Domain Analysis ‐ Video Games

Domain Analysis - Video Games

We decided building an app/website that focuses on video games. We have two main premises:

We identified a list of websites that have intersections with our ideas and focused on the most comprehensive ones:

Infinite Backlog is a very extensive review website and has many other features.
Infinite Backlog opens with a main page that asks you to sign up; however, it still allows browsing without signing up.
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Sign up page asks for username, email and password. When user fills those it sends confirmation email and redirects to login page and asks user to login. After that you need to confirm your email.
It lets users to import their games from other platforms.
Main page has three feeds, posts from friends, posts related favorite games, post from everyone.
In collection section users see their games. They can change the game status to playing or played. These selections also allow user to select completion rate.
There is ordinary wishlist, game achievements, and lists. Site has its own badges and collects stats. There are challenges about finishing list of games.
List have the same page design with Letterboxd.
There is leaderboard for having playing much games etc.
They support cross platform games and game services.
Game pages are very detailed, one can go from one game to another following hyperlinks. However, they don't provide any information about people who worked on the game. Also even though the these hyperlinks (genres, developer etc.) lead to different beautiful interfaces they are limited on the variance.
Users can not only review and rate games but also casually post about them (similar to twitter but no pictures).
Users can add each other as friends.
They don't have a mobile app.

Letterbox was our primary inspiration.
Letterboxd is a social media platform and online database dedicated to films. Users can use it to track, rate, review, and discover movies. It allows users to create lists, follow other users, and engage in discussions about films. Letterboxd also provides personalized recommendations based on users' viewing history and preferences. Overall, it serves as a comprehensive platform for movie enthusiasts to connect, share, and explore their passion for cinema.

You can browse the website as a guest, but signing in is required to log, rate, and review.
The navigation bar provides access to seven pages: "Sign In," "Create Account," "Films," "Lists," "Members," and "Journal." Additionally, there is a search bar for easy navigation.

It has a default create an account page, it contains email, username, password and some authorizations.

The sign-in feature was really creative; you can sign in directly from the navigation bar, without being redirected to another page after clicking the sign-in button.

When you don't have an account, it doesn't direct you to create one. Additionally, there is no option to sign in with Google, which are the drawbacks of the sign-in process.
When you log in for the first time, it doesn't immediately require email authentication. Instead, it guides you and provides information about Letterboxd.

The main page includes sections such as 'Just Reviewed,' 'Popular Reviews This Week,' 'Popular Lists,' 'Popular Reviewers,' 'Recent Showdown,' and 'Recent News.'

You can search for a film by typing its name, or browse films by year, rating, genre, and more.
The Films page is almost identical to the Main page.
On the selected films page, you can see a brief description of the film, cast details, availability, popular reviews, and recent reviews.

You can mark a film as watched, add it to your watchlist, rate it, or like it directly. If you want to add it to another list or write a review, you have to click on their respective buttons and follow the steps.

The "Lists" page features "Popular This Week" and "Recently Liked" sections.
Lists display a short description and movie posters, allowing you to click and navigate to a movie page.
You can like or comment on lists.

In your profile, you can view your recent activity, favorite films, reviews, watchlist, lists, liked films, and more.

Despite having a followers and following section, it seems difficult to use and is not convenient.
It has a mobile app.
We aim to create a similar website for films, but with improved friend and follower activity features, which are crucial in gaming communities. Additionally, implementing game lists sounds like a promising and exciting idea.

IGDB is a gaming website similar to Infinite Backlog which is operated by Twitch.
IGDB main page has a section for most anticipated games.
IGDB also provides a free API. This API is pretty comprehensive and free for non-commercial usage.

Steam is mainly a game store with different community and review functionalities.
Steam shows different categories to promote players to explore different games.
Steam shows a huge number of metadata about the game.

Remaining websites are very similar to Infinite Backlog, so we are not including them in the report.