Completion

When the event ends, the event entry transitions into a completion state so players can review their final placement and claim earned rewards.

7. Sticker Collection

Earned event rewards feed into a persistent Sticker Collection, extending the value of participation beyond a single event and creating a longer-term collection goal.

09 · Design Rationale

Why This Flow

The goal was to add a meaningful event progression loop without rebuilding the existing Shooter experience. By preserving the established gameplay and Game Over flow, the event system could layer discovery, progression, and rewards around the core experience with less disruption.

Over time, event rewards also contribute to the Sticker Collection, giving repeated participation a persistent sense of progress.

Preserve the core

Keep the existing Shooter gameplay and Game Over experience rather than creating an event-specific gameplay flow.

Discover from the lobby

Surface the event in the lobby so players can find it before entering gameplay.

Progress after play

Show progression immediately after a run, when the result is most relevant.

Earned emphasis

Use the stronger Tier Up state only when the player reaches a meaningful reward milestone.

Value beyond one event

Turn completed event rewards into persistent collectibles so the system keeps its value after each event ends.

Discover Event → Enter → Play → See Result → Track Progress → Earn Reward → Return

10 · Outcome

A Clearer, More Direct Commerce Experience

The redesign turned a multi-step purchase detour into a more direct, in-context experience: ride ownership and purchase options are easier to understand, bundle relationships are visible during the decision, and players keep their connection to the ride the whole way through.

It also left a clearer, more scalable structure for presenting purchasable content — one card pattern and one detail layout that new offers drop into. I used AI tools to explore concepts and iterate on visuals faster; the UX decisions, flows and final UI came out of my design work and the team conversations with PM, engineering and art.

Note: concept and design proposal. No conversion, revenue or engagement metrics are claimed here; measured results will be shared when available.

Stronger Discovery

Relevant bundles and purchase opportunities are surfaced more prominently.

Clearer Value

Pricing, savings, ownership, and bundle contents are presented together so players can evaluate their options in one context.

Context Preserved

Checkout and recovery paths are designed to return players to the same purchase context instead of forcing them to restart the journey.

11 · Reflection

What I Learned

In VR commerce, reducing steps is only part of simplifying the experience. Preserving context matters just as much. Keeping the selected content, price, bundle value, and return path connected helped turn a fragmented purchase journey into one continuous decision.